After battling an ailing back for the past month, Danielle Kang is playing this week’s LPGA Match Play as a test trial for her game.
And after Day 1 of pool play at Shadow Creek, the world No. 11 got her answer in a 7-and-6 loss to Kelly Tan.
“I don’t really know how to answer these questions right now,” Kang said following her round. “I’m not ready to play.”
Match scoring from the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play
As Kang has nursed her injury, she hasn’t been able to work on her game much. However, she’s been putting in the work so she can get some rounds under her belt with the thick of the season just around the corner and the U.S. Women’s Open next week.
“I didn’t prepare the way — I haven’t practiced,” she said. “I’ll say like I’ve done everything I can off the golf course to get me back on the golf course.”
Though she’s still not 100%, the 29-year-old has no regrets about teeing it up this week in Las Vegas.
“It’s match play, I mean, it’s Shadow Creek, my home course,” she said. I feel like I come here — this is where I practice, so there is no reason not to play I guess for me.”
Despite the fact that Wednesday didn’t go as Kang hoped, she will give it another try Thursday, going up against Eun-Hee Ji. But her ailment won’t be an overnight fix.
“It’s going to take some patience and time for everybody,” she said. “I just need to thank my team for getting me here. It’s a little win that I have to take right now.”
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