Left: @Stacy_Lewis on X; Right: Getty Images
Preparing to represent your country in a heated team golf event is difficult in its own right. Now imagine trying to do it without your clubs.
That’s the exact situation American star Danielle Kang found herself in at this week’s 2023 Solheim Cup, but we finally have a happy resolution to Kang’s dayslong quest to find her missing sticks.
In case you missed it, on Monday Kang posted a desperate plea on social media, announcing that when she arrived in Spain for the Solheim Cup, her golf clubs did not arrive with her.
Instead, at some point on her flights from her home in Las Vegas to the tournament, the airline lost her clubs.
“Hi.” Kang wrote, “I need everyone’s help again. My captain and the entire US team has been on this but someone PLEASE put my GOLF bag on the next flight out of AMSTERDAM to MALAGA… it’s missed every flight it could’ve been on today…”
That set off a hasty investigation to locate the clubs and get them in Kang’s hands in Spain before Friday, when the first Solheim Cup matches are set to begin.
U.S. captain Stacy Lewis and her teammates helped out in her pursuit of the missing clubs, as she relayed during her Tuesday press conference.
“My captain, Stacy [Lewis], has been absolutely incredible. The entire U.S. team has been helping me. Everyone’s on top of it,” Kang said. “They have been tracking my bag to Vegas to Amsterdam to my sponsor Titleist is making up a second set. That’s flying in temporarily tonight, and then Ping has made me a temporary set today that I got to play with, so we can at least test out the golf course. It is what it is. You just kind of roll with the punches. It’s life, it’s golf, you know, it’s okay.”
Fortunately for Kang, the U.S. team, and American golf fans around the world, we woke up on Wednesday with the good news we’d been waiting for. The clubs had been found.
Captain Lewis broke the news on X, where she posted a photo of Kang hugging her long-lost clubs (as well as a fresh set of clubs sent by Titleist) in the American team room, writing, “We went from none to 2! Thanks to all that helped!! @daniellekang @TheSolheimCup @SolheimCupUSA”
Kang reposted the photo along with her own message: “THANK YOU EVERYONE THAT HELPED”
Now with all clubs accounted for, the 12 American stars are fully ready to take on Team Europe in an attempt to avenge their 2021 loss. The Solheim Cup officially gets underway Friday, September 22.