Danielle Grace Kang (born October 20, 1992) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour. As an amateur, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur twice, in 2010 and 2011. She won the 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, an LPGA major.

Early life, college and amateur career Kang was born on October 20, 1992, in San Francisco. She grew up in Southern California, and qualified for the U.S. Women's Open as a 14-year-old in 2007. She began high school at Oak Park High School and later transferred to Westlake High School early to begin college at Pepperdine University in Malibu in the spring of 2010. Kang played extensively as a junior golfer with the Southern California PGA Junior Tour alongside fellow SCPGA alumni such as Lizette Salas and Brianna Do.

Kang played on the Pepperdine golf team through the regular season in the spring of 2011. She was ruled academically ineligible to compete in the 2011 NCAA post-season and stated that she was not disappointed because "Pepperdine is in the past for me. I'm focusing on the future. Turning pro after the U.S. Women's Amateur."

Kang won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 2010 and competed in all four majors as an amateur in 2011. She made the cut in three of the majors, including the LPGA Championship, where she was the only non-professional in the field. Kang was the low amateur at the Women's British Open, finishing in a tie for 49th place. She repeated her win at the U.S. Women's Amateur in 2011 in August to become the first player in 15 years to win consecutive titles.

Professional career Kang played her first tournament as a professional at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, in September 2011. She entered on a sponsor's exemption and missed the cut. Kang entered the 2011 LPGA Qualifying School. She survived Stage II, shooting +5 (73-74-71-75=293), just inside the cut line to qualify for the final stage. She finished the final stage, Stage III, of Q-School tied for 39th. This gave her conditional status (Priority List Category 20) on the LPGA Tour for 2012

Kang played 19 events on the LPGA Tour in 2012, making 13 cuts and finishing the season with $239,184 in earnings, putting her 52nd on the official LPGA season-ending money list. This qualified her for full status on the LPGA Tour in 2013.

Kang earned her first LPGA Tour win, 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, in her 144th LPGA Tour start. On October 21, 2018, Kang won the inaugural Buick LPGA Shanghai tournament by two strokes to earn her second career victory. The tournament was held at Qizhong Garden Golf Club in Shanghai, China. In October 2019, Kang repeated as champion of the Buick LPGA Shanghai.

On August 2, 2020, Kang won the LPGA Drive On Championship at Inverness Club in Ohio. This was the LPGA's first tournament back after a six-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One week later, Kang won her 5th LPGA Tour event at the Marathon Classic.

Kang won the 2020 Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour.

On January 23, 2022, Kang won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida.

Kang narrowly missed a rare back-to-back wins starting a new LPGA season, when her longtime friend Lydia Ko beat her by one stroke in the January 27–30 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio tournament. They were tied at 12-under after the 14th hole in the fourth round, when Ko made a birdie at the 15th to take the lead, and both birdied the 16th; then both parred the final two holes. She earned $184,255 to Ko's $300,000.

Kang stopped playing on the tour after announcing at the end of the 2022 U.S. Women's Open on June 5, she had a tumor on her spine. She returned to competition at the CP Women's Open on August 25, after treatment.

Personal life Kang is a Korean-American born to South Korean parents K.S. Kang and Grace Lee. Her brother Alex played golf for San Diego State. In 2018, she began a relationship with professional golfer Maverick McNealy, who also lives in Las Vegas, but this relationship ended in 2021.

Professional wins (6) LPGA Tour wins (6) LegendLPGA Tour major championships (1) Other LPGA Tour (5) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up1Jul 2, 2017KPMG Women's PGA Championship69-66-68-68=271−131 stroke Brooke Henderson2Oct 21, 2018Buick LPGA Shanghai67-68-71-69=275−132 strokes Marina Alex Brittany Altomare Ariya Jutanugarn Kim Sei-young Lydia Ko Liu Wenbo Annie Park3Oct 20, 2019Buick LPGA Shanghai (2)69-67-66-70=272−161 stroke Jessica Korda4Aug 2, 2020LPGA Drive On Championship66-73-70=209−71 stroke Céline Boutier5Aug 9, 2020Marathon Classic64-67-70-68=269−151 stroke Jodi Ewart Shadoff Lydia Ko6Jan 23, 2022Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions68-67-69-68=272−163 strokes Brooke Henderson

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–3) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12019BMW Ladies Championship Jang Ha-naLost to birdie on third extra hole22021Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions Jessica KordaLost to birdie on first extra hole32022Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Atthaya ThitikulLost to birdie on second extra hole

Major championships Wins (1) YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up 2017 Women's PGA Championship Tied for lead −13 (69-66-68-68=271) 1 stroke Brooke Henderson

Results timeline Results not in chronological order. Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020Chevron ChampionshipCUTCUTT61T26T26T47CUTT6T11Women's PGA ChampionshipT50CUTT22T25CUTT461T33T5T33U.S. Women's OpenCUT64T68T14CUTT59T47T17CUT4CUTT52The Evian Championship ^T31CUTT59T30T18CUTCUTNTWomen's British OpenT49CUTT42CUTT56CUTCUTCUTT41T32 Tournament 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026Chevron Championship13T17T28CUTU.S. Women's OpenT35T63CUTT51CUTWomen's PGA ChampionshipT5T39CUTCUTCUTThe Evian ChampionshipCUTWomen's British Open CUTT69 ^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.

CUT = missed the half-way cut NT = no tournament T = tied

Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeChevron Championship 0 0 0 0 1 4 13 9U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 1 1 3 17 11Women's PGA Championship 1 0 0 3 3 5 15 10The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 4Women's British Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 6Totals 1 0 0 4 5 13 65 40 Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2020 ANA – 2021 WPGA) Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (five times)

LPGA Tour career summary Year Tournaments played Cuts made* Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10s Best finish Earnings($) Money list rank Scoring average Scoringrank2007100000MCn/an/an/an/a2011530000T490n/an/an/a201219130011T3239,1845272.3950201324170001T5221,6495772.1854201427210002T5316,2395172.4682201526230001T5292,5796271.7244201627230003T4505,3163671.123120172516110611,005,9831771.054220182515111811,135,4411170.8527201921171311111,511,443970.07132020131321151897,872470.0842021211901092902,2441869.831020221816121711,039,2392569.729202320160013T3459,1546171.477320241990000T2082,04314373.5215720251860000T5415,27216873.88151Totals^ 309 227 6 9 6 57 1 8,623,658 39 ^ Official as of 2025 season * Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.

World ranking Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year Ranking Source 2010 404 2011 341 2012 106 2013 97 2014 111 2015 98 2016 68 2017 21 2018 18 2019 4 2020 5 2021 11 2022 16 2023 48 2024 263 2025 604

U.S. national team appearances Amateur Espirito Santo Trophy: 2010

Professional Solheim Cup: 2017 (winners), 2019, 2021, 2023 International Crown: 2023

Solheim Cup record Year Totalmatches TotalW–L–H SinglesW–L–H FoursomesW–L–H FourballsW–L–H Pointswon Points%Career167–9–02–2–03–4–02–3–0743.8201743–1–01–0–0 def. E. Pedersen 3&11–1–0 won w/ L. Salas 1 up,lost w/ M. Wie 2&11–0–0 won w/ M. Wie 3&1375.0201941–3–00–1–0 lost to C. Ciganda 1 up0–1–0 lost w/ M. Khang 4&31–1–0 lost w/ L. Salas 4&2, won w/ L. Salas 2&1125.0202141–3–00–1–0 lost to E. Pedersen 1 dn1–1–0 lost w/ A. Ernst 1 dnwon w/ A. Ernst 1 up0–1–0 lost w/ A. Ernst 3&2125.0202342-2-01-0-0 def. C. Hull 4&21-1-0 won w/ A. Lee 1 uplost w/ A. Lee 1 dn0-1-0 lost w/ L. Vu 2&1250.0

References

External links

Danielle Kang at Pepperdine Athletics Danielle Kang at USA Golf