Kang chases first pro win after amateur success

OLYMPIA FIELDS, ILL. • Danielle Kang won back-toback majors as an amateur yet she’s never cracked the winner’s circle in her halfdozen years as a pro.

The 24-year-old Californian took a big step in the right direction, grabbing a share of the second-round lead in the morning wave Thursday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Her biggest hurdle could well be co-leader Sei Young Kim, the LPGA Tour’s 2015 Rookie of the Year and already a sixtime winner on tour.

Kang and Kim each shot 5-under 66 to reach 7-under 135. First-round leader Amy Yang (71) and Jodi Ewart Shadoff (66) were another stroke back.

So Yeon Ryu (68), who climbed to No. 1 in the world ranking after a victory last week and won the LPGA Tour’s first major of the season, was in the clubhouse at 5-under along with Moriya Jutanugarn (68) and Sarah Jane Smith (67). Lydia Ko shot 68 to put herself back in contention at 4-under.

Defending champion Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who entered the day at 3-under, was among the late group in action.

Kang, the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion in 201011, conceded she didn’t have a game plan after her last practice round at Olympia Fields Country Club, one of several venues that previously hosted men’s majors now being tested by the women.

“I kind of was super-overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do,” she said. “So I called my brother, Alex, of course.”

Alex Kang, who plies his trade on the Web.com Tour, was familiar with Olympia Fields and its bunkers, and he gave her some simple advice.

“He goes, ‘Just blast it down,’” she recalled. The plan worked as Kang, relying on her driver, hit 11 of 14 fairways and hasn’t made a bogey through 36 holes.

The KPMG kicks off a stretch of three majors in six weeks and Ryu could cement her new No. 1 status by adding a second major to the one she claimed in May by beating Lexi Thompson in a playoff at the ANA Inspiration. The LPGA Tour staged a brief celebration as she teed off Thursday, draping her caddy, Tom Watson, in a special green bib.

“The ceremony made me more nervous,” Ryu said. “No. 1, I thought it’s a lot of responsibility and it just gave me a lot of pressure. I finally got relaxed a bit more and just played as normal.”