Bring on a hostile atmosphere from crowd, says Kang

Danielle Kang will not be hushing anyone up at the Solheim Cup, because she wants a hostile atmosphere, writes Steve Scott.

The 26-year-old was one of Juli Inkster’s big rookie successes in the USA’s Solheim victory in Iowa two years ago, revelling in the supportive and loud crowds at Des Moines.

However, she thinks she will find every bit as much inspiration from crowds who will be largely against her.

“I hear we’ll be booed at one point, so bring it on,” she said.

“I love rowdy crowds. I had an amazing time is Des Moines. The fact that we were on US soil made it better and I heard all the ‘USA’ chants.

“This is different because we’re in Scotland, but I’ll still have them cheer as loud as they can, whoever they want to cheer for, but I still want to hear them.

“I’m loud whether I’m in Nevada or in Scotland. I don’t think I change no matter where I am.

“I’m definitely going to embrace the first tee. I’m going to embrace whenever I get a chance to hit it.

“I’m going to embrace the fans out there for the entire golf course, whenever I get to play.”

Kang thought someone was trying to wind her up when she was told she would be booed, but she is excited for “the different vibe” in Scotland to the USA.

“Scottish people are very respectful and honourable and this is where the home of golf is, it’s where golf started,” she said.

“I’m excited to see what the fans are going to be like.”

She will not be responding to Patrick Reed’s famous “shush” gesture from the men’s Ryder Cup here at Gleneagles five years ago because she likes to hear and be heard.

“He shushed the crowd?” she said. “I can’t do that. I like noise and I can’t be shushed. I like the noise, so you’ll see me doing waving to the crowd to get louder.”

Kang, who won two US Women’s Amateur titles before turning professional, raised more than a few eyebrows in a recent podcast when she said she wanted “to take souls” in match-play competition, adding: “You’re going there to make people cry, just crush the other team. That’s the fun of it.

“Regular golf’s OK, but I love match play golf,” she said yesterday, using far less emotive terms.

“Whether it’s team game or singles, I like playing against another person. I like to have a win or a loss instead of playing the entire field.

“I like to get some kind of feedback. In golf, we lose most of the time and it’s hard to win. But match play it’s just one person.

“I love the team environment when you have a team-mate and you get to play for them as well as with them and it’s kind of like a sisterhood.

“I love somebody having my back and I love having their back.

“That psychological part of just going after one person is what’s fun for me. You don’t have to worry about the other 155 players out there.

“You’re not watching the leaderboard but you’re watching (your opponent). So I think that’s the fun of it for me.”

Kang does not like links golf much – “you can see my stats” – so she is happy to be inland, but if the weather forecast is to believed there’s going to be some strong winds and the greens are likely to be slower than the US would prefer.

“The Europeans, a lot of them play on the LPGA Tour and we all usually play the same golf courses,” she points out.

“I don’t believe the greens are more undulating than the anywhere else. I don’t think either team has an advantage over the other because of the golf course.”

For one of the six US debutants, Megan Khang, the first tee tomorrow cannot come quick enough, after she had a quick rehearsal on Monday.

“I walked through the little tunnel to get to the first tee and the first thing I thought of was, ‘wow, I can’t wait until these stands are filled’,” she said.

“I literally practised that opening tee shot, I just can’t wait for the crowd.”