Home game for Khang
Rockland teen set for LPGA Symetra Tour stop
Megan Khang hasn’t been home for more than two weeks at a time this summer. That’s what happens when a 17-yearold chases down a golf dream.
But this week she will enjoy the comfort of some home cooking, as she gets to play her home course in Brockton at Thorny Lea in the first ever W.B. Mason Championship as part of the Symetra Tour, the developmental wing for the LPGA.
Khang, from Rockland, is playing on a sponsor’s exemption as an amateur and is flying in from a successful week at Q-school in California. She is hoping to catch up with friends while home, but golf is definitely the No. 1 thing on her mind at a place she has more comfort than anyone else in the field.
“I think it’s just amazing that Thorny Lea is hosting this event in the first place,” Khang said. “It is such a great golf course and to have it by my home course is incredible.”
The 54-hole tournament starts on Friday and ends on Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, with $110,000 in prize money going to the field. As an amateur, Khang will not be eligible for any prize money.
The field will be packed with the top golfers on the Symetra Tour as they look to earn a spot on the LPGA Tour next year. The top 10 money leaders will play Thorny Lea this week, so even though Khang has the experience on the course she knows there is plenty of talent in the field. So she won’t assume anything.
“I feel like I definitely do have an upper hand on the golf course,” Khang said, “but some of those girls probably came a little early. It’s golf and anybody can win it.”
Khang will get some resemblance of a normal schedule after this tournament as she said she will get to stay home for a few weeks. It’s certainly been a eyeopening summer for the Rockland product and one that has given her a confidence boost with her budding game.
Khang finished as the low amateur in the U.S. Women’s Open with a tie for 35th in her third appearance on that stage. She shot a 69 on her final day in Stage 1 of LPGA Q-school earlier in the week to make her way into the next stage, which tees off in October. Also, she just was named to the PING Junior Solheim Cup U.S. Team and will play against the top European golfers in Germany this September.
“It’s just been an incredible experience,” Khang said. “Nobody told me that this was going to be my summer and I probably wouldn’t have believed it. I think it’s just great that it gives me so much confidence.”
Where Khang’s immediate career goes most likely hangs on what happens with the Q-school stages. She has not made a plan for college and has not said if she will turn professional yet. For right now she is taking all those decisions day-byday, but at least living out of a suitcase will cease for a little bit.
“Overall I’ve been very comfortable,” she said. “Hopefully it all comes together in the end.”