Danielle Kang finds her inner peace in winning LPGA opener

Danielle Kang picked up her fourth and fifth wins on the LPGA Tour in consecutive weeks in August 2020, moving to No 2 in the world rankings in the process.

It took her 17 months to get back to the winner’s circle.

Kang won the season-opening Tournament of Champions on Sunday, a victory that came after what she termed a bad 2021 season and an offseason of hard work.

Asked Sunday if it felt nice to see that effort pay off so quickly, Kang responded with a newfound calmness.

“It feels really peaceful actually,” she said. “I feel peaceful today. I don’t feel super excited. I don’t feel unbelievably thrilled. I just feel, like, nice.”

Kang had every reason to be excited. She played better than anyone in the field during an unusually cold, blustery weekend at Lake Nona outside Orlando, Florida.

She overtook the best player in the world, Nelly Korda, and held off challenges from Brooke Henderson and Gaby Lopez for a three-shot victory.

“The work that I put in, everyone keeps bringing it back to last year,” she said. “It was a tough year for me. It was a bad year for me. I fought through, but for the last seven, eight weeks, I just dropped the fight. I didn’t need to fight anymore. It was a new year.”

She spent her offseason at her Las Vegas home and worked not only on her game, but her diet, stamina, body and mind.

“I was just trying to gain weight, trying to change my nutrition, change the way I approach the golf game,” she said.

That included not letting things get to her on the course, whether it’s a bad swing, a bad lie or anything out of her control. That includes the weather, which in the past might have held her back.

“Those things, it might not mean a lot to other people, but for me it does mean something,” she said. “To not let it affect me and to be able to execute and play the way I wanted to play and end up in the result I wanted to and not let the feelings bother me … it has come a long way for me.”

Montgomery gets PGA Tour start

Taylor Montgomery is not playing in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event, the second of consecutive stops in the Bahamas, and for good reason. The Las Vegas resident was given a sponsor exemption into the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

The San Diego course should bring back good memories for Montgomery, who qualified for last year’s U.S. Open at the venue, showed up on the leaderboard on Thursday, made the cut Friday, and eventually settled for a tie for 57th.

The Farmers is being played this week in a rare Wednesday-Saturday format in an effort to avoid a final-round conflict with the NFL championship games.

Montgomery, the reigning two-time Nevada Open champion, is hoping for a better week than he had last week in the Bahamas, when he withdrew after an opening-round 84 in the Great Exhuma Classic.

He’ll begin his quest at Torrey Pines Wednesday at 10 a.m. on the South course, paired with Justin Lower and Andrew Novak.

Chip shots

— A final-round 74 at the PGA Tour’s American Express ended an incredible hot streak for Las Vegan Seamus Power. Dating back to October’s Shriners Children’s Open, Power had shot only one round over par until Sunday, a stretch of 31 rounds. He has six top-15 finishes in his last seven starts.

— The 2022 Southern Nevada tournament season begins Monday with the SNGA Tournament of Champions when 102 players tee it up at Red Rock Country’s Club.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.