Danielle Kang notched the 17th ace of her life during the opening round of the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship on Thursday.
“It’s sometimes luck,” said Kang, “but I absolutely pured it.”
Kang struck a 5-iron exactly as she planned on the par-3 11th hole (her second of the day) from 174 yards. She wanted to land the ball short and let it run up to the hole.
“I just hit my 5-iron exactly where I wanted to hit it and we all just kind of stared it down, and Andrea (Lee) just reacted so cute,” said Kang. “She was just like, ‘Oh, my God, oh, my God.’ She screamed.”
Kang, who opened with a 71 at Palos Verdes Golf Club in California, said 17 is her lucky number.
“Actually, I’ve had four hole-in-ones on the 17th day,” she said. “I’ve had five holes-in-one on the 17th hole. … I’ve had three holes-in-one in on the 17th hole with the 17 number ball.”
The list goes on: Kang was 17 years old when she won her first U.S. Women’s Amateur title on the 17th hole at Charlotee Country Club. She won her first major title in 2017. She played in her first Solheim in 2017, too.
“Yeah, just there is so much that has happened at 17, that it’s just been my lucky number,” she said.
“And then I’ve been waiting for my 17th hole-in-one for a while.”