The bass of the music thumped in the background, but on the inside golfer Danielle Kang remained calm and quiet.
Before enjoying the party-like atmosphere invigorated by a DJ at the 18th hole hospitality area, Kang first had to execute a testy up-and-down at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Unfazed by her surroundings, Kang left nothing to chance to pave her return to the winner’s circle after nearly 18 months.
“I don’t even know what music was on. I heard nothing,” Kang said. “I was just more focused on doing what I needed to do.”
Kang’s par on the 18th hole maintained her 3-shot lead and polished off a red-hot final day during the Sunday chill at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club. Her 4-under-par 68 was the day’s low round as she finished the week with a 16-under-par 272 total. Kang was the only among 29 competitors to card four rounds in the 60s.
On a difficult and overcast Sunday, no one could keep up with Kang.
Similar to the third round, temperatures hovered around 50 degrees and winds whipped off Lake Nona while scores ballooned.
“It affects you mentally and physically,” runner-up Brooke Henderson said. “When you’re in the fairway and you’re adding for wind and you’re adding cold … when you add all those things in, it’s hard to commit to it sometimes.”
The final-day scoring average was a tournament-high 73.55, around .75 higher than Saturday and three strokes above Friday’s average.
Seven-time major champion Inbee Park carded a respectable final-round 73, but her scorecard read 32-41. Reigning British Open winner Anna Nordvist shot 80.
Kang took the conditions in stride even though the Las Vegas resident would have much preferred warmth and sunshine.
“I played so well today and yesterday,” she said. “It was so cold, incredibly cold. My body is just not moving as well as it would in the heat. But I know that and I’m aware of it.
“I know the swings that I can make and can’t make when it’s cold, so one of the most difficult challenges for me is the weather.”
To pick up her sixth LPGA Tour win and a $225,000 winner’s check, Kang overtook Gaby Lopez with a back-nine birdie blitz, going 4-under during a 5-hole stretch.
Kang began a pivotal run of 3 consecutive birdies with an 8-foot putt for a 2 on the 13th hole.
“I was really proud of 13,” she said “It’s a really difficult par-3.”
Following birdies on holes Nos. 5-7, little came easy for Lopez, the 2019 Tournament of Champions winner in a 7-hole playoff stretching over two days.
Lopez held a 3-shot lead when she reached the par-5 9th hole. Sitting two after deciding to lay up 71 yards from the pin, Lopez needed four strokes to hole out. She carded three more bogeys and a single birdie the rest of the way.
The 28-year-old Lopez was undeterred after having enjoyed an unforgettable day playing alongside world No. 1 Nelly Korda and Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam.
“It was probably one of the biggest blessings being able to play with one of the greatest players of all time, if not the greatest, just sharing Sunday with a world No. 1,” Lopez said.
Korda, the 54-hole leader, never found her rhythm to card just one birdie during a final-round 75.
Meanwhile Sorenstam, a longtime Lake Nona resident, hung tough in the celebrity division of the unique event featuring LPGA winners of the past three seasons and around four dozen former athletes and entertainers.
Sorenstam executed an up-and-down for par out of the thick rough to the right of the 18th hole to force a playoff with former major-league pitcher Derek Lowe, who looked on.
“Vegas would’ve probably had me as an underdog, I can tell you that,” Lowe joked.
The odds were stacked against Lowe again when he sank a 25-foot birdie on No. 18 and Sorenstam, a 72-time winner on Tour, failed to match him.
“The up and down meant a lot,” Sorenstam said. “I walked over and spoke to Derek: How many playoffs have you been in? He said this was his first one. It’s been my first one in a long time, too.
“It is just nice to come back. Now I’m tired.”
Kang is just getting started.
After going winless in 2021 and falling from No. 2 to 11 in the world rankings, Kang went to work, packing on 9 pounds of muscle and refining her golf swing.
The grind already paid off.
“It’s more special because a lot of stuff that I did during the off-season,” Kang said. “It’s just nonstop. Those are the things that it’s hard to do. I’m just more proud of myself that I actually did it.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osgators.
