OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. — From a young age, Danielle Kang’s parents instilled in her the belief that anything was possible.
Even major championships.
Kang birdied the final hole to win the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title, edging defending champion Brooke Henderson.
Kang bogeyed the tricky par-3 17th, and Henderson closed with two birdies to move into a tie for the lead, coming up just short on a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th. But Kang responded with two solid shots to get to the green in two, and then two-putted for the victory.
“I just told myself it was my week. It was my day,” Kang said.
Kang lost her father, K.S., to cancer in 2013, but her mother, Grace Lee, was one of the first people to congratulate her on the victory. She also had a video call with brother Alex, an instrumental figure in her performance at Olympia Fields, after the trophy presentation.
Kang’s father caddied for her when she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2010 and 2011. She keeps a journal where she writes messages to her father.
It was another great finish for the LPGA Tour’s second major of the season. Henderson beat Lydia Ko in a playoff last year at Sahalee in Washington.
The 24-year-old Kang trailed Henderson and Chella Choi by one after she bogeyed the par-4 10th.
But Kang moved in front with four straight birdies on Nos. 11-14, getting hot with her putter at the right time.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Kenny Perry claimed his second U.S. Senior Open, pulling away from Kirk Triplett at Salem Country Club to finish at 16 under and win by two strokes in Peabody, Massachusetts.
The 56-year-old Perry closed with a 2-under 68 for a record score of 264. Perry also won the event in 2013 in Omaha, Nebraska. It is his fourth major win on the senior tour.
Perry started the day one stroke behind Triplett but five ahead of the next-closest contender, Brandt Jobe. Triplett, who tied the tournament record with a 62 in the opening round, had five bogeys Sunday and shot 71.
PGA TOUR: Kyle Stanley got up-and-down for par from just over the 18th green to win the Quicken Loans National on the first hole of a playoff with Charles Howell III in Potomac, Maryland.
On a chaotic final day at TPC Potomac that included a 5-minute delay for a pop-up storm, Stanley and Howell finished at 7-under 273 after matching final-round 4-under 66s.
EUROPEAN TOUR: English golfer Tommy Fleetwood hit a faultless 5-under 66 to win the French Open in Guyancourt, France by one shot ahead of Peter Uihlein of the United States. Fleetwood had five birdies and no bogeys to finish at 12 under while Uihlein just failed to force a playoff after making a late charge.
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