Megan Khang was marking her golf ball in the locker room at Dundonald Links and was running late. She was about to finish her pre-round preparation and hustle out to finish warming up when she found out there would be a weather delay. Suddenly, time was once again on her side.
Khang didn’t go out. More importantly, she didn’t get wet. And when it was her turn to face the elements, she ultimately fired a tidy 4-under 68 to share the early lead at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.
“I’m very happy we were able to finish the round, and that gets me done for the day,” Khang said.
Khang has had a bit of an up-and-down 2024 campaign but has shown some serious signs of fine play over the last few months. She finished tied for 14th in her title defense at the CPKC Women’s Open and notched a tie for second at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer a month prior, two of six total top-15 finishes this season.
Khang, who had three birdies on both the front and back nines on Thursday, said she embraced Mother Nature during the opening round in Ayrshire, Scotland.
“When it was time to go out, everyone was playing in the same conditions,” Khang said. “Links-style golf, there is definitely a lot more imagination going on and especially with the wind kind of going sideways. It definitely can be fun. A little stressful sometimes, but for the most part, I'm trying to make the most of it and trying to enjoy my walk out there.”
Khang flexed her creative muscles with a chip-in for birdie on the par-4 7th hole. Khang had hit a poor second shot, and her heels as she addressed her third shot were in the water. But she said she hit a “lovely” shot, and in the hole it went. Khang called it a “nice little cherry on top” of her day.
Despite the conditions Thursday, Khang classified Dundonald Links as “a ton of fun.” She said she was thrilled with how she was hitting the ball in the first round and was happy to have given herself birdie opportunities.
It’s no surprise that she has felt that way again this week. According to KPMG Performance Insights, she is second on the LPGA Tour this season in strokes gained tee to green and fifth in strokes gained approach.
Combine her tremendous ball striking with a positive mental approach to Thursday’s tricky conditions, and she has found herself firmly in the mix heading into the next few days in Scotland.
“It kind of hurts starting off both nines with bogey, but at the end of the day, bogeys are going to happen. Just going to have to kind of minimize them,” Khang said. “The weather is the same for everyone in our wave, and you can look at it as like we didn't really have the best wave, but at the end of the day, that's golf. We play an outdoor sport. You have to change your mindset and go, if that's how it's going to be, let's embrace the challenge itself.”
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