The ‘Dinah’ leaving desert with new LPGA sponsor

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DALLAS – Sung Kang was in his mid-teens when he first came to Dallas from his native South Korea. His dad sent him to the area in the winter and summer stretches to hone his golf skills. Then in 2011, in his rookie year on the PGA TOUR, Kang moved permanently to North Texas, setting up shop in the suburb of Coppell, near the airport. On Friday, prior to the start of his second round at the AT&T Byron Nelson, the 31-year-old woke up to conditions he had never seen in May in Texas – cool temperatures in the mid-50s, along with brisk early breezes. That forced players to wear long sleeves and sweaters; some even wore beanies, an unusual look for a tournament that’s normally closer to sweltering. Dallas native Jordan Spieth acknowledged he wasn’t prepared for it – he was on the range when he called his wife and asked her to bring him some cold-weather apparel from their house. “No excuses if you’re in your hometown,â€� Spieth joked. Sweden’s Henrik Stenson was properly bundled up. “Had four layers on and felt a little bit like the Michelin Man,â€� he said. Martin Laird, a native of Scotland, was very familiar with the weather. “Definitely more of a Scottish weather today than Dallas this time of year,â€� he said. The cool weather might have thrown off a few players. Kang was not one of them. “It’s like perfect and awesome,â€� he said. “Nice conditions for a low score.â€� Nice conditions for a 10-under 61, which is what Kang shot Friday to tie the course record set by Marc Leishman last year when Trinity Forest made its debut as the host venue. Spieth, a member at Trinity Forest, called it “an absurd round.â€� Compared to the rest of the field, it certainly was – Kang’s 61 was more than 10 strokes better than the field average when he finished early Friday afternoon. At 16 under through 36 holes, Kang had the clubhouse lead, four strokes ahead of playing partner Matt Every, who shot a 65. “An impressive round of golf,â€� Stenson replied when asked about Kang, who is seeking his first TOUR win. “He seems to have left some space between him and the rest of the field as of now.â€� It wasn’t Kang’s lowest score on TOUR – in 2016, he shot a course-record 11-under 60 at Monterey Peninsula while playing the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His celebrity partner that week was comedian/TV actor Ray Romano, who had never heard of Kang prior to that week. On the flip side, Kang had never heard of Romano – he did a Google search to find out more — but they had four rounds to really get to know each other. Ironically, that week at Pebble Beach also had unusual weather – hot temperatures and sunny skies, and none of the “Crosby weatherâ€� the tournament is famous for in February. Related: Tee times | Hoops title gives McCarthy a lesson in toughness | A chip-in eagle – and then reality – for Romo | Nine holes blind, but Koepka still walks away with a 65 at Trinity Forest | Leishman withdraws with back injury | Origin story: Arm-lock putting  Obviously, Kang has shown the ability to compensate for different conditions. After checking the weather and noting the cool temperatures Friday, Kang adjusted his yardages on the driving range prior to his round, estimating that his shots were traveling five percent shorter than on Thursday. “So we just trust the number and five percent, just hit it and then worked out good,â€� Kang said. It certainly did during his run of six consecutive birdies in the middle of his round. At the short par-4 fifth, Kang nearly holed his wedge shot, then tapped in to start his birdie streak. His approach at the sixth from 135 yards landed 6-1/2 feet from the pin. He reached the fringe of the par-5 seventh green for a birdie there. His tee shot at the par-3 eighth finished 8 feet away and his approach with a 4-iron from 217 yards at the par-4 ninth left him 6 feet for birdie. Once he made the turn, he let his putter take over, as he rolled in birdie putts from 21-1/2 feet at the 10th, 18-1/2 feet at the 13th, 12 feet at the 14th and 11 feet at the 16th. As if that wasn’t enough, he saved par on his final hole with a 14-footer. Every was playing so well that it wasn’t until the back nine that he realized his playing partner was playing better. “I didn’t even know Sung was playing that good until 10, 11 there, looked on the board, said he made six in a row,â€� Every recalled. “Really, he’s made six in a row? I was kind of doing my own thing. “Yeah, it was a good day for both of us.â€� Kang said 59 did cross his mind after his birdie putt at the 16th. He needed birdies on the closing two holes, but neither one is easy, and he didn’t want to ruin his round with a late bogey. So he played conservative, not wanting to step back to the field “Conditions were so hard,â€� he said. “You try to force it and the course is playing so tough out there. So, just try to get the opportunity, probably try to hit it within 15 feet and if I make the putt, good. If I don’t, make par and get me going. “I still think it was a great round.â€�

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Brandon Harkins will tell you that he has a pretty adventurous palate. He never acquired a taste for that thick, salty, black spread that the Australians call Vegemite, though. “Not a fan,â€� Harkins said. “I like a lot of things — but Vegemite, probably not again.â€� But Harkins did become a fan of Aussie Rules Football during the eight months he spent Down Under after graduating from high school. His cousins, who live in Brisbane, Australia, introduced him to the sport. It was a good time to be a Brisbane Lions fan, too. The AFL team, which appeared in four consecutive Grand Finals from 2001-2004, was one of the most feared in the league. “I’d go to a ton of games,â€� recalls the 31-year-old Harkins, who grew up following the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors and San Francisco 49ers — when he wasn’t traveling around Australia and New Zealand, that is. Harkins took full advantage of the gap year gift his mother gave him before heading to play golf at Chico State. “I didn’t even bring my golf clubs,â€� Harkins said. “So I had all this time away from golf and I came back totally ready to play again. (I was) totally ready to go.â€� Harkins’ cousins in Brisbane provided a home base and offered well-informed travel advice. Sometimes they even joined him on trips, as did his mom, his younger brother and his best friend. “They said go here, go there,â€� Harkins recalls. “They helped tremendously.â€� But there were six or seven trips where Harkins, who had gotten an international driver’s license, struck out on his own, often staying in hostels or with friends he met along the way. He went solo to Sydney, Melbourne and Byron Bay, which he remembers as a “really hippie place,â€� as well as up to Cairns near the Great Barrier Reef. “I was totally on my own up in Cairns,â€� Harkins says. “I was probably on my own for a week there. That was a little bit of a learning experience for me. That was probably my first hostel I’ve ever stayed in and by myself.â€� The highlights for Harkins were many during his eight-month excursion. Sydney and its famous Harbour Bridge. The Great Ocean Road outside Melbourne, a city that reminded him of the Bay Area in California where he grew up. “I also really liked getting to know their culture,â€� Harkins says. “It’s a little bit different down there. It’s a little bit slower of a pace and it just seems like from what I was used to that no one was in a rush for anything. That was really cool to see.â€� Harkins, who said he’d like to be featured in Field and Stream Magazine for catching a world record bass someday, saw all kinds of wildlife in his travels, too, including fairy penguins. He hiked. He watched the surfers at Bells Beach and Bondi Beach with great interest — Harkins even tried to learn how to hang ten “to no luck,â€� he said. Harkins also spent some time on New Zealand’s North Island, where he tried his hand at black water rafting. After putting on a full-body wetsuit, he rappelled about 200 feet down into a dark cave with stalagmites and stalactites. “That actually was a little scary,â€� Harkins recalled. “You’re with a guide and you get down and it’s pitch black and you turn your headlamp on. “And then you’re on these zip-lines in these caves. It was really interesting. You’re like walking through the water in the caves. It was a cool experience.â€� Harkins’ travels didn’t stop when he got back from Australia, either. Since graduating from Chico State with a degree in psychology, he has played professionally in nearly a dozen different countries. Harkins even made a 32-hour commute from Nicaragua to Paris about 18 months ago so he could help his mother-in-law celebrate her 60th birthday. Harkins is once again traveling to new places, albeit in his native United States, as a rookie on the PGA TOUR. The Web.com Tour graduate has already posted two top-10 finishes in 10 starts and has found it to be “everything you think it is and more.â€� “I’m just kind of taking it one step at a time, but it’s been a lot of fun,â€� Harkens said.

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