Everyone knows the universal pain of an airline luggage mix-up. But it could not have happened at a worse time for Danielle Kang.
As of Tuesday, Kang’s golf clubs have not made it to Andalucia, Spain, for the Solheim Cup, which begins Friday.
The U.S. team member even took to social media Monday evening to plead for anyone who could help to get her bag on the next flight over.
“Hi. I need everyone’s help again,” Kang wrote. “My captain and the entire US Team has been on this but someone PLEASE put my GOLF bag on the next flight out of AMSTERDAM to MALAGA … it’s missed every flight it could’ve been on today.”
Speaking to reporters Tuesday at Finca Cortesin, the venue for this year’s U.S. vs. Europe showdown, Kang confirmed her clubs had not reached her yet — except for one.
“I do travel with my putter separately, yes, in a rifle case,” Kang explained, “because my putter is a different model, so we don’t have the bending machine for it, and it bends a lot during travel, so I put it in a separate case to travel with because I don’t have the means to get my putter checked every week.”
So Kang at least could hang out on the putting green while her American teammates scouted the course. Ping then came through Tuesday and provided Kang with a temporary set of clubs.
Kang said Titleist, one of her sponsors, was also lending a hand by making a backup set.
“It is what it is. You just kind of roll with the punches,” Kang said. “It’s life, it’s golf, you know, it’s OK.”
Despite that relaxed outlook, Kang would surely prefer to have her own clubs in hand when the first matches begin.
“The other 13 are coming. It’s coming. We have faith,” Kang said. “[Captain] Stacy [Lewis] is on it. I mean, she’s putting out fires, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one causing fire right now.”