Who is Megan Khang? All you need to know about the 2023 CPKC Women's Open champion
Megan Khang won the LPGA's CPKC Women's Open on Sunday (August 27), defeating Jin Young Ko in a playoff hole, marking her first victory on the LPGA Tour in her 191 career starts.
Entering the final round of the event with a 5-stroke lead, Khang carded a 2-over 74. She had almost bottled up her lead until the par-4 18th hole, where she made her third birdie of the day. The final hole birdie helped her take it to the playoff with Ko, who also finished at 9-under after a final round 69.
In the playoff hole, Ko ended up making a double bogey while Khang two-putted for a par and claimed her first-ever LPGA Tour victory in her eighth year as a professional.
Khang was born on October 23, 1997, in Brockton, Massachusetts, to Vietnam War refugee parents from Laos, who had settled in America in the 1970s. After being introduced to the game by her father, she started playing golf at the age of five.
At the age of 14, Khang qualified for the 2012 US Women's Open. During her junior golf career, she achieved victory in numerous events, including the 2012 Northern Junior Championship, the 2013 PING Invitational, consecutive Faldo Series Grand Finals in 2013 and 2014, the 2014 Doral-Publix Junior Classic, and the 2015 Eastern Amateur Championship.
In 2015, Khang got the opportunity to be on the United States Junior Solheim Cup team. Later that year, she finished T-6 at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, which was good enough to earn her LPGA Tour card for the following season. It took her eight long years to claim her first win on Tour.
Prior to her victory at the 2023 CPKC Women's Open, the Brockton native had achieved 33 top-10 finishes, with 10 of them occurring in major tournaments. Her most notable major performance took place at the 2023 Women's PGA Championship, where she secured a T3 finish, just two strokes behind the winner, Yin Ruoning.
Up until now, Khang has accumulated earnings of $5,407,252 from her participation in the LPGA Tour. In the current year, she has earned $1,228,340 and notched four top-10 finishes in 16 starts.
Is Megan Khang in the 2023 United States Solheim Cup team?
The 25-year-old golfer made it to the 2023 United States Solheim Cup squad after finishing fourth in the US Solheim Cup points list with 362.50 points. This will be her third appearance at the biennial event, as she was part of the last two editions.
The 2023 Solheim Cup will take place from Friday, September 22, to Sunday, September 24, 2023, at Finca Cortesin in Casares, Andalusia, Spain. Both the US and Europe will have first-time captains, with Stacy Lewis leading the US team and Suzann Pettersen captaining the European squad.
The top seven players in the US Points list and the top two in the Rolex Women's Golf Rankings earned the automatic spot, while the remaining three players will be picked by Lewis.
The top two in the European Solheim Cup standings and the top six in the world rankings earned automatic spots for Team Europe, and the rest of the four were picked by Pettersen last week.