Q. All right, here with Megan Khang after her third round at the FM Championship. Megan, another great round, and extra fun playing with Lexi Thompson today. I saw a huge gallery.
How excited were you when you found out about that pairing and the support you had out today?
MEGAN KHANG: You know, soon as the pairings came out I knew like the entire week there have been big crowds, and not only was it the weekend, but having myself playing with Lexi, I had a good feeling the crowds were going to show out today, especially for myself and Lex.
Funny enough, we did not plan it. We are matching. I jokingly said it's a good thing I wore black shorts or it would be tough to tell who is who out there.
Q. I know you played in the Solheim Cup together last year; maybe again this year. Did you think about that at all out there, mention it between the two of you?
MEGAN KHANG: Oh, yeah we were joking out there. We were saying, Stacy must love this pairing. She's able to get our stats today. It's always fun playing with her. She is good fun.
We kind of chitchat here and there and look out for a hot mics. Some conversations are between us.
No, it's all fun.
Q. You mentioned yesterday about shortening up the course a little. Got your wish. Did you have the fun you were hoping for today?
MEGAN KHANG: I definitely did. No, 4 was a good surprise. I hit a great drive up there. Gave it a good run for eagle. Walked away with birdie. Unfortunately followed up with a double.
That's golf. At the same time, it's nice to see these holes being able to go for it in two and making you think a little more about where to hit the tee shots to be able to reach greens and try to take advantage of it, especially on moving day.
Q. I know you'll be playing together again, but just your thoughts on the decision to retire and maybe just relishing in a chance in light of that to play with her or maybe impressions in general of her career.
MEGAN KHANG: Yeah, Lexi has been great for the game of golf. Such a household name. Done so much, especially at a young age. She is not too much older than I am, but it's pretty cool that like when I was growing up playing junior golf Lexi was kind of crushing it out here on tour.
You know, we're sad to see her leave. Being able to play this round -- and I played with her a couple weeks ago in Canada, like I said, it's always fun playing with her. The tour will miss her.
I think all the fans will as well, and the players. Being able to kind of be on the same team with her on the Solheim Cup coming up -- might be her last one; who knows; maybe she changes her mind and comes out of retirement -- but it's going to be a fun week.
I think the fans are as well acknowledging how much of a loss we are going to have with Lexi retiring. I don't think she's quite done -- hopefully. Maybe we'll see a little bit more of her. Who knows. I'm sure she'll have good luck and a great venture outside of golf once she hangs up the clubs here.
Q. I'm wondering while you're playing you're so much in the zone that you don't notice the crowd or notice the people like following and the roars and all that, or do you?
MEGAN KHANG: It's hard to ignore. I swear, half of it is my family. No, I always do. After the unfortunate double on 5 it's always nice to hear the crowd picking me back up.
Like I said, the past couple days, even after some big mistakes they keep my spirits high and I really appreciate it. It's a lot of pressure playing in front of a home crowd, but at the end of the day it's very exciting. I jokingly walked off the green and said I am going to have to pull a Haeran Ryu and shoot 10-under and hope no one else does tomorrow.
But I'm kind of looking at it in a positive way. This is really cool to play at home. Some of the Floridian girls get to play in front of their hometowns, in their home state for a few tournaments out of the year.
Especially this being the first year back in Massachusetts, I'm very happy, very proud, and I'm very happy being the unofficial host of the FM Championship.
I'm hoping all the girls are enjoying their week as well. I hope they all come back and I hope the girls who weren't able to make to see how much fun we're having out here and the word spreads how great this tournament is and so we get even more people wanting to come in and hopefully get to see the greater Boston area.
Q. The size of the crowds this week, how do they compare to most weeks for you?
MEGAN KHANG: I'm kind of biased. I always speak highly of Boston fans, New England fans in general. Kind of a ride or die crowd of here. I had a feeling Massachusetts was going to show up for the girls and they sure are. I know it's a Labor Day weekend, too, so for this many people to be coming when they can go on a vacation down to the Cape or somewhere else, it's really cool to see how many people are coming out to support women's golf.
I would say it's one of our bigger crowds as well. Again being probably biased, but I love personally having my family out there just hearing them cheer me on.
Q. How about the gallery following you? Is that the largest you've had this year?
MEGAN KHANG: It definitely is the largest I've had this year and maybe up until my career. It's been really cool to have everyone out here, everyone knowing my name and hearing the chant, pride of Massachusetts. I know Alexa Pano, Brittany Altomare, and Alison Walshe and I, and even Janet Linn who now is coming to Massachusetts more with her fiance, to be called the pride of Massachusetts, it's a huge badge of honor I don't take lightly.
I really hope that Massachusetts produces a lot more women's golfers or golfers in general. Keegan Bradley, the captain of the Ryder Cup who just won last week. It's pretty cool that we have not necessarily the best conditions for golf but we have such successful golfers coming out of Massachusetts.
Just shows the nit and grit we have out here to perform and give it our all and compete at the highest level.
Q. Did you ever come to the PGA TOUR events here?
MEGAN KHANG: I did. So I was lucky enough to play in two of the pro-ams here when it was the Duetsche Bank Championship and the Dell Technologies. I had the pleasure to play with Camilo Villegas the first year and Anthony Kim the second. Seth Waugh, CEO of Duetche Bank at the time. He took care of the kids. He did a great job of getting the kids tickets, sponsoring a group and giving it to us to have an opportunity to play with the best men in the world.
You know, it was a group of four juniors, two girls and two boys. I will say I remember winning both of them, so, solid.
Q. Given where you stand at the end of this round, how do you approach the final round tomorrow in terms of making a run at it or just pacing yourself or varying your approach to your game?
MEGAN KHANG: So I've been very happy with how I've been striking the ball this week. Greens are a little tricky to read. Missing them by -- leaving them short dead in line definitely hurts a lot.
But at the end of the day, I'm very happy. Gives me the confidence I'm reading these greens well. Just going to have to go out there and maybe be a touch more aggressive and giving my putts a chance to go by the hole.
But just doing my game plan, hitting the ball the way I've been hitting it, trying not to make a double, and if I do happen to make a mistake, minimize to a bogey.
Just going to go out there, have fun, and I know win or lose, I'm very proud of this tournament and how I've been playing this week. You know, I'm very happy about what's to come in the future.
Q. How does your performance here this week affect your impressions, thoughts about your state of play as you approach the Solheim Cup? Is there a need for a reset or just to keep it going the direction you're going?
MEGAN KHANG: I was joking with Lexi on the 10th green. We made the turn and I was like, honestly, I don't know what's more nerve-wracking playing in front of a home crowd or playing a Solheim Cup. They're pretty close.
Obviously wanted to play well for the fans here in Massachusetts and obviously for my family as well, but kind of just soaking it all in and seeing how I can perform given the immense pressure and challenge of playing at home and wanting to do well not only for myself but for others.
I'm going to try to take it and be like, you know what, when the time comes, I can do it. I can buckle down, and hopefully tomorrow it shows a little more than the past couple days.
I'm very happy how things have been going. Solheim Cup will be a whole different beast again. It's always different playing on home soil, and I'm super excited to get out there and give the crowd a little more something to root for out there and really get the crowd involved.
It's a little harder to get the crowd involved here out of respect for all the other players, but I think everyone understands the Solheim Cup, you get the crowd involved because that's kind of your advantage to be on home soil.
Q. Kind of when you started, did the two of you note the crowd together? Any kind of acknowledgment between you, wow, this is pretty cool, they came to watch us, or no.
MEGAN KHANG: I joked with Lexi, this might be the first time I hear my name louder than yours. She was so gracious. She was like, no, this is your crowd.
I know everyone is coming out here to watch some great golf and obviously Lexi is an incredible player, and it's just pretty funny that like I definitely heard my name a lot more and I was like laughing about it kind of.
It's pretty cool. You still hear Lexi's name and chant. I think the entire fan base here in Massachusetts has been very supportive and cheering on good golf.
Q. Do you remember that moment when she was so young? You must have been even younger. Do you recall thinking, how is she out there with the pros when she was so young or were you not as aware of her?
MEGAN KHANG: I will admit I probably didn't watch as much golf as a junior golfer. In 2011 I remember we were both playing the junior girls at I want to say Trump National in Bedminster.
I was 11 and she was 14 or 15 I want to say. We have a picture. I haven't shown her I don't think. It's pretty cool. You go back into the past and you fast forward to now, we're both on tour. Obviously she's retiring this year and hopefully I have a few more good years in me.
It's crazy to see that. I remember her just kind of winning the Kraft Nabisco at the time and it was super cool. She just came onto the scene, and you have like girls like her, Lydia Ko, and even Brooke. I've known Brooke Henderson since I was 14. You look at all our different paths to getting on the tour.
It's very incredible and impressive. It shows there is more than one way to get on tour.
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