THE MODERATOR: All right, very pleased to be joined by Megan Khang and Lexi Thompson here at the Dow Championship. Obviously not your first time playing this course, but first time playing together. Talk about how the partnership came to be.
LEXI THOMPSON: Well, it's not our first time playing together. Well, here, yes.
MEGAN KHANG: Yes.
LEXI THOMPSON: But, yeah.
MEGAN KHANG: I think we owe a little bit to our former captain, Stacy Lewis, for kind of showing us this pairing in Spain. Clearly worked well there so we are hoping to ride that coming into this week.
It's always good fun come playing with Lex and it's fun to watch all the time. I've very happy to be having some shorter clubs in, and I hope you're ready for some longer shots.
LEXI THOMPSON: Perfect. It's all about balance.
Q. How do you complement each other's game?
MEGAN KHANG: I'm just a fan out there, honestly.
LEXI THOMPSON: No, no.
MEGAN KHANG: I'm just a fan. I'll be your No. 1 fan this week as long as you be mine.
LEXI THOMPSON: Of course. I think it's like golf game aside, it's about personalities, too, bringing them together in team golf.
But she's very consistent, very straight. You know, hopefully she'll just hit the fairway and I'll get it as close as I can and she'll make the putts.
MEGAN KHANG: I mean, I've been telling DT leading up to this week, I think statistically Lexi is probably one of the best putters, if not the best putter inside, what, 15, 20 feet at least.
I feel like consistently --
LEXI THOMPSON: ...(talking over one another) got that stat, and I was like okay.
MEGAN KHANG: I feel like I got that stat from Stacy, I'm not gonna lie. I trust Stacy with the stats.
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, me too.
MEGAN KHANG: No, but for the most part I feel like with my own game I feel like I'm consistent hitting the greens, and hopefully that continues for this week. If I can keep that going on for Lexi I know she'll drain a lot of them for me and I don't really have to putt that much. But if I have to come down to it, I'll make some too.
LEXI THOMPSON: That's good. Good to know.
Q. How does this course suit your games?
MEGAN KHANG: Honestly I think this course is a great setup for this setup in general. I think the Dow picked a fantastic course because it brings in all assets of some of the odd holes for alternate shot tend to be a little more approach shots in; whereas evens are a little more putting.
But at the same time, even holes are longer which is how we kind of strategized our hitting order. But it's pretty cool just because obviously Lexi being longer than I am, we kind of played on her being able to hit into some longer holes off the tee for us to hopefully give me a shorter club in.
Again, I think this golf course is just a great setup for this format of the golf.
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, and great shape as well. That's always a perk.
Q. Obviously you guys have played Solheim together, so very familiar with team events. How cool is it that you get to play a regular season team event per se?
LEXI THOMPSON: I think it's amazing. I think it's what golf needs. Golf needs more events like this. I also think fans really enjoy seeing us out there. It's not as intense. Of course we're still doing our routines and wanting to make birdies and playing well, but we have that more fun dynamic, especially with Megan. We're always laughing and just having a good time out there.
I think fans really enjoy seeing that side of us. They don't get to see that week in and week out.
MEGAN KHANG: Yeah, I 100% agree with Lexi. I think this kind of week is -- especially after coming from last week of a head banger, it's definitely -- at least for me personally, it's a nice light, refreshing not just for the season, but in general. Team golf is always fun. We don't get to do it a ton because golf is an individual sport?
But other than like a Solheim or International Crown, it's every other year, but it's great to have this format each year, and I always look forward to coming back.
Q. Obviously Midland kind of brings out -- it's a very small town. The whole town kind of rallies around the event. How cool is that to see the town, the fans, everyone come out and support you guys?
MEGAN KHANG: It's incredible. I think Dow does an amazing job of bringing the community together. I stay down I guess downtown at the H. You know, it's pretty cool how they block off a portion of the street to have outings. I think I flew in Monday and they had a little DJ party on the street.
I went out there and there was some line dancing. It's cool to see the community come together for the greater of the golf tournament and just to come together for a whole week on top of I'm sure they do a lot of the great things throughout the year.
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah. Yeah, of course Dow has been a huge supporter of women's golf. They really get behind their community and it really shows this week with everybody that comes out to support us.
But just to show how much they really recognize women's golf and want to grow the game, I think that's what we're all really grateful for as well.
Q. What's a round going to look like this week between Megan and Lexi?
MEGAN KHANG: Smiles. In one word, smiles.
LEXI THOMPSON: That's the goal.
MEGAN KHANG: That's the goal.
LEXI THOMPSON: No, it'll be a fun time for sure. We're really looking forward to it. Like Megan said, after last week it was very stressful, so to be able to have this week and be a bit more relaxed and have a good time with a partner by your side, it's a lot of fun.
Q. This may be a repetitive question: Two weeks ago when we were at Meijer. The fans were out in droves, right? It's kind of the signature of these Michigan events. When the LPGA plays these community events, how great is it for you to stand on the first tee and see the line of fans and the line of kids that are supporting you, starting on Thursday and going all the way to Sunday?
LEXI THOMPSON: Uh-huh. I think we can probably both speak on this.
MEGAN KHANG: Yeah. I mean, no, to repeat, like Michigan -- I personally love coming to Michigan. Meijer is probably one of our best-attended events, and Meijer does a great job hosting all the vendors from the Grand Taste to the Kids' Center, and I think Dow does an incredible job of it as well.
I think Michigan has kind of embraced the LPGA and what we kind of stand for and bringing in the next generation. To see all the kids, especially at Dow, lined up, obviously a little more fun this week so a little more interactive.
You know, golf is like what we do, but at the same time we're trying to created really good examples for the next generations. To be able to see these young golfers coming out and getting to see us a little looser on the golf course, it's incredible.
It's not often we get to have a partner and really truly show our personalities and have some fun out there.
Because golf obviously is an individual sport, but to be out there having a good friend out there and really enjoying and embracing the moments and seeing these young kids swinging golf clubs and they're just sticks on the side of the ropes and screaming our names, it's really cool to be there and see how us playing golf can impact generations to come.
You know, I know that -- I'm pretty sure I can speak for Lexi about this -- it makes our job feel that much easier and that more impactful. It's something that like I would never and I'm sure Lexi would never give up, because it's so cool to see that playing golf is what we can do.
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah. Yeah, of course. Michigan has been a huge supporter of women's golf. To be able to see the little kids out there, it makes a world of difference. Good or bad, I mean, we can shoot 80 and they're like, you did so great today. They don't know, but we're somebody they look up to.
That means more to us than anything or a good score. So to be able to make at that difference means a lot to us. I think events like this or Meijer, it just really shows how much we're being able to grow the game and make a difference in the world.
Q. I know we talked about it before you got on stage, what's the team name?
MEGAN KHANG: I'll let Lexi say this one. She came up with it.
LEXI THOMPSON: I did. On the drive over. She was like, what are we going to say in the press conference for our team name. I was like, well, I'm just going to through this one out there. So it's Team Biggie Smalls.
MEGAN KHANG: Biggie Smalls, right? Because I'm...
LEXI THOMPSON: Okay.
MEGAN KHANG: No, we had a few names in the hat but we landed on this one. I won't say the other names because that will be between us.
LEXI THOMPSON: Might being what we're laughing at. (Laughing.)
MEGAN KHANG: Yeah. No, but Lexi sent the text -- well, when I asked her, what are we going to say in the presser, she said Biggie Smalls, I was on board from the jump. I'm solid. I'm here for it.
LEXI THOMPSON: That's all we could think of; we're going with it.
MEGAN KHANG: We are still figuring out a song, so any recommendations would help.
LEXI THOMPSON: I'm leaving that one up to her. I did the name. I'm done.
MEGAN KHANG: Yeah, send me the songs. Might be a little late on the request to put in a song, but...
LEXI THOMPSON: That's Okay. Better late than never.
MEGAN KHANG: Maybe they'll let us slide it in.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports