Megan Khang & Denny McCarthy

Friday, December 8, 2023

Q. Welcome, good round out there today. I know you guys did not play a practice round together, is that right, so this is your first time out there on the course together? Are you surprised at how well you managed?

DENNY McCARTHY: I feel like we didn’t need a practice round. Nelly told me, I think she called you a pocket rocket is what — a ball of fun. So I knew it was going to be easy to play with Megan.

And we met each other Tuesday night and it was, you know, I feel like we’re already great friends. I knew it was going to be really easy. She’s very easy to play with and get along with. Felt like we just had a lot of fun and the golf just kind of happened to get in the way.

MEGAN KHANG: Honestly, it’s funny because I met Joel a couple weeks ago. He’s like you’re playing with Denny you’re going to have a great time.

It’s pretty funny like both our partners we kind of met them before we met each other. Again it’s like we’ve known each other forever. I introduced myself to your mom and your sister, I’m like you raised a great son, like he’s so nice. It’s been a lot of fun.

Q. On golf, which also happened today, which one of you was maybe scoring the most? Were you guys having a little internal competition? Were you paying attention to that?

DENNY McCARTHY: I think we both had our fair share of contributing holes, contributing putts or shots, whatever you want to call it. I think we both, it was like our birdies started to feel like pars, we were just like making birdies and going to the next hole, and we had a couple tap-ins in there.

MEGAN KHANG: The shot of the day though was No. 13. I don’t know if Denny wants people to know, but I drove it into the greenside bunker-ish roughly like 35 yards. He’s like just get it up there close and I’ll hole it. I was like OK, Denny. Like I’d love to see that.

DENNY McCARTHY: I did call my shot.

MEGAN KHANG: He’s like I’m going to hole it. I was like OK. Holes it and I was like no way. I was like, that’s my partner, guys.

DENNY McCARTHY: Babe ruth, I pointed and called my shot. That was nice. I think we made — we birdied 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, eagles 13, almost eagled 14. We were just kind of rolling, having a good time.

Q. This golf course isn’t a pitch and putt, but this is kind of a format where you’re starting with a scramble just to kind of get the juices flowing. Like how much fun is it out there just to kind of take the professional golf hat off and kind of put the kind of fun recreational player hat on just to go out and see how many birdies you can make?

MEGAN KHANG: I kind of forgot we were in a tournament, our group was having fun. Again, good golf is always fun golf, but it’s definitely in the back of your mind going like oh, I hope I don’t want to make Denny putt right now. Again, just trying our best. Again, we’re both pretty laid back and just trying to have a good time, keep it light.

DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, I think this format’s very freeing. Like we both drove it great today and I hit most of the tee shots just further back. I drove it well, then she drove it well. Then we were in similar spots and then she went first and hit a good iron shot and then I’m able to be more aggressive. We played very complementary golf, if you will, where it was just, you know, just kind of point and shoot. We were able to just fire at targets. And the wind kind of laid down, it’s not really doing much, so it’s definitely gettable and we got it.

Q. Do you all have a team name in mind or is there any sort of combination of last names?

MEGAN KHANG: We have to think about that.

DENNY McCARTHY: We haven’t talked or thought about it much.

MEGAN KHANG: We’ll come up with one.

DENNY McCARTHY: We’ll come up with one and get back to you.

Q. Nice round out there.

DENNY McCARTHY: Thanks.

Q. So you said you met Tuesday, but when was the first time that you knew that you were going to be paired together?

MEGAN KHANG: So for me I was told I got — I got the invite from Grant Thornton so I was thrilled and they gave me a couple names to see if I would want to be partners with them and Denny was one of them. And Nelly played with Denny in the past, she’s like you’re going to love Denny, I think you should ask for him. I don’t know how it went from the PGA side of it all. I was like I would love to play with Denny, and I think Denny either accepted or rejected —

DENNY McCARTHY: I accepted, I accepted.

Q. So once you found you were paired together, do you Google and say I have to look up what they’ve done?

DENNY McCARTHY: I’m sorry, Megan, I did not.

MEGAN KHANG: I was like, no, I did not Google you.

DENNY McCARTHY: Maybe after the week. Maybe right now I feel like we’re just —

MEGAN KHANG: At least (indiscernible) of getting to know him.

DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, yeah.

Q. I’m not sure what your guys’ experience is in mixed events, but after having this round under your belt, how did it feel to play alongside a PGA player and LPGA player and would you do it again?

MEGAN KHANG: 100 percent.

DENNY McCARTHY: Obviously I played with Nelly last year so I got a little taste of what this event would be like and I think this is a really cool event. I think it’s cool that this is — I think they had a mixed event back in the day, but this is cool that we’re kind of part of a new chapter of history if you will. It’s just a great — it’s great to be a partner with Megan. She’s literally so easy to get along with and that makes playing golf a lot easier.

MEGAN KHANG: I will say it’s very impressive to see how far the guys hit it, their compression, it sounds so different. Cheyenne and I, obviously playing the same tees, we would kind of be off to the side and we would be like, wow, it must be nice to have like a 6-iron that goes miles in the air knowing it’s going to sit, whereas our 6 irons typically aren’t going that high. It’s pretty cool to see how different but similar the game is in a sense. I mean, these guys are so good. I mean, nothing but good things to say about them.

Q. Would you advocate for like more events like this in the future to be added to the schedule rather than just like once a year, once in a while?

DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, potentially.

MEGAN KHANG: Potentially, yeah. I feel like one’s a great step, a step in the right direction. You know, I feel like people are going to get a taste of this event, see how fun it is and how engaging it is of how many families come out, boys, girls. They just see these players on both levels competing and having fun and showing up and putting up some good scores. I think it’s great for not only golf, but for the future of golf.

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