GOLF: PHILIP REIDprofiles the 22-year-old who this week could become the youngest golfer to achieve a career Grand Slam
WHO KNOWS how it all starts out? In Yani Tseng’s case, it all began when, as a six-year-old, she went along to a driving range with her parents and started to imitate their swings. Her father, a good amateur golfer, recognised something out of the ordinary, taught her himself for a couple of years and, then, got her coached by a professional teacher. That’s how this new era started.
For sure, childhood prodigies are all the rage. Tiger Woods was one; so too Rory McIlroy. The difference with Tseng is that – in filling the void left by Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa – her era of dominance threatens to break every record in professional golf, by a man or a woman. She’s a phenomenon, who plays with a smile, and is setting record after record and creating a series of firsts that is almost hard to fathom.
Now, Tseng – treated with all of the adoration of a rock star in her native Taiwan – is the undisputed women’s world number one in golf and, at just 22 years of age, will this week seek to become the youngest ever to achieve the career Grand Slam when she heads into the US Women’s Open with an aura of invincibility never before known in the sport.
When Tseng last month won the US LPGA Championship, beating runner-up Morgan Pressel by 10 shots, it gave her a fourth major title. She was the youngest player – man or woman – to win a fourth major. Put it this way: Woods was six months past his 24th birthday when he won his fourth major. And to put it another way: Sorenstam, the greatest women’s player ever, won her 10 majors in 15 years on tour before retiring to start a family.
Although separated by numerous time zones and cultural differences, there is a striking similarity about the emergence of Tseng and McIlroy. Both were influenced by their fathers, good amateurs, and both were then guided by proper coaches. Both undertook childhood trips to play in the United States where they won world junior championships and both cite travelling and exposure to other cultures at any early age in contributing to their development.
“Going to tournaments has given me the chance to experience various cultures all over the world,” explains Tseng.
Unlike McIlroy who remains based at his home in Co Down, Tseng – while proclaiming to “love” her country, ensuring that she uses Taiwan-made laptops and MP3 players – has chosen to take a second home in the US. As it happens, that home at Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida, once belonged to Sorenstam. And Tseng has set herself the goal of filling the trophy cabinet vacated by the Swede who, as it happens, has become an adviser and confidante to the Taiwan golfer.
“Every time I go back to the house I see the empty trophy case, and I’m not happy about that,” Tseng said. “So I try to fill it more and more . . . I was thinking I want to bring my amateur trophies and put them in there first.”
Instead, she’s adopted the approach of filling it bit by bit, with last month’s LPGA giving her a fourth major to add to the 2008 US LPGA, the 2010 Kraft Nabisco Championship and last year’s British Women’s Open.
Tseng, though, has a totally different on-course demeanour to Sorenstam. Where the Swede was stoical, Tseng plays the game with a smile that masks an inner determination. “I just keep telling myself, ‘commit to the shot and keep your tempo right’ . . . and keep smiling all 18 holes,” said Tseng of keeping what appears to be a constant grin on her face.
And when, at the start of last year, Tseng felt she needed some help with her game, it was Sorenstam – through a friend – that she turned to. As Tseng recalled, “My friend called her to see if she’d have time to talk with me because I felt like I was struggling. She told me, ‘everything outside the ropes you need to just get rid of. When you get inside the ropes, you just want to have fun and play golf, and you don’t want to think too much’.”
Now, heading into this week’s US Women’s Open, Sorenstam has observed of Tseng: “She’s the new face of the LPGA.” Her coach, Gary Gilchrist, remarked: “She is playing the best golf with the amount of expectations and pressure that’s been put on her, which is number one in the world. It’s awesome to watch.”
To most observers, this dawning of what is called the “Yani Era” has the potential to make her the greatest champion in the game’s history.
A look at the stats on the LPGA Tour this season tells its own story: her 69.31 scoring average is almost a stroke ahead of anyone else, and her total of 163 birdies and eagles is 30 more than second-placed Cristie Kerr. She is first in greens in regulation, first in birdies, first in rounds under par and is fifth in driving distance, averaging 270 yards off the tee. The rest of the world is trying to play catch-up.
As Kerr remarked, “It’s pretty unbelievable. She’s found her stride at such a young age . . . I played with her in Korea when she was 15; you knew she was going to be good, but I didn’t know she’d be this good.”
Tseng – who assumed the world number one position after winning the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia in February – has worked with a number of different teachers, starting with Tony Kau in Taiwan at the age of eight, and now works with Gilchrist who first met her as a 14-year-old.
Pia Nilsson, who has also worked with Tseng, believes the attribute which makes Tseng “great” is her ability to keep things simple. “She doesn’t want to be in the play box more than five seconds. Annika always kept things simple and it helped her save energy to play well more often. Yani is the same in that respect.”
Interestingly, Tseng – like McIlroy – has also engaged with short-game guru Dave Stockton. She takes one look at her target on the green and makes a decisive stroke before doubt can set in. Simple.
Things moved fast for Tseng once she turned professional as a 17-year-old, playing first on the Asian Ladies Tour before securing her tour card on the LPGA at the qualifying school in December 2007. Her first win happened to come in a major, the 2008 LPGA championship. She was 19, the youngest player to win the LPGA and the second youngest ever to win a women’s major.
Tseng – whose main sponsors are Lacoste and Adams Golf – was offered a five-year sponsorship deal from a Chinese company last year worth a reputed €17.2 million with access to a luxury villa and private jets. She rejected the offer because one of the requirements of the deal was that she switch citizenship to the People’s Republic of China.
Proud of her background, Tseng once remarked: “Taiwanese parents raise their children with high expectations, they want them to do well. Most parents are not afraid of investing in their kids’ education, whether it’s in science, the arts or sports.
“My family’s support gave me my motivation and winning attitude – it’s the reason I love to take on challenges and why I can do it without fear.
“For me, excellence means mental toughness. It’s important for me to perform well in any situation and to be able to deal with constant pressure during competition without giving up. I don’t think about the sacrifices I make along the way, I think about what I can gain from putting in the effort to realise my goals.”
The girl who only ever wanted to be a schoolteacher has the potential to become the greatest player women’s golf has ever seen.
US Women's Open on a high
THIS WEEK’S US Women’s Open will break new ground: it will be staged on the East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs which, at 7,047 yards, will be the longest in the championship’s history. More interestingly, perhaps, it will also be staged at an elevation of 6,230 feet.
Mike Davis of the USGA, who organise the championship, believes the high altitude will make balls travel as much as 12 per cent farther on holes that are downhill.
The most difficult stretch on the course is likely to be that from the 10th to the 15th. Davis remarked: “If you can play those holes anywhere close to par, maybe a few over, you are absolutely going to pick up strokes on the field.”
This year’s venue surpasses Interlachen Country Club in Minneapolis – which played to a length of 6,789 yards in 2008 – as the longest course for a US Women’s Open. But with rough as thick as four inches, Davis observed that the challenge is more than just being about power off the tee. It’s about shot-making and thinking your way around the golf course. Length is never the issue, and I don’t think it will be this year either.”
Yani Tseng
Age: 22
Height: 5’ 6”
World Ranking: Number one.
Interests: Pool, movies, shopping.
Major wins: 2008 – LPGA Championship (bt Maria Hjorth in play-off), 2010 – Kraft Nabisco Championship (finished one stroke clear of Suzann Pettersen), 2010 – British Women’s Open (one stroke clear of Katherine Hull), 2011 – LPGA Championship (10 shots clear of Morgan Pressel)
