COLORADO SPRINGS — Apart from taking time out to win the past two LPGA events, Taiwan’s Yani Tseng has spent a good portion of the summer running stadium steps near her Orlando, Fla., home, all the better to get ready for the rarified air this week during the 66th U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor.
“I needed to get my heart rate up,” the world’s top-ranked female golfer said Tuesday. “I felt the elevation when I first got here. But running the steps, I felt refreshed.”
Nothing, however, could prepare Tseng for the slick greens of The Broadmoor’s East Course. During a practice round, Tseng’s breathing was fine. It was her eyes that were giving her trouble. They almost popped out of her head after watching her medium-length putt pick up steam as it slipped down the slope on the par-3 No. 4.
The ball rolled off the green.
“The greens here, they’re crazy,” Tseng said, not meaning any disrespect. “I didn’t think I hit the putt that hard. And it just kept rolling and rolling. When it rolled off the green I said, ‘Wow. I can’t believe that.’ “
Count on Tseng getting it figured out before the opening round Thursday. She is on a roll.
A major roll.
Although still relatively unknown to a large portion of mainstream sports fans, Tseng is being mentioned in the same sentence as Annika Sorenstam, even Tiger Woods, among golf fans. In regard to major championships, Tseng’s torrid pace is ahead of both.
With her victory two weeks ago in the Wegmans LPGA Championship, Tseng became the youngest golfer to win four majors on the PGA or LPGA tours. Tseng was 22 years, 5 months and 3 days old when she lapped the field at Locust Hill Country Club near Rochester, N.Y., beating runner-up Morgan Pressel by 10 strokes.
Patty Berg, one of the LPGA’s founders, was 23 years, 2 months and 1 day old when she won her fourth major in 1941. Woods set the PGA Tour record by winning his fourth major about six months after his 24th birthday.
Long and straight off the tee, Tseng said she feels comfortable on major championship layouts — and the longest course ever for a women’s tour event (7,047 yards) should fit her game, and her temperament. She thrives on patience.
“She hits it a long way and she keeps it in play,” said Besty King, who is playing in her 31st U.S. Women’s Open. “You know, Rochester, where she won the LPGA, that’s a very tight golf course. To hit it long and keep it in play is a challenge there.”
Half of Tseng’s eight LPGA victories are major championships. It took Sorenstam, perhaps the greatest female player in history, 15 years to win 10 majors. Tseng already is almost halfway there with four. A victory at The Broadmoor would give Tseng a career Grand Slam.
“Sometimes, like in a normal tournament, I try to worry too much if I don’t make birdie (and think) other people are going to make a bunch of birdies,” Tseng explained. “But at a major course, you’re not going to be shooting lots of low scores. So if you make bogey, it’s no worries.
“I love a tough course. I think I just focus more on a major. I just try to challenge the course.”
Tseng was introduced to golf at age 5 and immediately took to the game. Her parents first took her on annual trips to the United States to face tougher competition at age 12, and by 15 she had become U.S. Women’s Amateur Publinks Champion with a victory over Michelle Wie. Defeating the phenom Wie was considered an upset in 2004. It wouldn’t be these days. Tseng, who placed 10th in last year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Oakmont (Pa.), tops the LPGA this season in earnings ($1,280,725), scoring average (69.31) and greens in regulation (.752). She ranks third in putting (1.71) and fifth in driving distance (270.5).
Best of all, Tseng didn’t flinch when Sorenstam recently called her the “new face of women’s golf.” She has taken intensive language classes to improve her English and learned to open up and allow her vivacious personality to blossom.
She now enjoys the spotlight. That, she has decided, helped to relieve the pressure associated with being No. 1. Consider this: Sorenstam didn’t win her first major — the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor — until she was 24.
“You look at Yani,” veteran tour player Juli Inkster said, “and you never think there is going to be another Mickey Wright or another Annika Sorenstam or Lorena (Ochoa), and all of a sudden Yani comes along.
“Yani has Lorena’s power. I mean, she can bomb the ball. She’s got a lot of passion for the game. She wants to be the best. She wants to get better. So she could be here for a while. If she stays healthy, she could probably break a lot of Annika’s records.”
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
Peak performance
A look at how dominant Yani Tseng has been on the LPGA Tour this year:
Wins: Three in 10 events (ranking first)
Top-10 finishes: Eight (first)
2011 earnings: $1,280,725 (first)
Scoring average: 69.31 (first)
Rounds under par: 24 of 32 (first)
Rounds in 60s: 17 of 32 (first)
Greens in regulation: 75.2 percent (first)
Birdies: 163 (first)
Putts per green: 1.71 (third)
Driving average: 270.5 yards (fifth)
Eagles: Three (tied for sixth)
Source:
Major success story
Since turning pro and joining the LPGA Tour in 2008, 22-year-old Yani Tseng has amassed quite a resume in the past 3 1/2 seasons. A look at her professional accomplishments so far:
Major wins: 2010 Kraft-Nabisco Championship, 2010 Women’s British Open, 2008 and 2011 LPGA Championship
Career earnings: $5.9 million
LPGA victories: Eight
Career top 10s: 41 in 83 events
Career cuts made: 79 in 83 events
Pro honors: 2010 player of the year (first from Taiwan and second-youngest at age 21), 2008 rookie of the year, career-low 62 in the third round of the 2009 Corning Classic, has seven top-10 finishes in 14 career majors, youngest golfer (male or female) to win four majors (she placed second at the Kraft event this year).
Source: LPGA
Bound for The Broadmoor?
U.S. Women’s Open schedule
Today: Practice round
Thursday: First round
Friday: Second round; field will be cut to the 60 low scores and ties, and those within 10 strokes of the tournament leader.
Saturday: Third round
Sunday: Final round; playoff would be three-holes aggregate, then if still tied, sudden-death playoff.
Tickets
$39 for adults, available at King Soopers and at the course; ages 17 and younger get in free with ticketed adult. Tickets for today’s practice round are $20.
Parking
South on Interstate 25 to exit 138, then go east and follow signs; shuttles leaving often from spectator lots. Handicap parking available at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.
