Among Yani Tseng’s stated goals for the LPGA season is to smile more on the golf course.
Smile more?
Given her already astounding resume, you’d figure the 23-year-old would be walking around with a perpetual grin at every turn.
Tseng’s seven titles last year raised her career total to 15, and her pace hasn’t slowed in 2012 with three wins in six events and top-10 finishes in the other three. She tops the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings by a hefty margin and has banked $924,604 in earnings this year, bringing her total earnings to just under $8.5 million.
LPGA LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP
At Ko Olina Golf Club
» What: Full-field (144 players) LPGA tour event
» When: Starting at 7:15 a.m. today and Thursday, at 7:30 a.m. Friday and at 8:15 a.m. Saturday
» Purse: $1.7 million ($255,000 first prize)
» Tickets: $10 daily or $25 for season (all week) badge. Children 16-and-under free with paid adult.
» TV (tentative): Golf Channel, 12:30-2:30 p.m. today through Friday and 12:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday, with repeats
» Parking: $5 per vehicle at lot off of Ali‘inui Dr., with shuttle service to main entrance |
Still, the two-time reigning Rolex Player of the Year tees off today in the Lotte Championship at Ko Olina Golf Club with visions of refining her game even more, a perspective that might help explain why she’s the one smiling alongside a trophy more often than most.
“We have so many great players on the tour and we kind of push each other to get better and better and I feel like I still have a long way to go,” Tseng said during the pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “I know everybody is chasing me, but I have to keep improving myself and keep learning from other players.
“Keep learning, keep working hard is my goal and keep smiling. It’s my big goal this year to smile more on the course, because I know if I enjoy playing on the golf course people are going to enjoy watching.”
Tseng hopes to be smiling again Saturday after the final round of the inaugural Lotte Championship. To claim the $255,000 winner’s share of the $1.7 million purse, she’ll have to outlast a 144-player field headed by 14 of the top 15 golfers in the world rankings and 97 of the top 100 players on last year’s LPGA money list.
She’ll also contend with a breeze that rattled the media tent at times during Tuesday’s press conference.
“It’s going to be windy all week,” Tseng said. “I’m kind of enjoying playing in this wind, because you’re thinking more on the golf course. You can get a lot of different shots on the course and you just need to be patient all week.”
Tseng shares an 11:30 a.m. tee time with Suzann Pettersen and Cristie Kerr, the third- and fourth-ranked players, and remembers the Ko Olina layout having played in the Fields Open there during her rookie year, when she finished in a tie for 25th.
Even so, the edge in course knowledge still probably goes to the local contingent of Michelle Wie, Stephanie Kono, Ayaka Kaneko and Shayna Miyajima.
“This golf course has so many special memories to me, whether it’s playing the Fields Open or coming every day to practice,” said Wie, who ranks 24th in the world.
With the LPGA returning to Hawaii after a two-year absence and to Ko Olina for the first time since 2008, Wie said she’s “very relaxed because I know the golf course and I know the people, but I also feel it’s a good opportunity, especially because we haven’t been here the last couple of years, to show the hometown crowd a good show.
“I really want to play really well this week, be in contention just to kind of show what I’ve got when I go back home.”
Wie, who rose to prominence in her teen years, will be the senior member in her 8:55 a.m. grouping with 16-year-old Lexi Thompson and 19-year-old Jessica Korda.
“I feel old,” said Wie, 22. “Times are changing, I’m not the young one any more. But that’s also exciting.”
Wie said she’s spent the past two weeks in Hawaii after missing the cut at the Kraft Nabisco Championship with a two-round total of 6-over 150.
“It’s always a game of improvement, especially with me, especially this year not having the start I wanted to,” Wie said. “But it’s still fun, you still go out there and work really hard and try to improve your game.”
Tseng finished third at the Kraft Nabisco, one shot out of a playoff with Sun Young Yoo and I.K. Kim, who also made the trip for the Lotte Championship. Yoo’s victory over Kim vaulted her to second on this year’s money list.
Early start, early finish
When asked about the tournament’s Wednesday through Saturday format, LPGA commissioner Michael Whan said the tour has been trying different windows and this week’s time slot allows for the finish to be televised live in prime time on Saturday on the mainland and on Sunday morning in Asia.
“So we really get interesting live TV all across the world,” Whan said.
