Defending champion Tseng finishes third on home soil
Current world number one Yani Tseng failed to defend her title at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship 2012, as she posted an overall 273 to take the third position on the leaderboard.
Tseng was regarded as the hot favourite for the prestigious tournament, played at Sunrise Golf & Country Club, Yang Mei, Taoyuan, Taiwan, but a third-place finish was not something her fans
had wanted.
Still, the struggling star has managed to drown out detractors—because after having faltered in most of the tournaments in the current season, most of her fans were not expecting a strong
finish at all.
Tseng’s performance was good in the first three rounds, but a 71 in the final round on Sunday got in her way, hampering her from advancing on the leaderboard.
Norwegian Suzann Pettersen stole the show once again as she won her second consecutive title in Taiwan. Pettersen recorded an overall 269 to grab a three-stroke triumph against South Korean
Inbee Park.
Despite plenty of crowd support and home-soil advantage, Tseng could not do much to trouble Pettersen, who has now come out as the only European contender capable of taking on a strong Asian
line-up.
Tseng said while speaking to the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Tour that she was aware of fans’ pressure and media attention, and not finishing first is certainly a blow.
However, the resilient golfer was keen to point out that she had a great time performing in front of a home crowd, and next year, she will try to atone for the mistakes that cost her a victory.
“I know I didn't finish where I wanted to, but it's getting better and I think it's getting better slowly, so I'm very happy what I play right now,” she said at the end of the round on Sunday.
“I always have something that I can improve on like every day, so I'm very happy to see my game right now and feel very confident and going to play Japan next week, so hopefully I'll have
a good week, too”.
Tseng said that she also enjoyed playing against Park who gave her a real tough time on most of the holes.
“I feel sorry about Inbee today out there. I mean we had a little tough day, but everything else, I really enjoyed this week to coming back home and play the LPGA tournament here,” Tseng
spoke of Park’s last-round performance that saw her score a 74.
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