Has Yani Tseng’s downfall begun?
Is it all over for Yani Tseng? Will she be able to recover from the downward spiral she is in?
These are the questions that everyone has started to ask of the experts who have been following Tseng’s career. The answers could be found after an analysis of Yani Tseng’s career.
Tseng started off as a brilliant amateur. She was known to be a calm person on the golf course, carefully moving on top of the leaderboard until she won the event with a sudden burst of great golf in the final rounds.
Her best performance was at the 2004 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links. She faced off Michelle Wie and won the final 1-up.
When she turned professional in 2007, many experts predicted a slow start that might turn into an average performance throughout the career.
This assessment was based on the performance of many golf prodigies who are top performers as amateurs but start to decline when faced with the pressures of the pro golf.
To everyone’s surprise, Yani Tseng started off with a bang. She won three events in 2007. She won the Ladies Asian Golf Tour, the DLF Women’s Indian Open and CN Canadian Women’s Tour.
This was a performance that Tseng would repeat again and again over the years.
In 2008, she won her full card on the LPGA tour. This was awarded after a sixth place finish in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament. She was also named the Rookie of the Year.
From this point, Tseng became unstoppable. She won title after title and posted top-ten finishes in those events where she failed to get the top slots.
This was Tseng at her best and this worried some of the close observers. When she was crowned the number one player in women golf, she was over the moon. She had achieved what other players her age only dream of. This was the defining moment of Tseng’s
career.
The commentators started to say that the pressure will get to Tseng and the fans will soon see a meltdown. After sometime, when the predicted decline in performance did not come, fans lowered their guard.
Yani Tseng, on the other hand, had started to feel the burn. In 2011, she won seven titles on LPGA circuit. This was a rare achievement that caused many experts to revise their opinion about the 23-year-old superstar.
The defining moment of 2011 was Tseng’s performance in Ricoh Women's British Open and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented By P&G. Her game in these two events highly appreciated by all players. In retrospect, this was the time, when Tseng was under
great pressure to keep up her winning streak.
The title of world’s number one player comes with many strings attached to the crown. The constant attention by media and fans usually wears the player down and the performance starts to suffer.
When 2012 started, Tseng was considered to be the most formidable lady golfer in the world.
She started 2012 on a great note. She played in ISPS Handa Australian Open and finished in the 8th place. This was ‘business as usual’ for Tseng.
Fans and experts have come to expect this performance from her. She won three titles in the year - Honda LPGA Thailand 2012, RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup and Kia Classic.
The recent bad patch is hailed by many as the start of the end for Yani Tseng. This is a flawed assumption. Yani has tremendous golf ahead of her. Even if she loses her ranking, she will still be the greatest player to have graced the golf greens.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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