LPGA Hana Bank Championship 2012: Yani Tseng grabs 8th position in first round
Defending champion Yani Tseng got off to a much faster start at the LPGA Hana Bank Championship 2012, as she carded a 67 in the opening round to take the eighth position on the leaderboard.
Tseng might have been faltering on the course lately, and has not finished inside top 10 in the last five months, but the spectators at the Ocean Course, Incheon, South Korea expectedly got
behind the current world number one, spurring her on throughout the day.
Tseng started the round on Friday by parring the first four holes, which was not enough to put pressure on rivals. Massive shouting rippled through the spectators’ area after she posted an
eagle on the par-5 5th hole.
However, the excitement proved momentary as the defending champion fumbled on the 6th and winded up registering a bogey.
She, however, was quick enough to dilute the bogey impact on the par-5 7th as she drained an easy birdie-putt.
On the back nine, Tseng carried on with almost the same pace, but did not card any bogey. She shot three straight birdies on the 16th, 17th and 18th hole.
Commentators said that the spectators and fans expected Tseng to do much better in the opening round as she is familiar with all the tricky holes on Ocean Course.
Commentators pointed out that since Tseng is coming off a performance slump that has seen her record poor finishes in most of the recent tournaments in the 2012 season, grabbing an 8th
position on the leaderboard can prove to be a promising start.
Norwegian Suzann Pettersen, who is also under scrutiny for not being able to end her winless stint, stole the show on Friday as she carded a 63 to take an early lead.
Sharing her thoughts during the pre-tournament interview at Incheon, Tseng said that she is pretty confident to defend her title as the course and spectators in South Korea are amazing.
She said that she might face a tough time on some holes as she has experienced it in the 2011 edition, but said that her plan would be to shoot as many birdies as she can in order to put pressure
on rivals early in the tournament.
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