Struggling Tseng makes a jittery start at TwinEagles Club
Yani Tseng remained jittery in the first round of CME Group Titleholders, as she shot an unimpressive 75 to take the share of 63rd position along with South Korean Mi Jung Hur.
The tournament is being held at The TwinEagles Club, Naples, Florida, with the participation of almost all the top-ranked LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) stars.
However, key contenders like the current world number one Tseng remained in the spotlight throughout the first day.
Tseng, who had vowed to atone for her past lapses that have taken a serious toll on her reputation in women’s golf, could not live up to the expectations of her fans and local spectators.
She opened the round with a birdie on the first hole, but carding double bogeys on the third and fifth hole rattled her. However, she sank four birdies on the front nine in an attempt to regain
momentum, but a bogey on the difficult par-3 8th further dented her confidence.
On the back nine, Tseng’s performance remained as shaky as it was in the first phase of the day. She mishandled the ball on the greens of 10th hole and ended up registering another
double bogey. She drained a birdie on the par-5 13th but tainted the scorecard with her second bogey on the 15th.
Commentators said that despite tricky greens that troubled most of the players, big scores were made in the first round.
“I think they're very true. Obviously there's some undulations to the greens. I feel like the course is playing really firm, especially the fairways,” the first-round leader Suzann Pettersen
said of players expressing their concerns over greens.
“Some holes are actually playing shorter, the shortest I've played them so far. Then again, it doesn't take much of a little breeze and you have a different element of challenge in there”.
Tseng is arguably one of the few LPGA stars who boast massive fan following beyond the borders of their own countries.
Hailing from Taiwan, Tseng has now entered into a critical phase of her professional career. She made a stellar start to the current season as she grabbed three titles early in the year, but
her performance dipped after that and she recorded poor finishes in most of the tournaments.
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