Yani Tseng reminisces about childhood dreams
Yani Tseng was just 13 when she attended her first LPGA event, the 57th U.S. Women’s Open. She was awestruck by what she saw - top players and excellent golf.
However, she was not intimidated by the stars she saw in the 2002 event. Talking to her advisor, the young Tseng said, “I think I can beat some of these players”.
The event inspired her to become the world’s greatest golfer and she achieved the target in just ten years. She is now 23 and an international star of women golf.
This is a significant achievement for a player with no roots in the US. Yani Tseng started out as an amateur with a number of wins in local events.
She had nineteen wins to her credit. Out of these, an amazing fifteen were international events and the rest were US tournaments.
The highlight of the amateur years was a semi final win in USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. This got her a place in the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open.
Tseng still remembers the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open. She said, “So the very first time I play it was at Cherry Hills Country Club, I was like shaking hands and my whole body, my whole body was shaking. Even I go to driving range, player dining room, locker
room, everywhere my whole body was shaking. It’s one of my best memories ever”.
Tseng put in great effort to achieve her goal. Long practice sessions and a gruelling amateur career were rewarded by an invitation to play on LPGA, the best known golf tour in the world.
Turning pro in 2007, she went on a winning streak that continues to this day. She has a record of 15 LPGA tour events under her belt.
However, the pressure of being the best has started to take its toll on Tseng. Lately, her performance has suffered under the strain of constant golf without much rest.
Talking about the pressure, Tseng said that she felt the pressure of international golf and made mistakes that affected her rankings. She commented that she has started to take it easy and ignore the pressure while playing golf.
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