Yani Tseng says watching US Women's Open 2002 encouraged her to join golf
Current world number one Yani Tseng, who has dominated women’s golf for the past several weeks now, recently talked about her early days in golf, explaining what encouraged her to join professional career and achieve her goals.
Tseng spoke to a source associated with the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Tour, and shed light on how she came to golf and what has been the biggest motivating factor in her career.
The top-ranked prodigy said that she has always been an avid golf fan — something she is really proud of. She said that she remembers going to professional tournaments as a spectator, and this was what increased her interest in this sport.
Tseng said she used to watch professional players show their skills on the course and wish that she would be doing the same one day.
Recounting her memories of the US Women’s Open 2002 that saw Juli Inkster grab a title, the Taiwanese golfer said that she watched the major tournament with interest and was impressed by the performances of contenders in the field, especially Inkster.
“It was very exciting because you get free ticket, free hot dog and free drinks when you get in there. I bought a flag so on the 18th hole I was getting all the player’s signatures,” she said.
It was the first LPGA event she watched, and it became, Tseng said, a motivating factor behind her joining professional career.
One important aspect Tseng told she found interesting was a couple of Taiwanese player in roster of the US Women’s Open 2012. She said that watching players from her country was a great experience, as it triggered her interest in the sport.
Tseng heaped praise on Ernie Huang, who was, at the time, working as an advisor for Taiwanese golfers. She said that she was aware of her limitations in terms of her age and strength, but she did not let it get on her nerves and vowed to battle contenders at the US Open.
“After I had seen a couple days I told Ernie I say ‘I think I can beat some of these players’ but I was only 13,” Tseng says.
“I didn't know this is the biggest tournament in golf and I didn’t know what you needed to shoot to qualify for this tournament. So after I said this Ernie started looking online to look at how I can get into playing the U.S. Open”.
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