KERR LEADS PACK CHASING MIGHTY TSENG

CRISTIE KERR

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Cristie Kerr and the rest of the LPGA are taking aim at Yani Tseng, who has established herself as the tour’s dominant player.

The last time Cristie Kerr played in the U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor resort, she was a 16-year-old high school student who shot a pair of 75s and missed the cut. This week, she wants the outcome to be a little different.

“I’ve gotten a lot older and a lot wiser,” said Kerr, 33, the Miami native who is now No. 2 in the world rankings and coming off a third-place finish in the LPGA Championship two weeks ago. “I have the U.S. Open under my belt, so I kind of look at the course differently and pick it apart a little differently. When I was an amateur, I just sort of played.”

If Kerr and anyone else in the field of 156 expects to prevail by Sunday evening, they will have to play superior golf against the most dominant female player on the planet these days. That would be 22-year-old Yani Tseng of Taiwan, less than two weeks removed from her overwhelming 10-shot victory in the LPGA Championship.

Tseng will be aiming at her fifth major title, and no woman has ever gotten to four any faster. If she wins, she also will have the distinction of winning each of the four major championships at least once.

Tseng came to Colorado and said, “I feel very calm and I don’t feel any pressure.” That can hardly be reassuring for the rest of the field, though Kerr was not ready to concede anything.

“On a golf course like this, with all the rough and the greens and all the different factors, and you also have to consider the altitude,” she said. “You should expect to see some of those top players on the leaderboard. I’d like to think my experience (15 previous Opens) … knowing what it takes … that’s a good thing I’ve got under my belt.”

For inspiration, Tseng went over to Annika Sorenstam’s house near Orlando last week to share a few glasses of wine. Tseng, who lives in a home she purchased from Sorenstam two years ago, said she asked her friend, who won her first Open title at the Broadmoor in 1995, “am I putting too high of expectations to win this tournament?”

Tseng said Sorenstam told her, “If you just play the same as last week, you’re going to win.”

It took Sorenstam 15 years to win 10 major championships over her Hall of Fame career. She has already called Tseng the new “face of the game.”

On Wednesday, Sorenstam described her as “a young lady who … has just embraced the golf world. She’s doing so many great things. She’s really taken the No. 1 spot to another level. She’s learning English. She wants to be the best. She wants to be the face of the LPGA. I mean, she’s got the game. I think we all know that. Long hitter and good short game and all that.

“She’s very mentally strong. To come out and win four majors already at the age of 22, I think it’s impressive. What I saw many years ago was just that: I saw an impressive young lady with a lot of potential, a lot of will. She just has the pieces of the game that I thought would make it. And the pieces she didn’t have, she either went and found them or improved whatever she had. … This is just a beginning.”

Juli Inkster, who is in the field this week, also has been suitably impressed.

“You look at Yani and you never think there will be another Mickey Wright or another Annika Sorenstam or Lorena (Ochoa), and all of a sudden Yani comes along,” Inkster said. “Yani has Lorena’s power. I mean she can bomb the ball. She’s got a lot of passion for the game. She wants to be the best. She wants to get better. So she could be here for a while. If she stays healthy, she could probably break a lot of Annika’s records.”

Tseng and Paula Creamer, the defending champion, will be paired in the first two rounds on a course that is the longest in tournament history at 7,047 yards playing to a par 71. There will be typically thick Open-style rough, and the Broadmoor’s greens have been firm and quick in the practice rounds.

“In a normal tournament, I worry too much if I don’t make birdie and other people are going to make a bunch of birdies,” Tseng said. “I think I just focus more on majors. I love a tough course. I love the challenge. You’re not going to be shooting lots of low scores. You need to be patient.’’

- Story courtesy of the Miami Herald

TSENG CHASING CAREER GRAND SLAM

YANI TSENG

Yani Tseng has this habit of smiling when she's nervous. She smiles when she's happy, too.

"The people don't know which one I am," the LPGA's No.1 player said with, well, a smile. "It makes me feel very relaxed. I think if I smile more, people will enjoy watching me."

When you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you, and it eases the sting on those you've just dusted on the golf course.

Tseng, 22, has put the women's No.1 ranking on lockdown with six wins worldwide, including her 10-stroke romp at the LPGA Championship. That triumph was her third major title in the past 15 months and fourth overall — the youngest to accumulate that many.

The Taiwan native already has more majors than Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez (3) or Lorena Ochoa (2), the LPGA's last dominant No.1. And with a victory at this week's U.S. Women's Open, Tseng can become the youngest to achieve the career Grand Slam.

"She's really the new face of the LPGA," suggested Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, who's become an adviser and close friend.

Said coach Gary Gilchrist: "She is playing the best golf with the amount of expectations and pressure that's been put on her, which is No.1 in the world. It's awesome to watch."

Even as the spotlight grows, Tseng downplays any talk of a dawning "Yani Era."

"I feel like there's a long way to go," Tseng said. "After 10 years, maybe we can have the discussion. ... All the great players that come on the tour now — if you have a couple of bad weeks, people are going to catch you."

At the moment, it's the rest of the LPGA that's trying to catch up to Tseng. Her 69.31 scoring average is nearly a full stroke ahead of anyone else, and her total of 163 birdies and eagles is 30 more than No.2 Cristie Kerr.

"Yani's playing unbelievable out there," rival Suzann Pettersen said. "If she hits the fairway and makes her fair share of putts, she's going to be a tough competitor all year round."

While fellow pros rave about Tseng's distance off the tee and improved putting, her strides this year stem more from the mental side. In years past, bad shots or untimely bogeys easily could chip at her confidence.
Gilchrist acknowledges his biggest task hasn't been to maintain Tseng's swing as much as improve her outlook.

"The more you can trust in what you're doing," he said, "the better it gets."

He cited the LPGA Championship's second round, where Tseng carded a 70 after missing a couple of short putts. Afterward, she told Gilchrist her confidence had fallen by "maybe 30 percent."

They went out to the practice green, but didn't stroke a single putt.

"Yani, let's look at it logically," Gilchrist told her. "Your name's still on top of the leaderboard; you're leading by one. That means you're doing a lot of things really well. You miss a 5-foot putt, it's just a putt missed."

An hour later, a smiling Tseng walked off the green. Weekend scores of 67-66 delivered the trophy.

"If your attitude's good," she said, "I think it's going to come out good more often than bad."
Spoken with a smile, of course.

- Story courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel