www.globalgolfpost.com
MARCH 19, 2012
Tseng Strikes In Arizona
Yun Cards Rare Double-Eagle
PHOENIX, ARIZONA | Playing in the second event of her
rookie season on the LPGA Tour, Hannah Yun already has
added a career moment to her résumé. In Friday’s second
round of the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, Yun scored
double-eagle 2 on the par- 5 15th hole at Wildfire Golf Club.
Yun, 19, is the former University of Florida player who was
granted a special exemption by the Futures Tour two years ago
to play professionally when she reached her 17th birthday.
She had not been able to qualify for the LPGA through the
Futures Tour, but earned her way in last fall through Q-School.
Yun holed her second shot on the 485-yard hole. The
3-wood traveled 232 yards on its way into the cup. It was
the LPGA Tour’s first double-eagle since Angela Stanford
carded one at the 2008 Samsung World Championship.
Yun scored 77-74 – 151 on the tournament’s first two
days and failed to make the cut.
The change came about as Thompson’s father has
shifted to work for his son Nicholas, who is playing on the
Nationwide Tour in an attempt to return to the PGA Tour.
In place of the elder Thompson this weekend was vet-
eran caddie Greg Johnston, who has toted the bag for Hall
of Famers Juli Inkster and Lorena Ochoa and also worked
for Michelle Wie.
The Founders Cup event was played for the second year
at Wildfire Golf Club. When play began, there were warm and
dry conditions to go with the desert views. But that changed a
bit as a front moved through the area during the weekend.
“(It) is in really great shape,” said Pernilla Lindberg, of
Sweden. “The greens are so smooth that if you can start
it on line, you know it’s going to stay on that line. And the
fairways are absolutely top shape, too.”
But a change of strategy was necessary for Na Yeon Choi.
“I have to hit the fairway first and then just the green,”
she said. “I think main thing is no double-bogey or bogey.
So I will try for pars.”
The tour’s stop in Phoenix coincides with Major League
Baseball’s spring training, and a few players took in a Cac-
tus League game between Colorado and Arizona
on Wednesday, and sang “Take Me Out To The
Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch.
Lexi Thompson made the cut but finished well back in
the pack, playing her first event in more than two years
without her father, Scott, as caddie.
Brittany Lincicome, the No. 10 player in the
Rolex Rankings, missed the cut for the first time
since the 2010 season, shooting an opening-
round 69 but following it with a 76 on Friday. She
was among a group of top-ranked players to fail
to reach the weekend that also included Stanford
(No. 13) , Amy Yang (No. 14) and Catriona
Matthew (No. 18). l
Hannah Yun celebrates
after scoring a double-
eagle at the Founders Cup.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA | Lightning
struck Sunday at the LPGA Found-
ers Cup – not once, not twice, but
three times. Then Yani Tseng swept
in on the desert and held on for her
second win of the early season.
On a weather-whipped final day
at Wildfire Golf Club, Tseng outdu-
eled Ai Miyazato and Na Yeon Choi
with a closing 4-under-par 68, to
finish one stroke ahead of the late-
charging duo. Tseng’s final total
was 18-under 270.
Tseng was 5 under on her back
nine Sunday to emerge with the win.
The players endured three light-
ning delays in the first U.S.-based
event of the LPGA’s 2012 calendar.
It was the second year for the
event in Phoenix, where players
last year donated their winnings to
charities. For this event there was
a $1.5 million purse.
Tseng tied with Hee Young Park
for the first-day lead, and held a
one-stroke advantage on five golf-
ers after Friday, as warm and dry
conditions marked the event’s
first two days.
But it was the world’s No. 1
player from Taiwan best handling
windy conditions on Saturday and
the lightning delays on Sunday
that made the difference.
Tseng and Miyazato
were tied at 15 under
after four holes
when play was halted the first time
Sunday. The first delay lasted one
hour, 14 minutes.
