www.globalgolfpost.com
JULY 30, 2012
Tseng Feeling The Stress Of Living Up To No. 1 Billing
LPGA Award
To Post’s Mair
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE | Yani
Tseng was endeavouring to explain
what can happen when you get to
world No 1. “It’s pretty hard to be up
there,” said the player who, though
she has won three times this year,
suffered another missed cut last
week. “This is my second year and no
one knows how hard it is. It’s not just
about playing good golf, it’s everything else you have to handle, from
media and sponsor requests to the
way the fans see things.
“Sometimes, if I have a poor finish,
people will say, ‘What’s happened to
you. You had better go to the practice
ground and do some work or you’ll
lose your No. 1 spot.’
“Everyone,” she continued, “ex-
pects me to be perfect but even last
year, when I won 11 times, I missed
a cut. What people say gets through
to me and it hurts. Now, I’m trying to
see myself as the other players see
me. They don’t think that I’m a bad
player just because I haven’t done
well in the last couple of months.”
and Bradley and is revelling in being
included in all the PGA Tour players’
golfing chats and get-togethers.
This week, Wie is attending the
Olympics and making a “red carpet”
appearance for Omega on Tuesday
evening. She has tickets for the volleyball, where a sister Stanford student, a Chinese girl who towers over
her, will be in action. Again, she has
plans to attend the swimming and the
beach volleyball. “The beach volleyball is where I’m hoping to bump into
Prince Harry,” she noted.
Yani Tseng
Having started playing at the age of 5,
when her parents would leave her at
the driving range while they manned
their bakery shop, she played for her
national team at 12. Today, she has 15
amateur tournaments under her belt
and is the proud owner of two professional titles – the Lotte Mark tournament in Korea, where she finished a
mind-boggling nine shots ahead of the
rest, and the Suntory Ladies’ in Japan.
“The Japanese professionals say
they will panic if she comes to join
them,” volunteered a Japanese scribe.
The LPGA players, on the other
hand, are not so fazed.
“There’s one of them (good young
Korean girls) popping up every week,”
advised Stacy Lewis.
Hyo Joo Kim, when she pulled up
at 10 under on Saturday night, was
approached by the TV cameras for an
interview. The Korean amateur, who
turned 17 two weeks ago, laughed and
put her hand over her mouth by way of
explaining that she could not
speak a word of English.
She is, though, more
than a little fluent in golf.
As reported by David Leadbet-
ter at Lytham, Michelle Wie is back
giving the ball a healthy whack. “She
got a bit too keen on the half- and
three-quarter shots,” said the coach.
“Now she’s hitting harder again and
enjoying herself more. I think she is
about to turn things round.”
Wie has just moved to the same
Jupiter complex in Florida as such
as Camilo Villegas, Keegan Brad-
ley, Jamie Lovemark, Luke Donald,
Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.
Already, she has played with Villegas
Legendary major winner Betsy
King was at the Evian as she orga-
nises fund-raising activities for her
Golf for Africa programme. To date,
she has raised $1.4 million as she
and her Golf for Africa friends partner
World Vision in helping out in a land
where 60 per-cent of the population
are affected by the AIDS virus.
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE | Global
Golf Post senior European correspondent Lewine Mair was honored with
the Rolex Media Excellence Award
during the LPGA Global Media Awards
presented by Rolex Friday evening at
the Hotel Ermitage.
The award is given to a member of the
media for his or her long-time achievement in media coverage of women’s professional golf. Mair was also presented
with a Rolex timepiece.
A native of Birmingham, England,
and now residing in Edinburgh, Scotland,
Mair, who has been with The Post since
its inception in 2010, has covered golf for
more than 40 years and has authored
several books, including 100 Years of
Women’s Golf and The Real Monty, Colin
Montgomerie’s biography.
“I feel very honored to have won this
award,” Mair said. “I think it’s wonderful
when the media is recognized for their
work. Having been brought up in the UK
where you are told that men are superior
beings in golf, it’s been lovely to see how
the women have hit back, particularly at
an event like the Evian Masters. I think
the men would love to play an event like
this. It’s a wonderful stage with a wonderful collection of players. I absolutely
love covering the LPGA. It’s such a terrific
environment and I find the players very
approachable, very easy to work with.” l
