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FEATURE: Taiwanese rookie, Tseng, emerges as potential star

Taiwan's Tseng Ya-ni plays a shot on the 10th hole during the LPGA MasterCard Classic at the Bosque Real Golf Club in Mexico City on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Taiwan's Tseng Ya-ni, a rookie on the US Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour, has already emerged as a potential star after her first three official tournaments this season, with her goal of becoming "rookie of the year" no longer a distant dream.

Tseng finished second to Swede Louise Friberg, another rookie on tour, by one stroke at the MasterCard Classic in Mexico last week to score her second top 10 finish of the year in three tries. In the season opener, she finished eighth at the SBS Open in Hawaii.

With her two strong finishes, Tseng is currently ranked seventh on the money list with US$152,696, seventh in the Rolex Player of the Year standings with 15 points, and second in the the Rolex Rookie of the Year race, trailing only Friberg.

For an 18-year-old rookie who only earned her tour exemption at a qualifying tournament last year, Tseng's fast start has caught the attention of her peers and women's golf observers.

But golf experts in Taiwan are not at all surprised.

"Tseng is such a talented and confident player that we expect her to win with ease at least one or two championships and the Rookie of the Year title for the season" said Angie Tsai, a veteran professional golfer and chairwoman of the Taiwan Ladies Professional Golf Association.

Tseng is long off the tee, averaging 280 yards on her drives, and hits accurate irons, Tsai said. If she has a weakness, it would be her short putting game.

Tsai is particularly impressed by Tseng's poise under pressure and her ability to manage her game, noting that she has claimed Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel among her victims.

"I'm really not intimidated by Michelle," said Tseng after beating Wie by one up to win the 2004 US Women's Amateur Public Links Championship when she was 15.

That lack of fear is a special trait that makes Tseng a tough competitor, Tsai said.

Of course, it's still too early to know how Tseng will do over the long grind of the LPGA season, but there is little doubt she is positioned to advance to a new level in this early stage of her young professional career.

Tseng's next major challenge will be the Kraft Nabisco Championship, women's golf first major of the year, to be played in California three weeks from now and she is not short on confidence.

"At Nabisco, I can learn how to jump in the water, " she said, referring to the traditional dive the tourney's winner takes into the pond near the 18th green.

Tseng apparently believes she's got a chance, and after the way she has started this year, it is hard to doubt her.
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