Golfer Yani Tseng has been nominated for the US Sports Academy’s Female Athlete of the Month award for the second month in a row.
The 22-year-old Taiwanese World No. 1 became the youngest player, male or female, to collect a fifth major when she staged a successful defense of her British Open title at Carnoustie, Scotland, on Sunday.
It was Tseng’s fourth victory in the past five women’s major tournaments that have been played.
Tseng had been nominated for the academy’s June award, but came in second after Chinese tennis player Li Na.
HOW TO VOTE
To view this month’s ballot and vote for Tseng, visit http://ussa.edu/ballots/athlete-of-the-month.
The live, online, worldwide voting is open to the public and closes on Tuesday.
Other contenders
Other female nominees for last month are: 16-year-old Missy Franklin of the US, who won five medals, including three golds, at the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai; Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who mauled Maria Sharapova to seize the Wimbledon Championships singles title and become the first Grand Slam winner born in the 1990s; Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, who became the first woman to win both the 200m and 400m freestyle at the world swimming championships twice; Ryu So-yeon of South Korea, who won the US Women’s Open in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Homare Sawa, captain of Japan’s national soccer team, who had five goals and an assist as she led her team to their first ever women’s World Cup championship.
MEN’S SIDE
On the men’s side, the nominees are: Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who vaulted to the No. 1 spot after winning his first ever Wimbledon title; Cadel Evans, who became the first Australian to win the Tour de France and at age 34 is the oldest to win the race since World War II; Derek Jeter of the US, who became one of only 28 major league players to get 3,000 career hits when the Yankees shortstop went 5-for-5 against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 9; US swimmer Ryan Lochte, who won five gold medals in the world championships in Shanghai; Belgian Marino Vanhoenacker, who won the Ironman Austria triathlon in a world record time of 7 hours, 45 minutes and 58 seconds, beating the 14-year-old previous best mark by nearly 4 minutes; and Sun Yang of China, who shattered Australian Grant Hackett’s 10-year-old world record in the 1,500m freestyle in 14 minutes, 34.14 seconds at the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai.
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