World No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan fired a two-under 70 in the first round of the LPGA CME Group Titleholders tournament in Florida on Thursday, leaving her four shots behind leader Choi Na-yeon of South Korea at the LPGA Tour season finale.
Tseng struggled in the first round, hitting only eight of 14 fairways and 12 out of 18 greens in regulation, but she putted relatively well in a round in which she had four birdies and two bogeys.
Tseng was tied with another Taiwanese golfer, Amy Hung, and five others after the opening round. However, it was Candie Kung who had the best day of the three-play Taiwanese contingent with a three-under 69, putting her in a seven-way tie for sixth.
Photo: AFP
The South Korean leader, who had seven birdies before finishing her round of 66 with her only bogey of the day, was one shot ahead of Morgan Pressel of the US and Karrie Webb of Australia.
LPGA players had to qualify for the season-ending CME Group tournament by finishing in the top three of an official LPGA event, or being among the top three of those who had not already qualified.
The final tournament of the year, which has total prize money of US$1.5 million and a first prize of US$500,000, gives Tseng a chance to send her LPGA Tour winnings for the year to more than US$3 million.
Photo: Reuters
The only other player in LPGA history to reach this milestone was Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, who won US$4.36 million in 2007.
What is not in doubt is that Tseng will finish the year as the world’s top-ranked female golfer.
Her 18.38 average ranking points give her an eight-point lead over No. 2 Suzann Pettersen of Norway, or “roughly the spatial distance to Taiwan and back,” according to CBS Sportsline golf columnist Steve Elling.
Elling praised Tseng’s outstanding performance of 11 victories this year, saying it has bridged the generation gap left by previous golf queens such as Annika Sorenstam of Sweden and Ochoa, who both retired at the height of their careers in December 2008 and April last year respectively.
Choi, the Malaysia winner last month, birdied five of the first eight holes on the back nine at Grand Cypress before dropping a stroke with a bogey on the par-four 18th.
“I think from after the British Open, I had a great feeling about my game,” Choi said. “After that, I played like consistently, I think, and then especially at Mizuno I had a great final round. I shot eight-under par. And then I think I took something from Mizuno to here.”
Defending champion Maria Hjorth and Cristie Kerr shot 68, and Anna Nordqvist was another stroke back along with Paula Creamer, Sandra Gal, Mi Hyun Kim, Candie Kung, Azahara Munoz and Dewi Claire Schreefel.
Michelle Wie opened with a 71.
Pressel is winless on the tour since the 2008 Kapalua LPGA Classic.
“I didn’t feel like I was pressing too hard,” Pressel said. “I know that it’s I have a bad habit that I’ve gotten into and that’s when things start to go well, then I start to press and almost become afraid of the hole. So I was able to stay patient, stay with my game throughout the entire round, so hopefully I can continue to do that for three days.”
Choi and Pressel were paired together. They combined for 10 back-nine birdies.
“I had five birdies on the back nine, and then Morgan, she played well, too, and when she hit close to the pin or made a birdie putt, I think something motivated me,” Choi said. “I had fun playing with Morgan and Sun Young. ... I think everything clicked on the back nine.”
Choi has replaced her five-iron with a hybrid.
“I hit like five or six times with that new club and then I made four birdies with that club,” Choi said. “I like that new club.”
Webb has struggled after winning the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore in February and the Founders Cup in Phoenix in March in consecutive starts.
“I obviously got off to a great start and with that I think expectations rose a little bit,” Webb said. “I had a good US Open, one of my better ones for a while, so I was happy about that, but then a disappointing Evian and the British, and really a flat time with that.”
Webb has made swing changes with coach Ian Triggs.
“Ian tried not to do too much through the majors, but really at the end of the day, that didn’t happen because I didn’t play as great as I would have liked through that stretch,” Webb said. “So when we were in Korea we decided it didn’t matter how I played through the rest of the year, that I needed to get going on that. It was almost overwhelming, because I got a lot of information in a one-week span, so it took a while for it to all sort out in my head.’’
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