Taiwan’s Yani Tseng has retained her ranking as the top female golfer in the world for the 100th consecutive week to become the second female golfer to achieve the feat after Lorena Ochoa of Mexico.
Ochoa had previously been the only player to reach the milestone since the LPGA adopted the world ranking system in February 2006, heading the rankings for 158 consecutive weeks from April 2007 to May 2010. Retired golfing legend Annika Sorenstam topped the rankings list for its first 60 weeks.
Tseng took over as world No. 1 from South Korean Jiyai Shin on Feb. 13, 2011, after notching up three consecutive victories at the beginning of that year and has held it ever since, despite an inconsistent season last year.
Tseng won three of the first five LPGA events last year, but has failed to win since, resulting in the erosion of her huge edge in the rankings which are based on play over a two-year period.
After winning 12 events worldwide in 2011 and three events early last year, Tseng peaked with a ranking points average of 18.64 on April 2 last year, more than nine points better than then-world No. 2 Choi Na-yeon of South Korea.
In this week’s rankings released yesterday, Tseng’s average was down to 10.58 points, ahead of the 9.08 points averaged by Choi, who is still ranked second.
As her victories in 2011 will be weighted down heavily as the year progresses, Tseng will need to win a few titles if she hopes to match Ochoa’s mark.
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