Taiwanese former world No. 1 Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), trying to end a 17-month victory drought, fired a nine-under 63 on Saturday to take a three-stroke lead at the LPGA Safeway Classic.
Tseng has 15 LPGA Tour titles and spent 109 weeks at No. 1 — a run that ended in March — but she has not won an event since March last year.
Now out of the world top 10 at 15th in the rankings, the 24-year-old missed the cut in four of her previous five tournaments.
Photo: AFP
However, she looked like her old, dominant self on Saturday at Columbia Edgewater Country Club with a round that included 11 birdies and two bogeys.
Her 54-hole total of 198 broke the tournament record of 199 set by Swedish great Annika Sorenstam in 2002, when the event was played over three rounds.
“It was awesome,” Tseng beamed after coming from five adrift to take the lead. “It’s great to be back in this position. I haven’t been here for a long time.”
Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum, who led after each of the first two rounds, carded a 71 and shared second on 201 with Norwegian Suzann Pettersen, who posted a 70.
Tseng caught fire early, with birdies at six of her first eight holes. She made the first of her two bogeys at the ninth, but bounced back with a birdie on 10.
Another bogey at the par-five 12th was followed by a birdie at the par-three 13th, which she said was key to her round.
“That’s an important putt for me and I think kind of a little turning point on the back nine,” Tseng said of her 12-footer at 13.
She added three more birdies at 15, 16 and 17 to gain breathing space on the rest of the field.
“I’ve been working really hard,” Tseng said. “I want to get back in this position, so I don’t feel any surprise, because this is what I’m working hard for.”
Pettersen, ranked No. 3 in the world, was looking forward to playing with Tseng yesterday.
“There’s no one that I’d rather see playing better and playing well again than Yani,” Pettersen said. “I know she’s been through a very rough patch. Like I said to her, she’s just got to stay patient. She’s too good not to kind of hang tough and be in the game.”
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
CLOSER TO CHINA: The upgraded Type-12 missile has a range of about 1,000km, compared with the original model’s range of 200km, and can reach mainland China Japan is preparing to deploy its first batch of domestically developed long-range missiles, with their launchers arriving at an army camp yesterday, as the country accelerates its offensive capability in response to rising challenges in the region. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles are to be deployed at Camp Kengun in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto by the end of this month, completing the process of deployment, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said without giving details. Army vehicles carrying the launchers and other equipment arrived past midnight in a highly secretive mission criticized by residents. Dozens of people stood outside of the
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS