Wed, Dec 10, 2008 page20

• Tseng pitches for local LPGA event

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
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  Taiwan’s Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) this year ascended to a level on the women’s golf tour in the US that has never been achieved by any local athlete in a professional sport, even surpassing the accomplishments of New York Yankees starter Wang Chien-ming (王建民).

  But winning the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year Award, capturing a grand slam title and finishing third on the LPGA money list with prize winnings of US$1.75 million have not gone to Tseng’s head.

  In fact, she is already determined to give back to the game and raise Taiwan’s golf profile in the international arena, starting with her backing of an LPGA event at home along the lines of a US Open or British Open.

  “After playing abroad for the year, I would really like to return to Taiwan to compete. I would be willing to donate some of my winnings to make the tournament a reality,” Tseng said in a meeting with local media on Monday on a rare return home.

  Hsu Tien-ya (�?�), president of the Sunrise Group that owns the Sunrise Golf and Country Club in Taoyuan County and long active in helping to develop young golf talent, estimated such a tournament would require a US$2 million purse to draw the world’s top players and could be held in October, when the LPGA Tour heads to Asia.

  Tseng said she would be an effective pitchman for such an event.

  “With the relationships I have with other players on tour, I think all of the world’s top 10 players would do me a favor and come play here,” she said.

  Tseng’s father said the LPGA was receptive to the idea, but scheduling and the cost of holding the event might make it difficult to pull off such an event next year.

  According to the recently released LPGA Tour schedule, a US$1.5 million event will be held in Hawaii from Oct. 15 to Oct. 18, followed in three consecutive weeks by tournaments in China, South Korea and Japan that will all offer purses of US$1.4 million or higher.

  The only possibility for Taiwan might be to grab the slot left for the US$1.9 million tournament in China, which has yet to find a title sponsor or course, according to Golf Digest.

  Also, finding sponsors in today’s difficult economic climate for an event with a US$2 million purse and other expenses would be a major challenge.

  Local legislators immediately jumped on the bandwagon to recommend that the government back such a tournament, and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was named to head a task force to study the idea.

  The Sports Affairs Council, however, responded coolly to the idea.

  Sports Affairs Council Chairwoman Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) said the council’s entire budget for holding international competitions next year was only NT$150 million (US$4.5 million).

  Although the likelihood of an LPGA Tour Taiwan Open next year is uncertain, Tseng’s desire to raise the profile of the game and help the country become more competitive internationally remains real.

  At Monday’s press conference, the 19-year-old Tseng pledged to donate a portion of her winnings to help nurture young golfers have the opportunity to reach the highest levels of the game.

  Tseng said she could not have achieved her impressive results on the LPGA tour without the time she spent intermittently from 2002 until last year in Sunrise Golf and Country Club’s live-in training program that came with room and board.

  Now she hopes to provide the same opportunities for the next wave of young Taiwanese golfers.

  Hsu said Tseng could emerge as a role model for other Taiwanese golfers to have an impact at the professional level, just as the success of five-time major winner Pak Se-ri sparked a generation of South Korean women golfers who took seven of the top 20 spots on the LPGA Tour’s money list this year.
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