Troubled world No.1 golfer Yani Tseng drew inspiration from thousands of cheering fans as she carded a five-under-par 67 on Thursday to lie two shots off the first-round lead at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship.
The defending champion, moved to tears this week as she contemplated a seven-month title drought, scored six birdies against a lone bogey to trail South Korea’s in-form Park In-Bee by two shots.
“Must be the bogey on number 10 make me a little mad out there,” Tseng said.
“But after that, I feel let’s make birdie chance, let’s make a few birdies, and I did on number 11. That was a great putt because I didn’t putt well on the front nine.
Park, who has enjoyed 10 top-10 finishes out of 20 tournaments this year, enjoyed a bogey-free round of seven birdies at Sunrise Golf and Country Club in the northern county of Taoyuan.
“I hit the ball great. I mean I hit a lot of short irons in, so I hit a lot of shots close and I was able to make a lot of birdies,” she said.
Nicole Castrale and Danielle Kang of the United States, Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum and Park Hee-Young of South Korea were tied for third place on four-under 68.
One shot behind on 69 were Paula Creamer and Lizette Salas of the United States, South Korea’s Chella Choi and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, who won last week’s HanaBank Championship in South Korea after a playoff.
Last year, the diminutive Tseng – affectionately known as the “Pride of Taiwan” by her home fans – enjoyed her seventh and final win of the season in front of sell-out crowds at the Sunrise event.
But Tseng has gone off the boil this year with no wins since March, including 11 straight tournaments without a top-10 finish and three missed cuts.
She finished third last week in South Korea, boosting her badly-needed self confidence.
“Last week, every drive, every shot I feel like I played like before. But now, I just want to always looking forward. It doesn’t matter how I play before, but now is the start every shot and I want to do my best and focus on every shot,” Tseng said.
