The world’s top ranked female golfer Yani Tseng says her obsession with the press drove her crazy during her 2012 rough patch.

The 24-year-old Taiwanese golfer, who looks almost certain to qualify for the World Golf Hall of Fame when she becomes eligible in 2018, hit a small rough patch in 2012 in comparison to her usual lofty standards.

The slump – which followed a blistering 2011 when she won seven LPGA tournaments – included five months without a top 10 finish and sixteen consecutive rounds without breaking 70.

However Tseng has decided to put the negatives of 2012 behind her and instead concentrate on her achievements ahead of the Women’s Australian Open at Royal Canberra starting on Thursday.

“It’s been a tough year for me but when I look back, I have three wins, I have 12 top 10s, so that’s still pretty good,” she said.

“All the people are putting high expectation on me, even myself.”

Tseng said those high expectations resulted in her reading too many news articles about herself.

“I look at lots of news. It drive me crazy,” she said.

“I feel it hurts a lot when I see those things on the news and see what those fans are talking about me, say `Yani is struggling. Yani couldn’t play golf anymore’. I feel really bad.”

However the youngest player to ever win five major championships has decided to head into 2013 with a more positive outlook.

“My mum told me last year was a bad year for Dragon, and I was Dragon,” she said.

“So my mum say, `It’s OK, your year is over, your bad year is over. Your good year is coming this year, the Snake.’

“I’m very excited for this year.”

Australian golfing champion Karrie Webb offered her rival a consoling piece of advice on Wednesday, saying it would have been physically impossible for Tseng to maintain her blistering 2011 form.

“When you’re in the moment of it you don’t ever believe that you’re not going to win tournaments, you’re never going to miss cuts,” Webb said.

“When that doesn’t happen the lesson learnt there is that that’s how fine a line golf is.

“I walked on either side of that and I know that now.”