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LPGA CORNING CLASSIC

May 24, 2009

Yani Tseng

CORNING, NEW YORK

MIKE SCANLAN: All right, Yani. Congratulations. Your second victory on the LPGA TOUR after the McDonald's LPGA Championship last year. If you would, just take us through how you are feeling right now and how your day went.
YANI TSENG: Yeah. I feel really good right now. On the Back 9 I was playing really aggressive on the Back 9 because I know I didn't make some birdies to be on top and I've been waiting for a year to win a tournament. I've been fourth and second like seven, eight times, and now finally I win a tournament. And I wrote my speech and now finally I can speak on the green and tell you how I feel.
MIKE SCANLAN: Questions for Yani.

Q. I imagined that you were too young to drink. How old are you?
YANI TSENG: I'm 20. I can be 21 next year in January.
MIKE SCANLAN: It was just sparkling grape juice.

Q. Again, looking over your record, I noticed you had a lot of second place finishes and a lot of Top 10 finishes. Do you feel that, you know, as you can gear up and learn how to win tournaments, that you can reach the heights like Ochoa or Sorenstam and be a dominant player on the Tour?
YANI TSENG: After the last two weeks I would still be fighting it because I was always on Top 10 and everything gets so close to win and I didn't win.
But I still feel confident. This week when I got here, I just feel okay, I'll just let it go and don't worry about too much, and this week with my mental coach being very tough and I hang in there.

Q. The drive on 16, it was pretty aggressive. Was that before or after it rained a little bit?
YANI TSENG: I have no idea.

Q. Because I'm wondering if that allowed you maybe to be more aggressive, since it rained a little bit, it wouldn't be quite as dry on the green where you could maybe be a little more aggressive and not worry about bouncing it off.
YANI TSENG: I didn't care about the weather. I just wanted to go for it. Even if it was short or if it was too far, I just wanted to go for that hole.

Q. I heard yesterday you enjoyed playing in your twosome with Natalie Gulbis. What was it like today because it was like Minea is a likeable person like yourself.
YANI TSENG: She's very nice. She was kind of up-and-down today, but we played in the same group and she make lots of putts, and me too, I hang in there.

Q. The decision to drive on 16, was that something you've ever tried here before?
YANI TSENG: No, I didn't try it on the second one. But I pulled it in the left bunker. And I think I was 2-under the first nine, and I just feel like I was playing too safe on the front nine, so on the Back 9, me and my caddie were saying just be aggressive on the Back 9, maybe just go for it and see how that works and just don't care too much.

Q. Were you also sort of paying attention to the scoreboard and knew that you had to be aggressive in order to have a chance today?
YANI TSENG: I kind of knew the scoreboard because everybody was playing so good. There was lots of 19, 18, 20. So you don't know which person is there. I just know I have to make birdie to be on top.
I don't know. I just kept looking at scoreboard and keep looking at computer. I was like, okay.

Q. So the decision was more based on not going well on the front nine rather than saying I've gotta make up a stroke or two?
YANI TSENG: Yeah. I just feel I need to play more aggressive. Even if I didn't win, I just don't care. The win in second is so much different. So now I just go for win on the front nine and I'll be in second or third. And that's golf, you know.

Q. How does it feel to win the last Corning Classic?
YANI TSENG: I hope I can come back and defend my champion, but it was sad. But thanks for Corning for putting on such a great tournament for 30 years, and this is my first year and it's the last year. I wish I could come back here to visit the town, and I'll be missing you a lot.

Q. I want to go back to the first hole. You had problems, bogey on the first hole. You had some problems. What did you tell yourself after you finished that hole?
YANI TSENG: I had a good save on bogey, so I don't know. I just couldn't get it in. It was difficult, so I got a lot of chances, the 17 hole.
So I don't think too much. I just played my game and then forget about tempo, tempo and slow down, be patient.

Q. Coming into this week, did you have any expectations of how you wanted to play?
YANI TSENG: No. I really don't. I just I'm not comfortable with my game and I have no confidence for the last couple weeks because I've been working so hard and it just hasn't worked out the last two weeks and I feel very opposite.
And this week, I didn't practice that much. I just think in my mental, see how I have to play the course and what I have to do with my mental. It's not just the game.

Q. Were you expecting a playoff?
YANI TSENG: Yes. I did. For sure, but I even didn't know how she missed the putt, because I was head down, and see how that goes. Everybody was just, you win, you win. And I said, yeah, I didn't. Gotta go for playoff. But I feel comfortable if I go playoff.

Q. Yani, this being the first time you played the course what were your impressions of it and what did you like about the course?
YANI TSENG: You can make bunch of birdies on this course and the eagles, my gosh, I had like four eagles for this week, and I'm so happy with that.
But you just have to stay very focused, if you're losing or it's so much easy to make bogey on this golf course, too.

Q. You talk about all the Top 10s that you've had in the last year, too, since winning the McDonald's. Is there any particular thing that you can point to that did not allow you to close the deal in some of those cases and win those tournaments that you finished, especially those ones you finished second in?
YANI TSENG: I don't know. I just learned from the mistakes, and just kept telling myself, okay, every time I'm getting so close. Don't try too hard, and just keep me focused on the decision, have a chance to win a tournament.
That's all I can do for every week, so I didn't expect that I have to win or what I have to do, and I'm just doing my job and keep playing good and one day will be calm, just like today.
MIKE SCANLAN: Anything else? Yani. Thank you so much. Congratulations.
YANI TSENG: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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