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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

July 27, 2011

Yani Tseng

CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We have Yani Tseng, defending champion, in the interview area. Yani comes into this championship having won once in Taiwan and three times on the LPGA Tour this year including her fourth major championship. You must be excited and in that sort of form to be here.
YANI TSENG: Yeah, sounds really good.
THE MODERATOR: Have you had a chance to play the course?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I played 18 holes in the pro-am. I played nine holes on Monday, and I love this course. I love the links courses. I'm so excited to be here at the home of golf, and I just can't wait to go out and play in the tournament tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: What is it you love about the golf course?
YANI TSENG: Just you can hit a good shot and you land in the bunker, you never know. You just need to be patient and just do what you can do and make this shot and just hit it and go. I mean, the course, there's so many ways you can play. You can be aggressive, you can play safe, you can hit a driver or an iron. There's so much imagination and creative shots on this golf course, just you never know. So it's a very, very fun course.
THE MODERATOR: How do you think it compares to last year's venue?
YANI TSENG: I feel like I have so many great memories of the British Open, so I just feel so excited to be here. I'm smiling all week. I just feel like very happy to come back, just play it again and see all the fans, the media, the people here, just really, really nice, and just so happy to be here.

Q. The course is looking very friendly at the moment. Had you expected it to be sort of tougher and nastier altogether?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I think it's going to be tougher, all the pressure I have this week and all the people who's watching me. But I just want to enjoy it. But this golf course is -- every day it plays different. Maybe an iron today and hit a driver tomorrow. You couldn't be surprised if you're hitting shots in the bunker or you couldn't be surprised if you hit like 5-iron today and hit a 3-wood tomorrow because the wind is going to be different. So just need to be very patient, and I think this week everybody is going to be tough, and then I heard tomorrow is going to be raining all day, and I'm looking forward -- if there's no rain it will feel weird. This is the British Open. The wind is going to pick up and it will be raining. I think it's going to be fun.

Q. Would you have liked to see the 18th playing longer, because you're 100 yards in front of where the men were in 2007?
YANI TSENG: I do, yeah. Yesterday I was hitting 80 yards for my second shot, and I looked back, that's the river, that's very far back where the person was hitting from there, and we're out here, it's totally different. They put all the bunkers out of play, put the burns out of play, so it's a little different. If it's windy that bunker is still going to be in play, and I think 18 hole -- the last hole is going to change a lot, short par-5, long par-3 and then good par-4 at the end, and it just plays so different.
But if they move back it would just -- I think it's going to be a little different story, too.

Q. If you had been setting the tees would you have put it back at 18?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, for sure. It's a good advantage for me if you put it back ten yards because the bunker I know is -- you still have to hit it straight, but I just feel like the bunker is more in play for me. But it's good, I just maybe try to make everybody fair, and you still have to hit it straight. Right or left it'll be in the bunker or in the rough. It's very different.

Q. How confident are you feeling that you can retain your title here at Carnoustie?
YANI TSENG: Actually I feel very confident right now, and I feel comfortable. I don't feel like I get so much attention and I just feel very relaxed, and tomorrow I'm just going to be positive and smile and then be patient, and that's all I can do. There's nothing much I can really control because it's just the wind and the bounce of the golf course. You can't control much, just have to go out and play the golf course.

Q. This course is renowned globally as one of if not the toughest links courses in the world. Is that an opinion that you share?
YANI TSENG: I do, I feel that. I was writing on my Facebook today, this is the top three in the world tough golf courses. I think it's one of my favourite golf courses.
When I came here, I played after a couple holes, I just love it. I love this golf course. I don't know if I'm going to shoot a good score, but I just feel like I will have lots of fun on this golf course.

Q. All of your success you've had over the last year, how often do you manage to get home and what's sort of been the reaction back in Taiwan?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, it's huge. I mean, all the people -- more people recognise me when I walk on the street. People will say, oh, you did a very good job and we're always cheering for you, and I feel like in the States or here, I don't feel like I'm alone. So many people are supporting Taiwan. And now the TV coverage on the LPGA is more and all the people are going to follow me in Taiwan. It's lots of fun.
Now I'm wearing the pink on Sunday, so now lots of people in Taiwan are wearing the pink and watching on the TV to cheer for me, too.

Q. (No microphone.)
YANI TSENG: Today I haven't played yet. In the morning it was so breezy.

Q. How about yesterday?
YANI TSENG: Yesterday I played good. I played with a pro from Japan. She's going to be TV.

Q. The 18th hole, what did you hit?
YANI TSENG: Oh, on the 18th hole? I hit driver down the fairway, and I had 85 shot to the pin, and I hit a wedge, little wedge. It was very different. But when I had a practice round at 18 it was a little into the wind. Yesterday the pin was front, and when I practice round the pin was back, and I hit a 7- or 8-iron. It's a big difference between the front and back, and the wind just switches a little bit, it could be like two, three clubs different.

Q. Are you going to hit a driver?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I'll hit a driver. I asked my caddie, is it a 3-wood or a rescue. He's like, just driver, be aggressive. It doesn't matter, you just need to hit it straight, whether you hit a rescue or a driver or a 3-wood. I feel very comfortable with my driver, so I just hit a driver and take all the bunkers out of play.

Q. In Taiwan is it the same as in Japan with people admiring women golfers as much if not more than the men?
YANI TSENG: I think so now. I think it's getting much better now. We are trying to catch Japan, too, because Japan is very, very popular for golf of the but now we have like three or four players play on the LPGA and people are watching in Taiwan and more people are watching golf. Even they don't play, but they know how to golf, they know the rules of golf. I think it's getting much better now.

Q. Is the ladies' game better than the men's game?
YANI TSENG: Yeah, I think so, too.

Q. Do you have any clubs in Taiwan that are men only, or can you join any club you want to if you're a woman?
YANI TSENG: No, I think everybody is very -- you can be a member and play, but even if you're not a member you still can play the golf course.
THE MODERATOR: Yani, thank you very much. Good luck this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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