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HSBC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSFebruary 22, 2012Yani TsengTANAH MERAH, SINGAPORE MIKE SCANLAN: We welcome Rolex Rankings No. 1 player in the world, Yani Tseng, to the interview room here at the HSBC Women's Champions. You're fresh off another victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand last week. That was your 13th victory in the last 12 or so months. Following the amazing year you had, I know you talk about this a lot, but how important was it for you to get a victory at the start of this season? YANI TSENG: I mean, I think it means a lot for me because I feel lots of pressure this year in Melbourne and now in Singapore. I really want to win a tournament and I don't know if I can do the same thing like last year. I work very hard during the off‑season. I kind of just feel like so many pressure for myself and I just feel I don't know if I can do it. I mean, last week, it was a good start for me and I think that's very important for me that I keep‑‑ that I know I can do it again and that I know I can keep winning tournaments, keep playing good golf and have mental set up and mentally be tough. It feels good out there last week, playing with Ai, and I see lots of people so it's always great to play in the LPGA and feels really fresh and I got lots of confidence for this week. I think I can't wait to start this week again. MIKE SCANLAN: The winner of this tournament every year is calls the Champion of Champions, Lorena, Ai, Jiyai and Karrie have all either been the Rolex Rankings No. 1 like you at some point in their career, or like Karrie, Player of the Year and Hall of Famer. Do you think it's your turn to win the 'Champion of Champions' title? YANI TSENG: Yeah, I mean, I think every year‑‑ I mean, this is my fourth year. Every year I come closer and closer each year. I feel very good right now and feel I have a very good chance to win this tournament if I keep doing the things I keep doing, my mental setup, I'm very confident in my skills. I wish I could be part of the champion of champions. All of the players that are winning this tournament, if I can be part of those, I think it would be my honour if I can win this tournament. MIKE SCANLAN: After last year where a lot of things went right, what kind of things were you doing in the off‑season to try to improve? YANI TSENG: I changed my swing a little bit to be more consistent and I worked very hard on my physical, my cardio and everything, every day improve and I was very happy to see how much I improved on my physical and my skill. This year, I come here, I feel my swing, I feel I'm improve and I feel I play more consistently. I feel very happy to see how much I improve on this year and for the off‑season, and I just can't wait to see, what can I do for this year. Q. You've had a phenomenal year, you won on average once a month last year. Does it become easier as you win more and now that you're No. 1, are you playing a little bit differently from, let's say, two years ago? What goes through your mind these days when you're in a position to win? Do you feel more pressure as the world No. 1 or more pressure or do you feel more confident that you are able to win a tournament at any given time? YANI TSENG: I feel more pressure. But I feel more confident, too, so it's kind of both ways. I'm very enjoying the last year, like first couple of months, like No. 1, I feel lots of pressure. But now I enjoy talking with the media and I have more interviews and I enjoy everyone coming out watching me play and getting bigger crowds every month, every tournament.  I think I'm having more relaxation. It was fun to play. There's no easy way to win tournaments, because we have so many great, great players on the Tour. You have to play good to win a tournament. It was hard to get lucky to win. I feel I still have a long way to go and I need to keep working hard and I have lots of things I need to learn, and players, every time I play with them, it was a great experience for me to build confidence every week and to learn something every week. Q. You had a phenomenal year last year. How do you improve on that this year? Do you think that the Grand Slam is possible, to win all four Majors, and who do you see as your main rivals this year? YANI TSENG: For the Grand Slam, of course, U.S. Open is one of my goals but I won't‑‑ I kind of keep to myself if I don't win this year; but I have many more years to come but I would love to win as soon as I can. But every time I go to the U.S. Open I just feel more pressure than any tournament, just more stress. That's a tournament I really want and sometimes I'm just trying too hard. So this year, I mean, me and my team, we'll be talking about this tournament and how can we prepare for the U.S. Open and try to keep it relaxed the whole year and keep very fresh, even end of the year. So I mean, I think the Majors, Grand Slam, I think would be huge for me but I just try to not think about that way. I mean, this year, my goal is Player of the Year. I think that's all of the players, they want it, too. All of the players are looking for Player of the Year. So I think that motivates us to work harder and to achieve that award. Q. Do you think it's possible to win all of them this year? YANI TSENG: It's possible. You never know. Sometimes you're lucky and you never know. We have first major in the next couple of months and I think we'll prepare for that, and looking forward to play and try not to put too much pressure on myself. Q. You played a practise round today, how do you find Tanah Merah this time and what do you think will be the key? YANI TSENG: It's a great golf course and in very good condition right now. Every year I come here, I find a way to play this golf course. Every year I'm learning from this golf course. I feel like I'm learning and I know what is my strategy on this golf course better than the first couple of years. Every year, I just find a better way to play on this golf course and I feel every year, it comes a little easier every year. So I mean, it was great for me, and the green was very tough. And I think you need to be very patient and be more focussed on this golf course, because it's kind of easy to get high numbers on this golf course. Q. You played with some of the Chinese junior golfers; how do you feel, and did it remind you of your younger days? YANI TSENG: Happy to see them. HSBC always sponsors a junior programme for a long time so it's very big support for golf around the world. I'm happy to see them every year, every year they are playing a Pro‑Am for one hole with us, and it was very nice to be chatting and to see what they were doing. They are coming to Orlando, so we are seeing if I am there and we can practise together, so I think that's going to be fun. Q. Can you talk about how you've improved your English, which is fantastic; what's your handicap now? Would you say it's scratch or plus one? YANI TSENG: No, maybe plus five. (Laughing) No, still not quite there yet. But I remember like four years ago I was doing a press conference in this room here, and I had a hard time to speak English and I was very afraid if you're going to ask me a question because I was like, please, don't ask me a question. But now, you know, I'm just enjoying. I love to talk. I just hopefully don't talk too much. Q. How have you learned to speak English so well? YANI TSENG: Keep talking. I'm not afraid to be talking to other people, no matter what I say. I'm learning from the way that I'm talking to you and the vocabulary, use it for the next time I'm talking. I went to school three years ago, two years ago, for like three weeks in the language school. MIKE SCANLAN: You've also said you're not afraid to make mistakes when you speak in English because you learn from them. YANI TSENG: Yeah, because when I would have a mistake and people would tell me, or I would ask‑‑ I would never do the same thing again, because I'm learning. So I think it's good. So I'm not afraid if I'm going to say like bad pronunciation or something like that, because I think that's the way you can learn more. Q. When you were a junior golfer playing in Asia, we always used to call you 'Ruby.' What's happened to Ruby now? YANI TSENG: Yes, my English name a long time ago from my English teacher. But like Yani is my real name. I had Yani in Chinese, too, so I think that's the way people‑‑ it's easier to remember. Q. The Majors will always be the main target on an individual basis, but what do you feel about perhaps playing for an Olympic Gold one day? YANI TSENG: Very exciting. I was very happy golf is back in the Olympics, and it's going to be very good for golf and great for the country and it's going to be an honour to play for my country. I know it's like four years ahead, but I wish I can keep doing my successful and wish‑‑ with the juniors from China or Taiwan, hope some juniors come out and we can play in the Olympics together. Q. How much do you think you've improved your golf game the last two years, and how much more room for improvement do you think there? How much better can you get than you are now? YANI TSENG: I think you can always get better. I mean, if you shot 68 today, you can always go 65.  You can always improve. But I find how my game is improved, I feel fairway is wider and I feel green was bigger, because I mean every year, I have improved. So I'm not afraid if the pin is left or right because automatically the fairway was wider. So I think that's the way I find to improve. And I don't feel like I'm afraid to do some tricky shot and do some like crazy shot, imagination. And every time I kept hitting closer and closer, I feel good and accomplished, and that's how I improve my game every year. Q. (Inaudible.) YANI TSENG: No, I never tried it before but I see lots of players doing it right now. Q. You talked about your team and obviously you're travelling all around the world playing. Who is on your team and how do they help you with your game? And for a long time you have talked about physical fitness and we notice you have a lot of straps on your arm and neck. Are they to fix an injury or is it just prevention? YANI TSENG: This is going to fix my injury because I have this problem, when I was a rookie year, so it's been for five years already. Last year it was pretty good but I took three weeks off, didn't play golf and started playing again and it just start hurting again. But I hopefully will get better, because I want to get my physical stronger. Maybe that's why I was a little bit injured and try to protect and doing ice and ultrasound every day to try to keep it loose. My team, I have a couple members of my team that's very new, they start last year, my trainer and my manager, Na Ya, are here, and they help a lot organise things outside the ropes. Because I get more sponsors and more people coming out to watch and more media interviews and they kind of organize and I don't have to worry too much and I can always focus on the golf course. If I have something, say after this press conference, I will always ask her, do I say anything bad or wrong or what can I do for a better press conference this time. So they always tell me, they encourage, you're doing a great job this time. So every time I'm learning and they are not afraid to tell me the bad things and they are not afraid to tell me, oh, why you're so mad or you're bad or you should not do that. So I think that's going to help me a lot. Last week I've been very nervous and stressful and we have a little team meeting and they tell me what can I do and how I can improve and I think that helps me last week a lot. MIKE SCANLAN: Yani, thanks so much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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