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CN CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 21, 2012Yani TsengCOQUITLAM, BRITISH COLUMBIA KELLY THESIER: We'd like to welcome Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng into the interview room. Thank you so much for joining us today. Always a pleasure to have you here with the media. I know this golf course is familiar to you. This is not the first time you've played here at the Vancouver Golf Club. You actually won a CN Canadian Women's event here back in 2007. First off, tell me what were your memories from that event playing here? I know you've gotten to play on the course so far this week, And how is the course looking? YANI TSENG: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago I wanted to play here, and this time it brought me a lot of great memories because at that time I was playing the CN tour, and I was trying to get into the Canadian Open. So now I'm in the CN Canadian Open. It's just so much different. It feels like these six years have gone so fast, and how much it's different. And how much I'm now world number 1, and to be on here with so many different memories. I'm just so happy to be back here. All the fans out here are very, very nice. They were so excited to see, and I'm very excited to see them too. I only have been here a couple of days, and I already really enjoy it. Q. What is it that you remember about this golf course specifically and from playing it this week? How do you think it suits your game? YANI TSENG: I just played nine holes this morning. But I heard the back nine is much flatter. But the greens are very tough, as I remember. I remember that the last three holes were very challenging. You have to play good to get a couple of shots or have the last three holes. It's very important to play on this course and be patient, because the greens are kind of tough. It's very interesting, because you might hit a rough, and hit a tree and then it bounces right. It's very different. So you just need to be patient out there. Q. Talking about your year, you got off to such a hot start winning three of the first five events on the LPGA Tour. And then you kind of hit a slow patch over the last couple of months where your game. Some people were pretty surprised to see, because you've been so such a roll for so long. But last week you got things going again. Finished 11th at the Safeway Classic, and like you said, "Yani is back." How much better do you feel about your game right now? What did you take from last week? YANI TSENG: I just never felt so good. I shot 5‑under last week. I feel so appreciative of the way I played last week, and the last couple of months I've been learning a lot. I've been struggling. It's very tough. But Yani is back. I think the new Yani is coming out too. I just feel like I know so much different ways. I've been struggling a lot. I've been on the top, and maybe this will be good to start a good year again, because we still have a lot of tournaments to go, and I'm very excited and very much looking forward for this tournament and in the future. I just feel really appreciative. I've never been that happy to shoot 5‑under ever in my life. So it's a great feeling. Q. Can you sort of describe how you were feeling when you weren't playing well? Were you angry? Were you frustrated? What kind of emotions were you going through when you were struggling? Because you hadn't gone through any of that since being on the LPGA Tour. YANI TSENG: Yeah, I'm not really angry. I feel more disappointed and feel upset a little bit. Every time I'm struggling, I'm kind of second guessing myself. So I guess that's why they called it struggling. I was guessing if I could play that good again and win the tournament again like hitting the ball, making lots of birdies again. I don't know. I kind of always question myself. But I've been winning lots of tournaments and playing good all the time and consistently. I have a few missed cuts too, but I've never been this consistently bad. So the last couple of months I feel good. I feel like after this year, I feel this is probably my best memory ever. The last couple months I really learned a lot. I know how it feels to be struggling and still try to play good golf and be as happy a person as you can and enjoy golf. It's easy to say, but it's very hard to do. Last week I played great, and this week I can have fun and enjoy as much as I can. Q. I think you were 17 when you turned pro, 17, 18? YANI TSENG: I think 18. Q. Do you think there is an age that is too young? If you had to do it all over again, would you turn pro at that age? YANI TSENG: Yeah, I would turn pro again, of course. After I finished high school in Taiwan, I was thinking about coming here to go to college. But I don't know if I could learn good English for school, so I just kind of forgot about that. I feel I'm ready to go. I want to go and play on the Tour, because that is my dream to play on the Tour. I wasn't thinking about winning or something, I just want to play on the Tour, play with all the best golfers in the world. With Annika, Lorena, Karrie Webb, those huge players that I always saw on TV when I was young. I think I made the best choice to come on the Tour. I feel like home. In the off‑season, I felt like I missed the Tour. I missed everybody out here and missed all my friends and I'm comfortable on the course. I just really enjoy to play on the Tour. Q. You mentioned Annika. She was the person to beat. Then it was Lorena, now it's you. What's it like to have that responsibility? Also, when you started, there were a handful of players that could win all the time. The depth and quality of the field compared to when you were starting outcome paired to what you compete in week‑in and week‑out now? YANI TSENG: Yeah, it's very different. I feel Lorena and Annika, I still have a long way to go. I don't think I'm close to them. Maybe after ten years you ask me this question and I can answer you. But now we have so many good players on the Tour. Every player can win a tournament. You never know. It's really different from before. When Annika was on the Tour, she was winning like many years and that's very incredible. She's my role model. I wish in five years, ten years, I wish I can be like her. Just playing good golf and being a good person, and helping out so many things outside of golf and on the Tour. That's kind of my goal. Q. You have one more major left this year and the British Open. How do you like your game going in there? You've won on the British Open before? YANI TSENG: I feel good. I remember that golf course. Tiger always hitting irons there, and I try the same strategy as him, because he won there. It actually feels pretty good. Because to have a good season or you want to have a great season, you have to win in a major tournament. So I'm really looking forward to that. I really like the Links golf course. I know we played Liverpool, but I feel good about it. Q. You've won back‑to‑back at the Women's British. What would it mean to win a tournament three straight years in a row? YANI TSENG: I don't think that much, because maybe we played the course like different every year. So I don't feel much pressure. I kind of just want to go out there and focus on every shot and try to work the golf course and strategy, and try the best that I can. We play a different course. It seems like every year is different. Q. I know they were asking about the struggles. I know last week we were talking about what it would mean for you to get another win this year. What would that feeling be like having gone through everything that you've gone through over the past couple months? Would it be a little sweeter than maybe some of them before? YANI TSENG: Yeah, of course. I mean, I think it's probably my best trophy ever. I feel good. I have a picture in my mind how I'm going to feel emotional if I can win it again. I know I can, but it's just a matter of time. But it's just a matter the time. A couple months is better than a whole year or a whole year is better than a couple years. If I look at that and say I'm lucky. I wait a couple months.It's not like a whole year is gone. I know I'm struggling, but everybody is going to go through that. You have a couple weeks and then you come out higher. Q. Your thoughts on the announcement yesterday that women are being allowed to be members of Augusta? YANI TSENG: Yeah, I just heard that news. I think it was on the history of golf the other day. But I don't know. I just feel very happy that they finally have let ladies as members. I'm looking forward to going and playing there, if I can. I've never played there, so I think it's very interesting. Q. Shanshan Feng is number three now. Korean players have been so dominant on the LPGA for a few years now. Is this the start of starting to see Chinese players rising up the ranks? YANI TSENG: I hope so. We have so many girls that‑‑ we have like four or five on Tour, but we have so many that play the Asian Tour and Japanese Tour. I think it's a dream to come to the LPGA to play. And the Olympics are next time in Rio, so I think that helps a lot for Chinese golf to become more popular and more people want to play golf. Even the younger kids now all started playing golf. It's so much change. So I think in the future, Chinese golf is going to become more popular like Korea and Japan. Q. You mentioned the Olympics. We just had an Olympics in London. Have you started dreaming about winning a gold medal yet? YANI TSENG: Yeah, I do. I was in London and I was there like a month ago. So after I went there I felt like I really want to play in the Olympics in four years, so that's kind of my next big step, to win a gold medal. It doesn't matter. If I can play, I'll be very, very honored, a big honor to be a part of it. So it's kind of one of the goals and dreams. I never played for my country, just as an amateur, but not as a pro. Because I couldn't play Solheim Cup, so I really don't know how it feels to play for your country and play not for yourself. You want to win for your team. I never had that feeling, but I think this time in the Olympics, I'll have that feeling and it will be exciting. Q. When you were at those events and you saw the athletes standing on the podium and getting their medals and hearing their anthems, do you let yourself dream about what that would be like to hear that anthem and represent your country in that way? YANI TSENG: I don't know. If I was standing there, I'd be crying so hard. It's just incredible. For golf, it's very different than like track and field and those kinds of things because we have the majors every year. But for them, they have four years and just for that moment, like ten seconds, 20 seconds, and it's gone. So it's a lot of work and a lot of patience that you compete in the Olympics. I couldn't feel how much pressure there is there standing there. Q. You always play your Tour around the world. Is there anything you want to say to your fans in Taiwan? YANI TSENG: Yeah. They always give me a very, very big support. Especially last year, winning the tournament in Taiwan, the LPGA tournament, I always cry when I stand on the first tee, because I never saw that many people in my life on the golf course. I feel very appreciative, because they always watch me on TV, and I know I'm not here alone. I know my country is supporting me and all my friends are supporting me. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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