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SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSICMay 31, 2012Yani TsengGALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY THE MODERATOR: All right. We'd like to welcome Rolex Rankings' No. 1 Yani Tseng into the interview room. Great to have you here again. A little different format this week from the last tournament you were in, Match Play. Any difference for you guys when you come off an event like that and entering a Match Play format and come back to playing in stroke play? YANI TSENG: Not really. Actually from playing stroke play and Match Play, and it's good.  But I'm happy to be back with a three‑day tournament and always very happy to be back here, and I feel pretty good right now, much better than last week because I was a little tired the last week. I was working with my coach a little bit and then did some putting and short game and did lots of work on my swing and my club distance and it helps a lot. So this week I feel very confident and I feel ready to go. THE MODERATOR: I heard you were working quite a bit on your game last week. Were you a little disappointed at all at how you played at Sybase and was that kind of the catalyst of putting in a little extra work? YANI TSENG: Yeah. I was very disappointed. I was crying and just very disappointed how much I did on Sybase and didn't play well. I just didn't ‑‑ I gave 100 percent effort, but it just didn't come out as good as I wanted. I mean not even close. So really disappointed. So I came back home to see my coach the next day and didn't give me any day off and just kind of practiced every day to get a rhythm back. But I feel good. I'm enjoying to practice and I'm enjoying to do the things that I like, so I don't feel I was very tired. So it was exciting to have a tournament like this week and to see how good I can be this week. THE MODERATOR: It's funny to hear you say how disappointed you were in your game and how hard you worked, but yet every event you've played in so far this year you've finished in the Top 10. YANI TSENG: Yeah. In Match Play I was ‑‑ it's funny, I was like, oh, I just missed the Top 10 because I didn't know if you make two matches you're in Top 10. I was like, oh, I missed it because I make every Top 10, so I was like, oh, I just missed that. And after I go back to look at the scoreboard I was like, wow, I'm number nine. So I was like, that's pretty good. That makes me a little happier. THE MODERATOR: In addition to all the success you've had on the golf course already this year with three victories and eight Top 10 finishes, you've had a fun year off the course as well in terms of getting some recognition when you were in New York and you got to go on Charlie Rose, and then you were recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. What has that been like for you to start to get that recognition after the year that you had last year? YANI TSENG: It's really a big honor to have those awards, more people know who I am in the States, and I mean I love this place. I feel like this is just my second home, and I'm very happy to see more fans come out and support us, to watch us on the course and more people recognize me when I'm walking down the street, when I go to the airport. It's so much ‑‑ like I feel very warm to have that support because I know I'm from Taiwan, and the people probably don't know you, but now I have more people notice who you are and get more recognition and attention that I'm Yani Tseng, I play on the LPGA. It's humbling to have that and just really happy. Q. What was that gala like? I know there was a lot of famous people there and I know you got to meet one of your idols in Jeremy Linn and get to talk to him. What was that experience like? YANI TSENG: He's really a nice guy. We're kind of the same age. He was born in America, but his family is from Taiwan. So it was really nice to see Asian like playing in the NBA. That's huge for Asian. It's like Se Ri Pak in ladies golf. He make everybody to believe that everybody can do it, to play in the NBA. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Yani. Q. I was wondering with the recognition and the celebrity, so to speak, does that also increase the pressure that you have on yourself? You're pretty much the favorite in every tournament you play now. Does that add a little bit? YANI TSENG: The pressure is there, but I try to turn the pressure into motivation, and I think that it's a good pressure. It's not a negative pressure. So I kind of really enjoy it because a couple of years ago people always asking me, oh, you play so well, but you didn't get as much recognition like the PGA guys, but now I'm getting much better and people know who I am, but it is fun. I don't care. I'm very happy to have those people like to support. Q. We've seen Annika go through this and Lorena go through it. How hard is it to be you and be the person that everybody's looking up to and trying to beat every week and kind of the face the tour? Is that a lot of burden? YANI TSENG: No. I just ‑‑ I didn't think that much. I just try to be myself. I wouldn't think about anything else because I feel I still have a long way to go. I don't feel I'm like Annika or Lorena. I think still a long way to get to their level. But I'm working on it. I wish I can be like them one day, and there's so many great players on the tour that you're kind of learning from each other and push each other to get better, and it was great to be on this tour and to keep learning, and then to meet more people. So I really enjoy it. I wasn't feeling that much pressure. Q. Does this golf course set up well for your game, do you think? I know this tour has a lot of long hitters. This doesn't necessarily favor them because it's kind of a shorter course. Does this play to your strengths? YANI TSENG: I don't know. The course is very tough. It's up and down, and I think when it gets very windy and I think the long hitter kind of comes out better because you can hit the ball lower, you get a better ball striker, it's very good for the wind. Q. You mentioned some of the work you did following the Match Play. Was there anything major you did with your coach or was it just little things here and there and just kind of getting back to basics? YANI TSENG: Kind of just little things. I didn't trust myself enough to play well, so I kind of worry about too much, worry about missing putts and hitting good drives and something like that. So just kind of get it back a little bit, let myself trust more, and I think the club distance is one of the biggest things because beginning of this year my distance goes a little longer, so I'm still trying to figure how much longer it goes and between the gap. So last week we practiced a lot on the distance, so I was practicing from like 30 yards to 150 yards, like every five yards I practiced to make sure those clubs is in a good position to hit a good distance. So it helped a lot, so this gives me a lot of confidence that by holding this club, I trust this is going to go this distance. Q. You said after Sybase you were very upset and like you even cried. Do you remember like the last time you felt that way about your game and then sort of how did you come back and respond? YANI TSENG: Yeah, that was ‑‑ I wouldn't ‑‑ it was quite a long time. A long time I've even felt that way that I'm disappointed that much, because most of the time maybe I didn't play well, but I feel like my game is still there. I feel like I can do better. But that week I don't know that I could do better than that. I feel I was very lucky to still be in the third round. Doesn't feel like my game is there. Just like everything is kind of ‑‑ it's just not listen to my mind, like the way I want to do it. It was just not listening, so I was very disappointed, and I really couldn't remember what was the last time I had that feeling. It must be a long time, because last couple years I've been playing pretty good, and the best shot, everything, it's okay. I'm fine about that tournament. I'm okay. But I was just disappointed with the game I played. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Yani? Thank you very much. YANI TSENG: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Best of luck this week. YANI TSENG: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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