Q: How did you pick up golf?
A: I started to play when I was 4. My entire family plays; my two brothers are professional golfers, and my dad is a teaching pro. I'm from a really small village on a small island called Okinawa, and I think we were the only ones who played golf there.
Q: You won a lot of tournaments before joining the LPGA Tour in 2006, but it took you three years to win. Why?
A: I was so young when I came over here, and I couldn't speak any English, so I didn't have a very strong confidence. The environment was so different; it took awhile to get used to. But then I started working with Vision 54 [coaches Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson], and they've helped me a lot. My confidence is back.
Q: That's evident; you've won five LPGA events in the past 12 months. Mentally, what has changed?
A: It's like there's another Ai Miyazato inside me that controls me. She keeps me from thinking bad things and allows me to give myself some very good selftalk.
Q: You are extremely famous in Japan. How tough is it for you to walk down the street in Tokyo?
A: When I first turned pro, it was really tough. I had to wear a disguise, or everybody would recognize me, and I really didn't like that. But since I moved to the LPGA Tour, I feel different. I'm outside of Japan now, and I can see my country in a different way. I embrace my fame more. I can finally see that the Japanese people are just cheering for me.
Q: What about you would surprise people?
A: I hate frogs. I don't know why I used to be OK around them when I was little, but now I find them very creepy. But Lynn and Pia are teaching me how to deal with encountering frogs on the golf course, so it's becoming less of a problem.RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. The best explanation for Yani Tseng's dominance might have been her own, issued unwittingly last month in Singapore: She is not playing the same golf courses that others are. €The fairway is wider€¦the green is bigger,€ she said.
Aren't they always for the best of the best, of which Tseng, at 23, is now a part? It is an exclusive club of those talented and confident enough that they set out not hoping to win, but expecting to win.Tseng was discussing the improvement in her game, but was describing the confidence that enabled it. She might have added that the hole is bigger, too.The expectation of winning has been heightened by 12 victories in 2011 (seven on the LPGA) and from winning three of her last four starts, including the last two, in 2012. At 23, Tseng already has 15 career victories, five in major championships, and is rapidly closing on the LPGA Hall of Fame qualification, sans the requisite 10 years (she won't officially be eligible until 2017).
The infamous firsttee trophy hoist that many say jinxed Yani Tseng in the final round of the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship. (Photo by Getty Images)
A: I started to play when I was 4. My entire family plays; my two brothers are professional golfers, and my dad is a teaching pro. I'm from a really small village on a small island called Okinawa, and I think we were the only ones who played golf there.
Q: You won a lot of tournaments before joining the LPGA Tour in 2006, but it took you three years to win. Why?
A: I was so young when I came over here, and I couldn't speak any English, so I didn't have a very strong confidence. The environment was so different; it took awhile to get used to. But then I started working with Vision 54 [coaches Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson], and they've helped me a lot. My confidence is back.
Q: That's evident; you've won five LPGA events in the past 12 months. Mentally, what has changed?
A: It's like there's another Ai Miyazato inside me that controls me. She keeps me from thinking bad things and allows me to give myself some very good selftalk.
Q: You are extremely famous in Japan. How tough is it for you to walk down the street in Tokyo?
A: When I first turned pro, it was really tough. I had to wear a disguise, or everybody would recognize me, and I really didn't like that. But since I moved to the LPGA Tour, I feel different. I'm outside of Japan now, and I can see my country in a different way. I embrace my fame more. I can finally see that the Japanese people are just cheering for me.
Q: What about you would surprise people?
A: I hate frogs. I don't know why I used to be OK around them when I was little, but now I find them very creepy. But Lynn and Pia are teaching me how to deal with encountering frogs on the golf course, so it's becoming less of a problem.RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. The best explanation for Yani Tseng's dominance might have been her own, issued unwittingly last month in Singapore: She is not playing the same golf courses that others are. €The fairway is wider€¦the green is bigger,€ she said.
Aren't they always for the best of the best, of which Tseng, at 23, is now a part? It is an exclusive club of those talented and confident enough that they set out not hoping to win, but expecting to win.Tseng was discussing the improvement in her game, but was describing the confidence that enabled it. She might have added that the hole is bigger, too.The expectation of winning has been heightened by 12 victories in 2011 (seven on the LPGA) and from winning three of her last four starts, including the last two, in 2012. At 23, Tseng already has 15 career victories, five in major championships, and is rapidly closing on the LPGA Hall of Fame qualification, sans the requisite 10 years (she won't officially be eligible until 2017).
The infamous firsttee trophy hoist that many say jinxed Yani Tseng in the final round of the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship. (Photo by Getty Images)
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