World No.1 female golfer warns 'Yani is back'

After a summer in the wilderness where she missed the cut three times and never finished higher than equal 50th, world No. 1 Yani Tseng is confident of a strong finish to her LPGA Tour season.

"I've never been this consistently bad. So the last couple of months it's a little weird for me," said the 23-year-old Chinese-Taipei star in Vancouver Tuesday where she was preparing for the start of the US$2 million Canadian Women's Open.

"But I feel good. I think after this year I'm going to feel this is probably my best memory ever, because the last couple months I really learned a lot. I really know how it feels to be struggling and still try to play the good golf and try to be as happy a person as you can and enjoy the golf. It's easy to say, but it's always very hard to do."

On Sunday Tseng, who won three of the first five LPGA Tour events of the season, finished 11th at the Safeway Classic in Oregon, helped by a five-under 67 in the second round, for her first top-20 finish since early June.

"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, but all the things it's past. But Yani is back. I think the new Yani is coming out too and I just feel like I know so much different ways," she said.

"Maybe this will be good week to start like a good year again, because we still have a lot of tournaments to go, and I'm very excited and very looking forward for this tournament and in the future. I just feel really appreciative, and I've never been that happy to shoot 5 under ever in my life."

With 15 LPGA Tour titles to her credit, Tseng said her goal for the rest of the year is to improve her play and win the final major, next month's British Women's Open, a tournament she's won the past two years.

The tournament is being played at Royal Liverpool where Tiger Woods famously won his third Open Championship in 2006 by avoiding the layout's abundant bunkers. Royal Liverpool will again host the men's Open next year.

"I remember that golf course. Tiger was always hitting irons there, and I'll try the same strategy as him because he won there," Tseng said. "If you want to, it's easy to have a good season. But if you want to have a great season you have to win in a major tournament. So I'm very looking forward to that. I really like the links golf course. I never played Liverpool, but I feel good about it."

With 48 of the top-50 players on the LPGA money list playing in the field at the US$2 million Canadian Women's Open, a tournament that was a major from 1979 to 2000, Tseng said the winner this week will likely be the player who can avoid the thick rough and keep her shots within the tree-lined fairways.

In 2007, Tseng won a Canadian women's event at the 101-year-old club as a rookie pro.

"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."