Former WAPL Champion Wins Major


June 8, 2008

Havre de Grace, Md. - Credit rookie Yani Tseng with being an extraordinarily fast learner.

The 19-year-old LPGA Tour rookie from Taiwan made a 5-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole, the par-4 18th, to slip past Swede's Maria Hjorth and win the LPGA Championship Sunday at Bulle Rock Golf Club.

Tseng recorded her first win on tour. At 19 years, four months she will enter the U.S. Women's Open in two weeks at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn., as the second-youngest woman to ever win a major. Former Women's Open runner-up Morgan Pressel holds that distinction, claiming the '07 Kraft Nabisco at 18 years, 10 months.

She'll also have this share of history on her side: the last player to claim a major as a rookie was '98 Women's Open winner Se Ri Pak. 

Tseng (68) and Hjorth (71) ended the championship at 12-under 276. Lorena Ochoa, seeking her third straight major title and second of the season, and three-time Women's Open champion Annika Sorenstam finished a shot out of the playoff at 11 under. Each closed with 1-under 71.

Tseng enjoyed a distinguished amateur career, winning the 2004 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship, defeating Michelle Wie 1 up at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club's Green Course in Williamsburg, Va. She became the second-youngest winner of the national championship at the time. Tseng claimed the 2005 North and South Women's Amateur, besting another notable player in Pressel in the championship match.

Yani Tseng, a USGA champion, became the second-youngest major winner on the LPGA Tour. (USGA Photo Archives)

Nine shots off Ochoa's lead entering the stifling weekend, Tseng caught fire, delivering rounds of 65-68.

"This is my dream," she said. "I didn't play very well the first two rounds and I came back very good and won a major."

Hjorth, who shared the top spot overnight, emerged from a Beltway-jammed leaderboard and grabbed the lead outright at the par-4 10^th. She knocked home a 6-footer to move to 13 under, one ahead of Tseng. It was all an adventure from there.

The dogleg right par-4 13th was an unlucky place for most of the leaders. There, Hjorth's pull-hooked tee shot hit a spectator and found the tall fescue grass that borders the hole. She did well to salvage double bogey, pushing her third shot from the tee into a mangled lie with the ball below her feet. Hjorth's fourth chased to the green as she stumbled down the hill off balance after hitting the shot.

"I was still there even though I dropped two shots," said Hjorth. "You have a few birdie holes coming up and [you think] hopefully no one will run away with it and they didn't."

At the same 13th, Tseng went from rough to rough and made bogey to drop to 11 under, while Sorenstam (71) pushed her 4-foot par attempt, dropped to 11 under and, fighting her stroke, remained there the rest of the way. Ochoa joined the struggles at No. 13, pulling her tee shot into the left rough and eventually made bogey.        

At the par-4 14th, Tseng drained a 12-footer to get to 12 under and take the outright lead; she'd play the last four holes in even par.

Trailing her fellow competitor by a shot headed to the par-5 15th, fortune seemed to be on Hjorth's side. Her fairway metal second shot bounded off rocks guarding the green, ricocheted left and skittered fortuitously across the green into an intermediate cut of rough before chipping to 10 inches to tie Tseng.

At the same 15th, the long-hitting Tseng was able to salvage par to remain at 12 under a hole earlier. After driving it left near a meandering creek, she had to stand near the area's soft bedding. Tseng managed to dislodge the ball, before playing her rescue club third shot from 205 yards to the green and two-putting from long range.

After short-siding herself at the par-4 16th, Hjorth grabbed the solo lead at 13 under, chipping in from left of the flagstick. But at the par-3 17th, she pushed her 8-iron right of the green and her 4-foot par-saver missed. Hjorth had the chance to take the title outright at the last, but her 16-footer slipped past the right side to force extra holes.

After each player made pars on the 18-18-17 trio of playoff holes, they returned to 18 and Tseng drilled a 6-iron from the first cut of rough to close range for the victory.

Ochoa, chasing her second major the season and third straight, drained a 5-footer for birdie at the first to tie the lead, but battled the putter all for much of the remainder of the day. She had a host of makeable chances inside 7 feet at Nos. 3 and 5. The normally docile Ochoa had finally seen enough after a 4-footer, slightly misdirected by an old ball mark, slipped past at No. 8. Ochoa slapped her right thigh on the misfire saying, "No!"

The 26-year-old Mexican made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13 to drop to nine under before rallying in the late stages. After unleashing a big drive at No. 16, Ochoa flipped her wedge second shot from 10 yards short of the green that looked destined for the hole. The ball hit the hole and flagstick, but refused to drop for eagle. Ochoa could only collapse to the ground, flat on her back with her hands over her face in mock exasperation.

"I couldn't believe I didn't make it," said Ochoa. "I was just like, 'C'mon, something good, please.' But that's it. It's golf and it didn't happen."

Ochoa gave the fans one last treat. At 10 under heading to the last, she drilled a 7-iron to 12 feet, walked to the green to shouts of "LO-RE-NA!" and, knocking in the putt to post 11 under.

Sorenstam put together a strong ball striking day and had a chance to get into the playoff at No. 18, but seemingly emblematic of her cold putting round, misfired on her 15-foot birdie attempt to share third with Ochoa.

"I'm disappointed about my finish because I felt like I played so well," said Sorenstam, who was trying to win her first major since the '06 Women's Open at Newport (R.I.) Country Club. "It's just tough when you give it your all and you really don't feel like you're getting anything out of it."

Ochoa, the winner of six events in 10 starts, will undoubtedly be heard from again, but her run at the Grand Slam ended disappointingly on a steamy Sunday.

"It was a strange day – almost like it wasn't my time," said Ochoa, who shot "only" one under (72-71) on the weekend. "I am not ashamed. I'm proud of my finish. Now, I move on and continue and try to win the next few tournaments."   

Next up is the U.S. Women's Open at Interlachen. She hasn't played the course, but she'll have an ally in caddie Dave Brooker, who caddied there at the 2002 Solheim Cup for Swede Carin Koch.

"He has a little knowledge about the course, so I think that will help," Ochoa said.

On a weekend when temperatures topped 105 degrees at times, there was no collapse in the offing for Tseng. She played in the final grouping with Ochoa and Laura Diaz (70), who finished two shots out of the playoff.

Asked if she knew anything about native countryman T.C. Chen's infamous double-chip at Oakland Hills in '85 that derailed his hopes of a national championship, Tseng remembered seeing it on a top-10 list last week.

"I couldn't believe it," Tseng said.

Believe this: Tseng is a major champion as a teenager.

AndrewBlair is a Virginia-based freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on usga.org.