The belief is back with Tseng

SINGAPORE — Once a ubiquitous presence on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour, Tseng Ya-ni has slipped, almost under the radar, into the US$1.4 million (S$1.91 million) HSBC Women’s Champions, which tees off today at the Sentosa Golf Club.

Only five years ago, the Taiwanese became the youngest golfer to win five Majors at only the age of 22 — a feat not even golfing luminaries such as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods or Annika Sorenstam have managed to pull off — when she won the 2010 British Women’s Open.

For 109 consecutive weeks from February 2011 to March 2013, the five-time Major winner reigned as world No 1, before American Stacy Lewis usurped her position, which signalled a downward spiral in fortunes, as the pressure got to her.

She broke down in tears at tournaments and revealed how “lonely and tough” it was being the world’s pre-eminent golfer and how nobody understood her struggles.

But a joint-second-place finish at last week’s Honda LPGA Thailand, where a double bogey at the 18th denied Tseng her first LPGA title since the 2012 Kia Classic, appears to have restored her self-belief.

“My goal is no longer to be the world No 1. I’ve been there before and know how it feels and realised it’s not easy,” said Tseng, the current world No 67. “I am very excited for this year. I got a new coach (David Donatucci) and trainer, and the physical and mental aspects of my game are finally coming together.”

Her performance at the Honda LPGA Thailand was her best finish on the LPGA Tour since May last year, after also finishing joint-second at the Kingsmill Championship.

The Florida-based Tseng has been training with Donatucci — he also trains Americans Lewis and Michelle Wie — for the past couple of months, and has also hired a sports psychologist. She confessed to having a lot of positive “self-talks” of late to not let all the negativity get into her mind, such as telling herself it was “not hot” and it was “a nice weather” out there at the pro-am yesterday morning, where Singapore’s heat and humidity affected many of the players in this week’s 60-strong field, which includes world No 1 Lydia Ko, Wie and defending champion Paula Creamer.

But Tseng, who leads the LPGA Tour in putting average — 24.17 — said of the tricky 6,675m Serapong course: “There are lots of critical holes out there. It is easy to make big numbers because there is a lot of water on the course. No 3 and 13 are very tough, and you need to play safe.”

On Tuesday, Tseng had dinner with Singaporean golfer and good friend Koh Sock Hwee, the local representative at the HSBC Women’s Champions after winning the country’s qualifier in January.

The 25-year-old Koh, who also played in the annual tournament in 2012, told TODAY the two exchanged tips on golf and of her plans to move abroad to pursue her dream of turning professional.

“There are a lot of challenges including financially and you need a lot of support in that area,” said Koh. “I would also love to play in Singapore, but there aren’t enough tournaments (here) to play in.”

Tseng may be at the opposite end of the golfing spectrum to Koh, but admits she wants to get used to handling silverware again. “Now I only really want to win a tournament. If my world ranking goes up, it’s good. If not, I’m still happy. I just want to be a happy out there and keep smiling like before.”

HSBC Women’s Champions 2015

Where: Sentosa Golf Club, Serapong course

When: Today to Sunday

Total prize money: US$1.4 million

Format: Strokeplay over 72 holes with no cut.

Tickets are available from SISTIC (www.sistic.com.sg/events/hsbc0315)

Selected tee times:

From 1st tee:

9.31am - Yani Tseng (Tpe), Minjee Lee (Aus), Beatriz Recari (Esp)

9.42am - Karrie Webb (Aus), Stacy Lewis (USA), Angela Stanford (USA)

9.53am - Azahara Munoz (Esp), Amy Yang (Kor), Paula Creamer (USA)

10.04am - Michelle Wie (USA), Lydia Ko (NZ), Lexi Thompson (USA)

From 10th tee:

8.47am - Koh Sock Hwee (Sin), Anna Nordqvist (Swe), So Yeon Ryu (Kor)

Visit www.hsbcgolf.com/womens for more details. The HSBC Women’s Champions will be shown on Singtel TV Ch 114 and StarHub TV Ch 208 today from 11.30am.