Taiwan’s Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) swept to the No. 1 world ranking after a brilliant four-shot victory in the A$500,000 (US$500,000) Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines yesterday.
The 22-year-old will officially overtake South Korea’s Shin Ji-yai this week after completing the second leg of an Australian double following her seven-stroke win in the Australian Open in Melbourne last weekend.
“I never expected this to come true,” Tseng said. “Everything is feeling so good, winning, being world No. 1.”
Photo: EPA
The Taiwanese star carded a final-round, four-under-par 68 to finish the tournament at 24-under 264.
A three-time major winner and 2008 LPGA Rookie of the Year, Tseng will be feted as a hero when she returns to Taiwan, which has not had a world-class performer in the sport since T.C Chen in the 1980s.
“Hopefully, the first page of the newspaper,” she said, when asked how her rise to the top ranking would be received back home. “I think it is going to be huge.”
Eight months Shin’s junior, Tseng is the youngest No. 1 since the official world rankings were introduced in 2006 when Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam ruled women’s golf.
“I don’t want to be No. 1 for one week or two weeks, I want to still be there at the end of the year,” said Tseng, who had 26 birdies and an eagle in her 72 holes at the Australian Masters.
Her win dominated leading news bulletins nationwide, where her performance takes on a special significance as the nation is short of world-class athletes.
“You won the title at the Australian Ladies Masters and have become the world’s No. 1 women golfer. You have become the pride of Taiwan and deserve special praise,” President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) told her in a congratulatory message.
Tseng was four shots clear of Australian Nikki Campbell and American Stacy Lewis, both on 20-under 268. American Ryann O’Toole was outright fourth on 270.
Tseng was tentative early in the final round as many of her rivals found birdies easy to come by on a day of low scoring.
At one stage, Tseng’s lead was reduced to just two by Lewis and Campbell after her bogey at the par-four 334m seventh.
However, after she birdied the par-five ninth and grabbed another at the long 501m par-five 12th, the contest was as good as over.
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) also sent congratulatory messages to Tseng yesterday.
Golf will be included in the 2016 Olympic Games. The Sports Affairs Council has put forward plans to develop the potential of athletes in tennis, golf and other professional sports in an effort to cultivate more “small Tsengs,” the council said.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS