Yani Tseng

Yani Tseng
— Golfer —
Tseng with the 2011 Women's British Open trophy
Personal information
Full name	Yani Tseng
Born	(1989-01-23) 23 January 1989 Gueishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Nationality	Taiwan
Residence	Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Career
Turned professional	2007
Current tour(s)	LPGA Tour (joined 2008)
Former tour(s)	Ladies Asian Golf Tour (joined 2007)
Professional wins	27
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	15
Ladies European Tour	6
Ladies Asian Golf Tour	3
ALPG Tour	3
Other	5
Best results in LPGA Major Championships (Wins: 5)
Kraft Nabisco C'ship	Won: 2010
LPGA Championship	Won: 2008, 2011
U.S. Women's Open	T10: 2010
Women's British Open	Won: 2010, 2011
The Evian Championship	CUT: 2013
Achievements and awards
LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year	2008
LPGA Tour Player of the Year	2010, 2011
LPGA Vare Trophy	2011
LPGA Tour Money Winner	2011
GWAA Female Player of the Year	2010,[1] 2011[2]

Yani Tseng
Chinese	曾雅妮
Transcriptions Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zēng Yǎní Min Hokkien POJ Cheng Ngà-nî Teochew Peng'im Zeng1 Ngian2 ni5

Yani Tseng (Chinese: 曾雅妮 Zēng Yǎní; born 23 January 1989) is a Taiwanese professional golfer playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She is the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five major championships^[3] and was ranked number 1 in the Women's World Golf Rankings for 109 consecutive weeks from 2011 to 2013.^[4]

Amateur career

Tseng was the top-ranked amateur in Taiwan from 2004 to 2006. The highlight of her amateur career was winning the 2004 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, defeating Michelle Wie in the final, 1 up.^[5] Her amateur accomplishments include:

• 2002 Won – Callaway Junior World Golf Championships (Girls 13–14)
• 2004 2nd place – Callaway Junior World Golf Championships (Girls 15–17)
• 2004 Won – U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links
• 2005 Won – North and South Women's Amateur Golf Championship
• 2005 Semi-finalist – U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links
• 2005 2nd place – North and South Women's Amateur Golf Championship

Professional career

2007

Tseng turned professional in January 2007. That year she competed on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour and won the DLF Women's Indian Open. She also competed on the CN Canadian Women's Tour where she won the CN Canadian Women's Tour at Vancouver Golf Club.

2008

Tseng entered the LPGA Qualifying Tournament in the fall of 2007 and finished sixth in the final Qualifying Tournament in December which gave Tseng full playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for 2008.^[6] In June 2008, she claimed her first LPGA tour victory at the LPGA Championship to become the first player from Taiwan to win an LPGA major championship. At age 19, she was also the youngest player to win the LPGA Championship and the second-youngest player to win an LPGA major.^[7]

Tseng was named LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2008.^[8]

2009

On 29 March 2009, Tseng became the fastest player in LPGA history to reach the $2 million mark in career earnings. She achieved this mark in 32 events, spanning one year, one month, and 13 days. The previous record holder was Paula Creamer who reached the mark in one year, four months, and 15 days in 2006.^[9]

2010

On 4 April 2010, Tseng won the first major championship of the LPGA season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, by one stroke. She went on to win her second major of the year on 1 August 2010 by winning the Women's British Open by one stroke and became the youngest woman in the modern era to win three major championships. LPGA founder Patty Berg was younger than Tseng when she won the 1939 Titleholders Championship.^[10] However, that was before the formation of the LPGA Tour in 1950 and the designation of official LPGA major tournaments.

In September 2010, Tseng was offered a five-year sponsorship deal from a Chinese company worth NT$1 billion (US$25 million) with access to a luxury villa and private jets. Tseng rejected the offer because it required she switch her citizenship from Taiwan to China.^[11][12]

2011

In January 2011, Tseng defended her title at the Taifong Ladies Open on the LPGA of Taiwan Tour. Three weeks later she won the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open and a week later the ANZ RACV Ladies Masters, both events co-sponsored by the ALPG Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Her wins moved her into the number 1 position in the Women's World Golf Rankings. She won again the next week in the first tournament of the LPGA season, the Honda LPGA Thailand.^[13]

In June 2011, she won the LPGA State Farm Classic over Cristie Kerr by three strokes. Two weeks later, she won the LPGA Championship. This made her the youngest player to win four LPGA majors.^[14] The next month she defended her title at the Women's British Open, becoming the first defending champion winner at the Women's British Open as a major. Her five major titles also made her the youngest player, male or female, to win five major championships.^[15][16][17]

Tseng won the LPGA Tour Player of the Year for a second straight year.^[18] She wrapped up the award while the season still had four events remaining.

2012

Tseng won three of the first five events on the 2012 LPGA Tour: the Honda LPGA Thailand, the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup and the Kia Classic. The Honda LPGA Thailand victory was her second consecutive win at that event.

Hall of Fame

Since March 2012, Tseng has been four points away from qualifying for the World Golf Hall of Fame via the LPGA points system, which requires 27 points for Hall of Fame eligibility.^[19] Tseng earned one point for each regular tour victory on the LPGA Tour and two points for every major championship victory.^[19] She also earned a point each for her two Rolex LPGA Player of the Year awards and one point for winning the Vare Trophy.^[19] If she accumulates the required 27 points before her tenth season on the LPGA Tour, she will have to wait until the tenth year to gain full Hall of Fame eligibility.^[19] Lastly, Tseng has already met the No. 2 requirement by winning one LPGA major, Vare Trophy, or Rolex award.^[19]

Personal life

Tseng's father is Mao Hsin Tseng and her mother is Yu-Yun Yang.^[20]

Tseng resides in a residential community at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida, in a house that she purchased from former LPGA player Annika Sörenstam in April 2009.^[21]

Tseng was named on Time Magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012."^[22]

Professional wins (27)

LPGA Tour (15)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Winner's share ($)
1	8 Jun 2008	McDonald's LPGA Championship	73-70-65-68=276	−12	Playoff	Maria Hjorth	300,000
2	24 May 2009	LPGA Corning Classic	68-70-62-67=267	−21	1 stroke	Kang Soo-Yun Paula Creamer	225,000
3	4 Apr 2010	Kraft Nabisco Championship	69-71-67-68=275	−13	1 stroke	Suzann Pettersen	300,000
4	1 Aug 2010	Ricoh Women's British Open	68-68-68-73=277	−11	1 stroke	Katherine Hull	408,714
5	12 Sep 2010	P&G NW Arkansas Championship	67-68-65=200	−13	1 stroke	Michelle Wie	300,000
6	20 Feb 2011	Honda LPGA Thailand	66-71-70-66=273	−15	5 strokes	Michelle Wie	217,500
7	12 Jun 2011	LPGA State Farm Classic	67-66-66-68=267	−21	3 strokes	Cristie Kerr	255,000
8	26 Jun 2011	Wegmans LPGA Championship	66-70-67-66=269	−19	10 strokes	Morgan Pressel	375,000
9	31 Jul 2011	Ricoh Women's British Open	71-66-66-69=272	−16	4 strokes	Brittany Lang	392,133
10	11 Sep 2011	Walmart NW Arkansas Championship	66-67-68=201	−13	Playoff	Amy Yang	300,000
11	9 Oct 2011	LPGA Hana Bank Championship	65-70-67=202	−14	1 stroke	Choi Na-Yeon	270,000
12	23 Oct 2011	Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship	68-71-67-66=272	−16	5 strokes	Amy Yang Azahara Muñoz	300,000
13	19 Feb 2012	Honda LPGA Thailand	73-65-65-66=269	−19	1 stroke	Ai Miyazato	225,000
14	18 Mar 2012	RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup	65-70-67-68=270	−18	1 stroke	Choi Na-Yeon Ai Miyazato	225,000
15	25 Mar 2012	Kia Classic	67-68-69-70=274	−14	6 strokes	Sun-Young Yoo	255,000

LPGA majors are shown in bold.

LPGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2008	McDonald's LPGA Championship	Maria Hjorth	Won with birdie on fourth extra hole
2	2008	State Farm Classic	Ji-Young Oh	Lost to par on first extra hole
3	2011	Walmart NW Arkansas Championship	Amy Yang	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (12)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	3 Mar 2007	DLF Women's Indian Open (LAGT)[23]	70-70-75=215	−1	Playoff	Russy Gulyanamitta
2	11 Apr 2007	TLPGA Tour Nan-Fong Tournament at Nan-Fong Golf Club (Taiwan LPGA Tour)	72-68=140	−4	Playoff	Yueh-Chyn Huang
3	29 May 2007	CN Canadian Women's Tour at Vancouver Golf Club (CN Canadian Women’s Tour)	68-72=140	−4	2 strokes	Stephanie Sherlock
4	12 Jan 2008	Royal Ladies Open (The LPGA of Taiwan)[24]	66-64-66=196	−20	17 strokes	Lee Eun-Kyoung Pornanong Phatlum
5	17 Jan 2010	Taifong Ladies Open (The LPGA of Taiwan)[25]	69-73-77=219	+3	4 strokes	Wei Yun Jye
6	12 Mar 2010	Handa Women's Australian Open (ALPG Tour, LET)	74-71-72-66=283	−9	3 strokes	Laura Davies
7	16 Jan 2011	Taifong Ladies Open (LAGT, The LPGA of Taiwan)[26]	77-73-68=218	+2	3 strokes	Nam Min-ji
8	6 Feb 2011	ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open (ALPG, LET)	70-67-68-71=276	−16	7 strokes	Eun-Hee Ji Melissa Reid Jiyai Shin
9	13 Feb 2011	ANZ RACV Ladies Masters (ALPG, LET)	67-66-63-68=264	−24	4 strokes	Nikki Campbell Stacy Lewis
10	30 Oct 2011	Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open (LAGT, LET)	68-66-66=200	−16	7 strokes	Pernilla Lindberg
11	11 Dec 2011	Swinging Skirts TLPGA Invitational (The LPGA of Taiwan)	72-70-68=210	−6	7 strokes	Ryu So-Yeon Jiyai Shin
12	26 Jan 2014	Taifong Ladies Open (The LPGA of Taiwan)[27]	73-72-70=215	−1	2 strokes	Yen Ling Pan

Major championships

Wins (5)

No.	Year	Championship	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up	Winner's share ($)
1	2008	LPGA Championship	73-70-65-68=276	−12	Playoff 1	Maria Hjorth	300,000
2	2010	Kraft Nabisco Championship	69-71-67-68=275	−13	1 stroke	Suzann Pettersen	300,000
3	2010	Women's British Open	68-68-68-73=277	−11	1 stroke	Katherine Hull	408,714
4	2011	LPGA Championship (2)	66-70-67-66=269	−19	10 strokes	Morgan Pressel	375,000
5	2011	Women's British Open (2)	71-66-66-69=272	−16	4 strokes	Brittany Lang	392,133

¹ Defeated Hjorth with birdie on fourth extra hole.

Results timeline

Tournament	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Kraft Nabisco Championship	DNP	DNP	T21	T17	1	2	3	T48
LPGA Championship	DNP	DNP	1	T23	T19	1	T59	T19
U.S. Women's Open	CUT	DNP	T42	CUT	T10	T15	T50	CUT
Women's British Open	DNP	DNP	2	T20	1	1	T26	CUT
The Evian Championship ^								CUT

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

• Starts – 25
• Wins – 5
• 2nd place finishes – 2
• 3rd place finishes – 1
• Top 3 finishes – 8
• Top 5 finishes – 8
• Top 10 finishes – 9
• Top 25 finishes – 16
• Missed cuts – 4
• Most consecutive cuts made – 15
• Longest streak of top-10s – 4

LPGA Tour career summary

Year	Tournaments played	Cuts made*	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top 10s	Best finish	Earnings ($)	Money list rank	Scoring average	Scoring rank
2004	1	1	0	0	0	0	T33	n/a		71.50
2005	1	0	0	0	0	0	MC	n/a		77.00
2006	1	0	0	0	0	0	MC	n/a		76.00
2007	1	1	0	0	0	1	T6	64,909	n/a	69.00	n/a
2008	28	27	1	6	2	11	1	1,752,086	3	70.77	4
2009	27	26	1	3	0	14	1	1,293,755	7	70.44	5
2010	20	19	3	1	2	8	1	1,573,529	4	70.66	8
2011	22	21	7	2	1	14	1	2,921,713	1	69.66	1
2012	24	21	3	0	3	11	1	1,430,159	4	71.12	15
2013	23	17	0	1	1	4	2	405,068	38	71.71	35

• official as of 24 November 2013^[28]

* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year	World ranking	Source
2006	unranked	[29]
2007	134	[30]
2008	2	[31]
2009	5	[32]
2010	5	[33]
2011	1	[34]
2012	1	[35]

Team appearances

Amateur

• Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Taiwan): 2004

Professional

• Lexus Cup (representing Asia team): 2008

See also

• List of golfers with most LPGA major championship wins
• List of golfers with most LPGA Tour wins

References

External links

• Official website
• Yani Tseng at the LPGA Tour official site

Awards
Preceded by Jiyai Shin	World No. 1 Ranked Golfer 14 February 2011 – 17 March 2013	Succeeded by Stacy Lewis

v t e Dinah Shore/Kraft Nabisco Championship champions 1983 Amy Alcott 1984 Juli Inkster† 1985 Alice Miller 1986‡ Pat Bradley 1987‡ Betsy King 1988 Amy Alcott 1989‡ Juli Inkster 1990 Betsy King† 1991‡ Amy Alcott 1992 Dottie Mochrie† 1993 Helen Alfredsson 1994 Donna Andrews 1995 Nanci Bowen 1996 Patty Sheehan 1997 Betsy King 1998‡ Pat Hurst 1999 Dottie Pepper 2000‡ Karrie Webb 2001 Annika Sörenstam 2002 Annika Sörenstam 2003 Patricia Meunier-Lebouc 2004 Grace Park 2005 Annika Sörenstam 2006 Karrie Webb† 2007 Morgan Pressel 2008 Lorena Ochoa 2009 Brittany Lincicome 2010 Yani Tseng 2011 Stacy Lewis 2012 Sun-Young Yoo† 2013 Inbee Park † event won in a playoff; ‡ event won wire-to-wire

v t e LPGA Championship champions 1955‡ Beverly Hanson 1956 Marlene Hagge† 1957 Louise Suggs 1958‡ Mickey Wright 1959 Betsy Rawls 1960 Mickey Wright 1961‡ Mickey Wright 1962‡ Judy Kimball 1963 Mickey Wright 1964 Mary Mills 1965 Sandra Haynie 1966 Gloria Ehret 1967‡ Kathy Whitworth 1968‡ Sandra Post† 1969 Betsy Rawls 1970 Shirley Englehorn† 1971 Kathy Whitworth 1972 Kathy Ahern 1973 Mary Mills 1974 Sandra Haynie 1975 Kathy Whitworth 1976 Betty Burfeindt 1977 Hisako Higuchi 1978 Nancy Lopez 1979 Donna Caponi 1980 Sally Little 1981 Donna Caponi 1982‡ Jan Stephenson 1983 Patty Sheehan 1984 Patty Sheehan 1985‡ Nancy Lopez 1986 Pat Bradley 1987 Jane Geddes 1988 Sherri Turner 1989 Nancy Lopez 1990 Beth Daniel 1991 Meg Mallon 1992‡ Betsy King 1993 Patty Sheehan 1994 Laura Davies 1995 Kelly Robbins 1996 Laura Davies 1997 Christa Johnson† 1998‡ Se Ri Pak 1999 Juli Inkster 2000 Juli Inkster† 2001 Karrie Webb 2002 Se Ri Pak 2003 Annika Sörenstam† 2004 Annika Sörenstam 2005 Annika Sörenstam 2006 Se Ri Pak† 2007 Suzann Pettersen 2008 Yani Tseng† 2009 Anna Nordqvist 2010‡ Cristie Kerr 2011‡ Yani Tseng 2012 Shanshan Feng 2013 Inbee Park† † event won in a playoff; ‡ event won wire-to-wire

v t e Women's British Open champions 2001 Se Ri Pak 2002 Karrie Webb 2003 Annika Sörenstam 2004 Karen Stupples 2005‡ Jang Jeong 2006 Sherri Steinhauer 2007‡ Lorena Ochoa 2008 Jiyai Shin 2009 Catriona Matthew 2010 Yani Tseng 2011 Yani Tseng 2012 Jiyai Shin 2013 Stacy Lewis ‡ event won wire-to-wire

v t e Female golfers who have won 2 or more major championships in one year 1946 Louise Suggs (2) 1948 Patty Berg (2) 1949 Louise Suggs (2) 1950 Babe Zaharias (3) 1955 Patty Berg (2) 1957 Patty Berg (2) 1958 Mickey Wright (2) 1959 Betsy Rawls (2) 1961 Mickey Wright (3) 1962 Mickey Wright (2) 1963 Mickey Wright (2) 1967 Kathy Whitworth (2) 1974 Sandra Haynie (2) 1984 Juli Inkster (2) 1986 Pat Bradley (3) 1990 Betsy King (2) 1991 Meg Mallon (2) 1996 Laura Davies (2) 1998 Se Ri Pak (2) 1999 Juli Inkster (2) 2000 Karrie Webb (2) 2001 Karrie Webb (2) 2003 Annika Sörenstam (2) 2005 Annika Sörenstam (2) 2010 Yani Tseng (2) 2011 Yani Tseng (2) 2013 Inbee Park (3)

Persondata
Name	Tseng, Yani
Alternative names
Short description	Professional golfer
Date of birth	23 January 1989
Place of birth	Gueishan Township, Taoyuan County, Taiwan
Date of death
Place of death