by Jeff Skinner
The most dominant golfer on the planet won again yesterday. No, it’s not Tiger Woods. It’s Yani Tseng who won for the third time in five LPGA Tour starts this season. Tseng dominated the field at The Kia Classic with a six stroke win over Sun Young Yoo. Tseng’s win at La Costa is the fifteenth of her career and at only 23 years old she looks like she could challenge Kathy Whitworth’s all time record of 88 career wins.
The only player to win so many LPGA events more quickly was Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez. Tseng became the youngest golfer ever to five majors when she won her fifth last season. She’ll be looking to add to that total next week when the ladies tee it up at the first major of the season at The Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Unfortunately, Tseng doesn’t get the recognition she deserves probably for two reasons. First she plays on the LPGA Tour and not the PGA Tour. If a man was winning at this pace he’d be anointed as the greatest golfer in history. Secondly, she’s not an American. That’s unfair but true. Tseng is an idol in her country of Taiwan but could walk through Disney World unnoticed. It’s an unfortunate fact that the only time the LPGA gets enough buzz to attract the casual golf fan it has to be Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer or Natalie Gulbis as the main attraction. That too bad because the LPGA has a great product and Tseng is as likable as any golfer on any tour, male or female.
The most popular female golfer of recent days was Annika Sorenstam who retired with 72 career wins in her Hall of Fame Career. How many wins did Annika have by the time she was Tseng’s age? Zero, Yani Tseng is off to an amazing start.
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