The Good Yani

by Mulligan Stu on Apr 19, 2008 10:00 AM EDT

You can distinguish the good Yani, Yani Tseng, from the bad one by noting that the good Yani has just one "n" in her first name, while the bad Yanni has two. Yani also makes much more beautiful music.

Yani Tseng, age 19, leads the Ginn Open after two rounds. Whether she holds on for another two rounds to win this event, she'll definitely be winning soon. I'm thinking Yani has a bigger future than Morgan Pressel. Yep.

In February of last year, I wrote this:

Who is Ya-Ni Tseng? She's a Taiwanese 18-year-old who recently turned pro, and who currently ranks around No. 300 in the world according to the official women's world rankings.

But that's going to change soon. She finished fifth at the ANZ Ladies Masters this weekend, following a 13th-place finish at the previous week's Women's Australian Open.

Tseng is a year older than Michelle Wie, and beat Wie in the finals for the 2004 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship.

In 2005, she defeated Morgan Pressel for the North and South amateur title.

She's described as tiny in stature, but apparently hits the ball a long way. Several of her drives at the ANZ topped the 300-yard mark, and she also was second in putting to Karrie Webb.

Remember the name. Ya-Ni Tseng.

Yani has since dropped the hyphen, but she hasn't dropped the ball. She's risen to 57th in the world rankings, although she's certainly higher than that in any ranking of golfers as they are playing in 2008.

So far this year Tseng is 13th in driving average and 10th in GIR. In five starts prior to the Ginn, her worst finish is 25th. She was runner-up at the MasterCard Classic and eighth at the SBS Open.

And she wants Angelina Jolie to portray her in a movie about her life. Hey, the kid dreams big.

Update: Yani withstood the Waggle Room jinx for the third round, shooting 69 in the face of an Ochoa charge (65). Tseng is one stroke back when the fourth round starts Sunday.

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Taiwanese revival

Great to see Candie Kung making the comeback, Teresa Lu picking up here game, and Amy Hung hanging in there this week, as well. But how about that Ya Ni?

by The Constructivist on Apr 19, 2008 10:33 AM EDT reply actions