NPR: ‘The Best Player You Probably Never Heard Of’

ON FRIDAY NPR’S MORNING EDITION spent three minutes and 57 seconds telling its large audience about a “little-known” golf phenom named Yani Tseng, the world No. 1 player who is dominating the LPGA Tour and crashing the record books.

Reported Tom Goldman:

Tseng has been powering and smiling her way around golf courses—and making history. She has already done something that no one who has swung a golf club has done before: At the relatively tender age of 22, Tseng has won five major championships.

Tiger Woods was 24 when he won his fifth major. The legendary Patty Berg, who holds the LPGA record with 15 Grand Slam titles, was 25. Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam was 32.

Goldman went on to call Tseng a triple threat, possessing accuracy, touch and power. The tour’s longest hitter, she averages nearly 270 yards off the tee. He also explained that while popular in Asia, where she is stopped on the street, Tseng goes largely unrecognized here as a non-American on the U.S-based LPGA Tour.

“Come on, people,” Goldman said. “Five majors.”

Such is ladies’ golf, especially if you’re from Taiwan and still learning English. Tseng seems to take it all in stride. Currently the most dominant player in the game, she deserves all the attention she can get.

Listen to NPR’s report on Yani Tseng

The next tournament on the LPGA Tour schedule is the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on September 9-11. The defending champion is Yani Tseng.

−The Armchair Golfer

The Common Retirement Path of Lorena Ochoa and Bob Jones

LORENA OCHOA HAS A COUPLE of things in common with golf great Bob Jones. Like Jones, Ochoa walked away from competitive golf at the age of 28. Lorena also left while she was world No. 1, just as Jones did after winning the Grand Slam in 1930.

Ochoa picked up the 2011 Bob Jones Award at the USGA’s annual meeting in Phoenix last weekend. Lorena said she was “speechless” when first informed about being the recipient. After weeks to prepare her acceptance speech, an emotional Ochoa said the words still didn’t come easy.

“It would have been easier in Spanish,” she confessed. That got a hearty laugh.

The Bob Jones Award has been around since 1955. The USGA honor is given to players who emulate the lifelong amateur and 13-time major winner. Ochoa is a great selection.

Maybe Lorena will return to tournament golf someday. But for now she’s happily pursuing her foundation work that she said drove her to be the world’s best female golfer. The strong desire to help youth in her native Mexico motivated her to excel at the game she took up at the age of five. The Lorena Ochoa Foundation benefits underprivileged children in her hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Ochoa was a two-time NCAA Player of the Year at University of Arizona before embarking on an eight-year career on the LPGA Tour. She retired in 2010 with 27 wins, including the 2007 Women’s British Open and the 2008 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Lorena Ochoa tribute video shown at USGA annual meeting

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: memoflores, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

The Ladies Parity Golf Association (LPGA)

THERE ARE SIX LADIES vying for the Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy (lowest scoring average) and the LPGA money title: Yani Tseng, Ai Miyazato, Cristie Kerr, Jiyai Shin, Suzanne Pettersen and Na Yeon Choi. The post-Annika, post-Lorena LPGA has a new and very crowded look at the top. That’s why I was thinking we could start calling it the Ladies Parity Golf Association. We know they’re pros, so why not use the “P” for something that fits today’s LPGA?

They’ll settle POY, the money title and other season-ending issues at the LPGA Tour Championship in two weeks at the Grand Cypress Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.

(Photo: Yani Tseng / Keith Allison, Flickr)

It’s been crazy since Lorena Ochoa retired in May. The top spot in the Rolex Rankings (women’s world No. 1, not to be confused with Rolex Player of the Year) has turned over nine times among three players—Miyazato, Shin and Kerr. Shin is the current No. 1 and holds a slim .49 edge over Pettersen. Kerr is third and Tseng fourth.

The money title has come down to Shin and Choi. In addition, Choi, with a 69.77 scoring average, has a .09 lead over Kerr in the Vare Trophy race.

If I counted correctly, there have been 15 winners in 25 events thus far. Miyazato, Tseng, Kerr, Shin and Choi have multiple wins this season. The LPGA is an extremely competitive tour these days. That’s a positive.

But is parity a good thing? Mega stars like Sorenstam, Ochoa and, for the men, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, have brought more exposure to professional golf, a minor sport that struggles for attention—and always will.

Parity can be good for core fans. I’m in favor of it. For me, dominance gets boring. But does parity make the LPGA a harder sell when it comes to attracting a larger following? Mike Whan might not say so, but I think it does.

−The Armchair Golfer

Creamer Rises to the Top

2010 U.S. Women’s Open Recap
Winner: Paula Creamer
Score: 3 under, 281 (72, 70, 70, 69)
Quote: “I believed I could do this.”
Fact: She didn’t watch leaderboards.
Thought: Mental toughness wins majors.

PAULA CREAMER IS A major champion. What so many have long expected since the talented California native turned professional five years ago finally came to pass today under blue skies at Oakmont Country Club in western Pennsylvania. She is only 23, but doesn’t it seem that Paula has been grinding for that first major victory for quite a while?

Count me among those who were thoroughly impressed by Creamer’s performance. I know Oakmont was playing soft after the heavy rain on Friday. It’s still Oakmont, though. Playing through pain in the aftermath of surgery to her left thumb, Paula was the only player in red numbers for 72 holes, shooting 3-under par to win by four strokes over Na Yeon Choi and Suzanne Pettersen. She saved her best round for last, a 2-under 69.

Few players have a four-shot cushion when they play the final hole of a U.S. Open (a dream scenario and then you wake up), but apparently Creamer didn’t know it. Paula said afterwards that she didn’t look at a leaderboard until the 18th green.

“That was a goal of mine,” she said, “to just go and play the golf course, and if somebody played awesome, then somebody did. I didn’t want to change my game plan.”

How do you explain a first major after so much adversity and such a long layoff? Paula was obviously not at anywhere near her best physically—she could only hit 40 balls in warm up, winced in pain on the course, and told the press she was about 60 percent. She had only played four events coming into the national championship, missing the cut last week at the Jamie Farr Classic.

“It just shows,” Paula said, “how much the mental side of golf can really take over.”

There’s also the experience and maturity Creamer gained from disappointments at the last two U.S. Women’s Opens at Interlachen and Saucon Valley. And there’s the putting, which this time was superb on Oakmont’s crazy fast and undulating greens.

Because of Paula’s extreme popularity—and because an American has won the U.S. Women’s Open—this is bound to be a huge lift for women’s golf and the LPGA Tour. With Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa gone, the game needs star power, and Paula has it in mega-wattage. Now she also has her first of what may be many majors.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

9 Things Lorena Ochoa Will Miss About Tournament Golf

IN HER FRIDAY PRESS conference on the topic of her retirement, Lorena Ochoa was asked what she would miss the most about tournament golf. I’ve turned her answer into a list:

1. The whole package.
2. Good times and bad times. (“I think I have no bad memories.”)
3. My friends, the players.
4. Seeing them [the players] at the golf course.
5. Watching them hit balls at the range.
6. Everything all set up (the bleachers, perfect greens).
7. Practicing on a Monday or Tuesday when the course is quiet in the afternoon.
8. So many things.
9. My suitcase.

From reading the transcript, though, Lorena left zero doubt that she is entirely comfortable with leaving the game in her prime as the world No. 1 female golfer.

“I always say when you’re a professional athlete, there is a day when you start, and there’s always going to be a day when you finish,” Lorena said, “and this is the perfect time for me. I’m very relaxed in a way, that this has gone the way I want it to with my beliefs and my reasons.”

Lorena’s happy day is a sad day for golf and golf fans. Brian Hewitt at Global Golf Post wrote, “She was ours to enjoy, as a competitor and a person, during her eight years on the biggest stage in women’s golf. Now her family and friends are getting her back.” Here’s the digital magazine’s “Adios” cover of Lorena with teary eyes.

Forgive my sentimentality and pass the Kleenex. I’ll get through this … I hope.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Reaction to Lorena Ochoa Retirement

LORENA OCHOA IS RETIRING from golf. The world No. 1 women’s player who snatched the top spot from Annika Sorenstam in 2007 and has held it for 157 weeks is just 28. Lorena has 27 LPGA Tour wins, including two majors. A press conference is scheduled for Friday during which Ochoa is expected to explain her reasons in more detail, which apparently center around her recent marriage and new family life.

Reaction

Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam (via her blog): “I must admit that I was surprised, but not shocked, when I heard the news yesterday that Lorena is going to retire. She has always said she would play for maybe 10 years and then leave the game to start a family. She just got married and obviously feels that she is ready for that next chapter in her life.”

Hall of Famer and TV analyst Judy Rankin (via AP): “I’m just crushed. We won’t get to see her play golf. Mostly, we won’t get to see her.”

Hall of Famer Amy Alcott (via LA Times and Golf.com): “To lose one of its great stars and great entertainers, that’s difficult. She’s been a great role model for young girls, and that’s what I admire the most about Lorena.”

Me: “Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle.”

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Pablo Lancaster-Jones/Flickr)

The Ladies Are Back

THE LPGA SEASON GETS underway tomorrow at the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand. Forty-nine of the top 50 on the 2009 LPGA money list will tee it up at Siam Country Club outside of Bangkok, Thailand. World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa is the defending champion.

Although last year was tumultuous for the LPGA Tour, a new season and new commissioner had three of the LPGA’s biggest stars in a sunny mood as they sat for a press conference on Tuesday.

Asked about LPGA commish Michael Whan and new sponsor announcements in recent weeks, Ochoa said, “We are all happy with the new commissioner. We’re going in the right direction.” Paula Creamer said, “His vision for our Tour is where it should be.” Michelle Wie made it unanimous. “I’ve talked to Mike Whan and he’s awesome. He sends e-mails to us and keeps in touch. He wants to know what we’re thinking as players.”

What the players think definitely matters. Just ask ex-LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens. It’s early, but so far Whan’s collaborative style is winning the players and a few new sponsors.

The three players also talked about their prospects as the season begins. Creamer, who suffered last year with a mysterious ailment, said she feels the best she has in a long time. Wie said she and other players are gunning for Ochoa’s top spot. Lorena said she is just trying to concentrate on her own game and not be concerned about all the great talent chasing her, including last year’s rookie of the year, Jiyai Shin.

Whether they’re in for another bumpy season or not, look for the ladies to hang tough. The LPGA has survived since 1950 when a group of 13 women that included Babe Zaharias, Louise Suggs and Betty Jameson founded the ladies tour. They’ll be celebrating their 60th anniversary all year, which will include historic snapshots at LPGA.com.

Borrowing a phrase from Spock, who might be a commissioner candidate if Whan doesn’t work out, may the LPGA live long and prosper.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Images: Lancaster-Jones, Allison /Flickr)