Yani Tseng, who has won three of the first five events on the 2012 LPGA Tour, is looking forward to defending her title at the LPGA Championship which begins Thursday.
Taiwan's Tseng leads the player of the year rankings by a wide margin over Sun Young Yoo and Stacy Lewis, and is looking forward to locking horns with a strong field in another major this week at the Locust Hill Country Club.
Tseng has five career major titles on her resume and has already wrapped up the LPGA Tour Player of the Year Award for the second straight year.
"I didn't expect this. When I won the first (major), I never thought I'm going to win a second major," said Tseng. "I never thought about winning five. I never think about it, but now I'm thinking I can win more."
The 23-year-old Tseng finished third in the first major of the year, just one stroke out of a playoff at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
"At the beginning of this year, I was putting so much pressure (on myself), the most pressure I've ever had in my whole life," she said.
"In January, I would just stay home. I wouldn't go out. It was no fun."
Tseng, who turned pro five years ago and joined the LPGA full-time in 2008, tees off in Thursday's opening round in a group with Lewis and Paula Creamer.
American Lewis is also on a roll, having won two of her previous three starts, but it is Tseng who has become the poster woman for ladies golf.
"She's been accessible, available, and the ambassador at every turn," said Kraig Kann, chief communications officer of the LPGA Tour.
"Every opportunity we've given her that we feel like is one that she needs to do, she's done. You can't do everything, but I am so impressed with how she carries herself. She's not afraid, she's not intimidated."
Tseng routed the field at last year's LPGA Championship, winning by 10 shots over Morgan Pressel and Cindy LaCrosse.
"Last year when I walked on the 18th hole -- I'm pretty emotional -- the crowd was amazing," Tseng said. "Everybody stood up and clapped for me. I was like, I don't know for what because I'm not American."
The win made Tseng the youngest female golfer in history, at 22 years, 4 months and 18 days, to win four major titles.
Source: AFP American Edition
