CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Welcome to the Yani Tseng era, which might be subtitled: "Who's My Rival?" In the 22-year-old from Taiwan, the LPGA just might have found the breakout star it needs to grab the interest of the casual golf fan. Now what it needs is for a heated rivalry to develop, when in fact what it has right now is a rivalry-by-committee not unlike men's golf had back when Tiger Woods was winning major championships by the bucketful.
Tseng comes into Carnoustie as the clear favorite, having won the Ricoh Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale last year, three of the last seven majors played and four in her brief career. More to the point is who would be the second favorite. And the answer to that is that Yani is being chased by a posse right now and not a lone rider.
Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer have yet to win this year but both have placed themselves in position a lot and it is only a matter of time until one or both breaks through. Ai Miyazato, who won last week at the Evian Masters, has yet to win a major but does have seven LPGA wins in the last 24 months. Stacy Lewis was second last week and Angela Stanford tied for third. Jiyai Shin won the British at Sunningdale but has been off her game this year.
A sentimental favorite will be Suzann Pettersen, who closed strong on the weekend at the Evian to finish T-6 after learning on Friday of the terrorist massacre in her homeland Norway. While she knew no one personally who was a victim of the killings, she said: "It doesn't matter. One loss is a loss for all of us." She said she felt she was serving her country by playing this week. "You just go out there and fight for your friends at home," she said.
(Related: The LPGA's all-time best rivalries)
And a curiosity will be Michelle Wie, who was T-72 in the Wegman's LPGA Championship and T-57 in the U.S. Women's Open -- where she averaged nearly 35 putts a round -- and then switched to a long putter and a split grip at Evian -- where she missed the cut and averaged a still unacceptable 32 putts. This week she has been practicing with the same long putter but this time with her hands close together on the grip.
Still, Tseng is the story. "I love this course," she said Wednesday, adding that she felt confident and comfortable. "Every day it plays different," she said about the wind that shifts direction from off the North Sea or toward it. "You hit a 5-iron today and a 3-wood tomorrow" on the same shot, she said. "There are so many ways to play every hole -- in the air, on the ground -- and so much room for imagination."
Since the modern era of the LPGA Grand Slam began in 1983 when the Kraft Nabisco Championship became the fourth major, giving the tour four majors for only the second time since 1966, there have been three distinct segments. Each has had characteristics that that made it interesting in their own way.
The first was 1983-97 when a Hall-of-Fame roster of players like Betsy King, Patty Sheehan, Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley Beth Daniel and Nancy Lopez battled with the likes Dottie Pepper, Laura Davies and Meg Mallon during what was perhaps the tours greatest proliferation of stars. The majors were compelling because such a wide range of top-notch players were competing.
From 1998 through 2002, four players emerged to dominate in the majors as Karrie Webb (6), Juli Inkster (4), Se Ri Pak (4) and Annika Sorenstam (2) combined to win 16 of the 20 Grand Slam events played during that stretch. That quartet won all five U.S. Women's Opens, all five LPGA Championships, three of the five Kraft Nabiscos, the only two British Opens Opens after it became a major in 2001 and one of the three DuMaurier Classics played during that period. The Big Four were great fun to watch.
And then there is where we are now. Since the retirement of Sorenstam in 2008, the lone multiple major winner is Tseng. The 15 majors played since the beginning of 2008 have produced 12 different winners, 11 of whom captured one of the big events. The other four trophies were taken home by Yani -- A Kraft Nabisco, two LPGA Championship and a British Open.
If there is a way in which Tseng can improve it is to become more consistent. Part of what made Sorenstam great was that she contended almost every time she teed the ball up. Fans knew when they came to the course on Sunday they could pick up the pairing sheet and find out what time the Swede was going to tee off -- usually late. She almost never missed a cut, and was usually lurking on the leader board, even if she didn't win.
Women's golf really hasn't had someone like that since Sorenstam left the stage. Even Lorena Ochoa, who had 27 LPGA wins with two majors before retiring last year at the age of 28, lacked the ability to put herself in position to win week after week the way Sorenstam did. That could be the next way in which Tseng's game can mature.
The two words used most by players here to describe Carnoustie are "pure" and "fair." While the mad man of Carnasty in 1999 -- green keeper John Philp -- thinks they have taken the teeth out of Carnoustie for the women, that will ultimately be determined by the weather. Tseng, for one, would like to see it playing longer. Still, she comes in as the clear favorite -- with probably two dozen others in the field of 144 with a chance to win. That's the era women's golf is in right now.
-- Ron Sirak
(Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)
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