Pittsford, NY, United States

Yani Tseng has eight wins at the age of 22, four of them are major championships.

The smiling young lady from Taiwan is the new gold standard in women's golf.

She's No. 1 in the world and she tightened her grip on that ranking with a blowout Sunday at the Wegman's LPGA Championship.

For Tseng, it was nothing but fun.

Before she teed off in the final round Sunday at Locust Hill, she was nervous, she turned to her swing coach, Gary Gilchrist with the simple question: "What can I do today?"

"Go out and have fun," Gilchrist told her.

The first hole of the final day wasn't fun for Tseng. "I was really, really nervous on the first hole," she admitted. "I pulled my drive and made bogey. I made a three-foot par putt. My hand was shaking."

Perhaps the bogey snapped her out of that nervousness. She birdied the next three holes and never looked back.

"I had three birdies in a row after that (bogey). I calmed down. I realize, today, let's break a record."

The rest of her round was a simple march to history. She blew away the rest of the competition with a 66, shot 19 under par and won by 10 shots. That's all.

"Impressive," is how 10-time major champion Annika Sorenstam described Tseng's performance.

It is fitting that Tseng bought her new residence from Sorenstam in the Orlando luxury community of Lake Nona. It has a special trophy room and Tseng's well on her way to filling it.

Tseng is the youngest to win four majors. She's younger than Patty Berg, Se Ri Pak, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods when they made it to four.

She's well on her way to passing Sorenstam's 10 and she's no doubt got Berg's all-time women's mark of 15 in her sights.

Tseng will be the overwhelming favorite at next week's U.S. Open. It will be played at the classic Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The east course was designed by Donald Ross in 1916, spruced up a bit by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1952 and will be a classic test for Tseng and the others.

Suzann Pettersen, who like the rest of the field was blown away by Tseng last week is headed for the Broadmoor this week for some extra practice.

Tseng is headed home to Lake Nona for a mini-vacation.

"Back to Orlando and a swimming pool," Tseng said of her plans for this week. "Just relax and enjoy. Next week, I know it's a big week."

As for any early preparation this week?

"I can go down the street and see Annika (Sorenstam)," Tseng said of her new neighbor. "And I can get some U.S. Open tips from her."

 

Copyright © 2011 AHN - All Rights Reserved