I will be awaiting some of the details behind Yani's "new swing."  You would think she would love to go into the 2012 season with the swing that won 12 tournaments a year ago and not make any big changes ... wow.

The LPGA tour gets zero coverage here in the states... I only see blips here and there about the professional women.  Will be interesting to see if she can keep that winning form in 2012.

The LPGA does get covered by the Golf Channel, but they get a bad time slot. There are a lot of LPGA events that don't get aired until after the round is completed (sometimes 10:00pm PST). Who on the East Coast would watch this so late? Other than that, no one, not even Golf Central, talks about the LPGA.

I'm interested to see Yani's new swing. I guess since she is open to playing with the men on the PGA Tour, this could be why she worked on getting a more powerful swing.

She is worried about Lexi Thompson.  When Lexi won, she was outdriving Yani that entire weekend.  Yani is just trying to keep up with her competition.

The Golf Channel gives quite a bit of time to the LPGA. Not nearly as much as it gives to the men's tours in absolute terms, but probably more time per interested viewer.

Sorry, I should change my original post from 'zero' to 'little'.  As you have stated, they do receive some limited coverage by the Golf Channel... But those tournaments are typically never watched the even the avid golf fan due to the lack of marketing and buzz around the tournaments.

What is going on with Yani Tseng?

It seems like just yesterday, that I was writing a post asking if anyone would step up and challenge Yani Tseng. My, how things have changed. In a few short months, Yani has gone from complete dominance to completely out of contention. Let us look at her season so far. I am going to break it down into three parts.

First 5 tournaments:
Wins: 3
Top fives: 4
Top tens: 5
Missed Cuts: 0
Broke par in: 12 of 16 rounds or 75%
Per round average: 69.15

Next 4 tournaments:
Wins: 0
Top fives: 1
Top tens: 3
Missed Cuts: 0
Broke par in: 63.6% of rounds played.
Per round average: 70.36

Last 4 tournaments:
Wins: 0
Top fives: 0
Top tens: 0
Missed cuts: 2
Broke par in: 1 of 12 rounds or 8.3%
Per round average: 74.75

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the steep drop that has occurred. The per round average is alarming. Last year she led the tour with a per round average of 69.66.

Earlier in the year it seemed to me that just about everyone, including myself, was pointing to her as the next great golfer. We had her following in the footsteps of Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa. Did we all jump the gun?

I started to wonder if Annika or Lorena had suffered through any slumps like this after becoming the best female player in the game. Here is what I found:

You have to look long and hard to find anything resembling a slump after Annika soared to the top.
The worst period I could find was back in 1999, when over a 4 tournament span, she failed to finish in the top ten and posted a per round average of 72.80. Not up to her standards, but not all that bad either.

Lorena became the top player in the world and retired without ever having a slump. Her worst period would be in 2009, when over a period of four tournaments she finished 16th, 6th, 40th, and had a rare missed cut. Her per round average over that period was still a stellar 70.9.

The above shows that neither of those superstars ever had to go through what Yani is going through now.

Some might say that while this makes for a good story, it is too early to draw any conclusions. I say that this bears watching. We have seen examples in all sports that when a player loses confidence, it sometimes takes a very long time to get it back. Sometimes it never comes back. Look at Song-Hee Kim, who in 2010 had more top 10 finishes than anyone on the tour. She now is a long shot to retain her playing card for next year.

One more thought on the subject. A few weeks back I wrote an article on the Americans underachieving, in which I got a huge response. The general consensus was that the Asian players are far outworking the Americans. That opinion seemed unanimous, coming from Asians, Americans, and some of the players themselves. Being around the game as much as I am, I can't disagree. But will they burn themselves out at an early age? Is that what is happening here?

I welcome all opinions on the subject.


For other LPGA tidbits:
http://mlyhlss.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-is-going-on-with-yani-tseng.html

i assume its the exact same issue tiger ran into....more wins = more girls ( not that there is anything wrong with that )

I'm not that up to date with the LPGA but I'm pretty sure she has been battling elbow problems.

^ She has some health issues and Id bet thats what the deal is.

Her testosterone levels are too low?

I heard the same, but I also believe her competition has gotten better and the combination of the two is the cause.

So much so that she cant make cuts anymore?

Not sure what the face palm is for.

I'm just guessing but I think he was saying that her competition getting better probably isn't causing her to miss cuts and play bad.

Agreed.  She was the best player in the world.  Just because the competition got better - doesn't mean it got so good that she was all of the sudden missing cuts.  I think it has to be an injury - or something upstairs isn't working.  She got a new caddie, so maybe her mind isn't right - right now?  Golf at that level - is a lot about having your mind right.

She can't find the fairway with her driver ala Ian Baker Finch.