Darren Carroll/Getty ImagesYani Tseng, 22, has been on top of the world rankings for 34 consecutive weeks.There is not much more that can be said about Yani Tseng's season, but after last week's victory -- her sixth LPGA title and ninth worldwide of the year -- the 22-year-old from Taiwan deserves any and all kudos.
"Yani has been a phenomenal No. 1, and she keeps pushing the limits every week," said Norway's Suzann Pettersen -- No. 2 in the rankings behind Tseng -- to reporters this week. "Hats off -- she is playing fantastic, and it makes us work even harder."
On the PGA Tour, when Tiger Woods was playing like Tiger Woods, European star Colin Montgomerie once said everybody else arrived at tournaments playing for second place. As play begins Thursday in the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, are the women starting to feel the same?
"We never really want to go into a tournament feeling like we're playing for second, but Yani is having a fantastic year," said American and world No. 3 Cristie Kerr. "Any time she's on the front page of the leaderboard she is going to be a very strong factor, and she has a lot of confidence right now. Definitely don't want to feel like that, but she's very hot at the moment and we are all trying to do our best job out there."
Tseng has held the No. 1 position in the Rolex rankings for 34 consecutive weeks, and she became the youngest player, male or female, to win five major titles when she won the Women's British Open in July.
"I just try to focus on every shot, every hole, every tournament," Tseng told reporters. "Last week I won, but it's already passed. Now I'm looking forward to this week and trying to focus on doing the best I can and do the best every week."
This week
The LPGA's "Asian Swing" continues this week with a 72-hole stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the second annual Sime Darby. It's the second of three Asian-based events this month.
The field, headed by Tseng, Pettersen and defending champ Jimin Kang, will be playing for a $1.9 million purse with a $285,000 winner's check.
Still on a Solheim high
Pettersen, who led Europe to last month's Solheim Cup upset of the United States, says she's still enjoying the satisfaction. But more important, so is women's golf, after Europe ended a three-match win streak by the United States.
"It's been a great fall," she said. "I think the European team really enjoyed winning at Killeen Castle in Ireland. I think it was good for women's golf, and I just think our team was phenomenal.
"That was the strongest team that I've been a part of on the Solheim, and that we managed to go out on Sunday and win the singles was a huge achievement for all of us. It was just dramatic that it actually came down to the very last shot. I don't think it's ever happened before. We all truly enjoyed it. You just have to enjoy those moments because they are so rare and very unique. They are memories for life."
It's not always the swing
Sometimes the fickleness of golf isn't about grooved swings or course management. Sometimes it's far more basic.
This week's defending champ, Kang, had good reason to believe that her victory last year signaled her arrival as a regular contender. Her one-shot victory over Juli Inkster was her second career tour title and one of three top-10 finishes in 2010.
But this year nothing much has happened.
Until finishing tied for third last week, the 31-year-old South Korean's best finish was a tie for 19th, and she had not finished better than 43rd since June.
So what secret did she suddenly discover?
"I've been struggling with these allergies and I found this doctor that got me a better medication that helped me," Kang said this week. "So I'm looking forward to [playing]."
