After first US Open round in 9 years, Yani Tseng has shot at making cut

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) For the 2011 edition of Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), when she ruled the women's golf world, a first round 3-over-par 75 at any golf tournament would have been a source of distress for her many fans in Taiwan.

But for Yani Tseng in 2025, her first round 3-over-par 75 at the US Women's Open on Thursday was a revelation, giving her a shot at making a cut at a major for the first time since 2017, when she made it to the weekend at the Women's British Open and finished tied for 30th.

Appearing in her first US Women's Open since 2016 after surviving a five-player playoff in her qualifying event, Tseng actually finished the more difficult front nine in just 1 over par with three bogies and two birdies.

But between the 12th and 17th holes, she sandwiched two birdies between four bogies to leave herself a couple of shots out of where she would need to be to play over the weekend.

At the US Women's Open, the top 60 players and ties make the cut. After the first round, 19 players were tied for 59th at 1 over par.

"I'm happy with the way I played, but I struggled with my speed control on the greens. I haven't putted greens this fast in nine years," said Tseng, who now putts left-handed in her latest strategy to overcome the yips.

Six players topped the leaderboard with 4-under-par 68s, and the best showing by any of the four Taiwanese in the tournament at the Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin was by Wei-ling Hsu (徐薇淩), tied with 24 other players at even par.

Hsu told CNA after her round that she got a big confidence boost after the first two holes, when she hit two poor tee shots but still managed to salvage pars.

"Overall, I think I played pretty well. The only issue was I still had trouble getting used to the greens, which are much faster this week than they even were at last week's tournament," Hsu said.

Tseng's fall from grace has been well documented. She became the youngest player ever at the age of 22 to win five major championships and was ranked No. 1 in the world for 109 consecutive weeks from 2011 to 2013, the second longest of all time.

But she has not won an LPGA event since 2012 and did not play in a single LPGA tournament in 2024.

Even at her peak, the US Women's Open, with its narrow fairways and tough greens that reward prudence and consistency while harshly punishing even the slightest errors, was never Tseng's top event. Her best finish was 10th in 2011.

At a pre-tournament press conference, Tseng admitted she did not feel any expectations this week.

"I know everybody wants to try to win this week, but I really just want to be here and enjoy every moment I can," she said, marveling at the amenities of simply playing in this year's US Women's Open.

"I feel very happy this week. Once I got here, I told my parents, 'Mom, the food's good. The food's so good.' Like, the hospitality, and we have a gym, we have recovery. We got everything. It was so different than nine years ago; we had nothing. Now it's like ... I feel like a kid. This is so new to me," she said.

"I feel like my expectation is just see how much I can enjoy out there. I don't want to be stressed."

Beset by mental and physical struggles, including two hip surgeries in the last four years, what has perhaps haunted her the most in recent years has been the yips on the greens that led her out of desperation to make the switch to putt left-handed.

"I've been fighting with the yips actually for three or four years, and I changed so many little things and it just never (got better).

"I thought after hip surgery it might be gone, but I didn't do the brain surgery so the yips are not gone," she joked, a sign that even with her struggles, she has managed to maintain the wit that endeared her to so many of her peers and media figures in her heyday.

Though she admitted to thinking about quitting, she said she was not ready for the journey to end.

"I love this game. I don't know where that passion comes from, but every time I fell down, I feel like I need to get back up, I need to do this," she said.

"I don't know who I'm proving to, but maybe I want to prove it to myself. I want to see what I can do. I want to bring out the best version of myself."