Before The Drastic Putting Change, Yani Tseng Was As Dominant As They Come

Golf is often fixated on "dominant players". Tiger, Scottie, Annika, Nelly...depending on who you ask the list may vary. But there's one name that often gets lost or left out, until this week.

Except, she's not being talked about for her dominance, but rather the lengths she's going to to get back to what she once had before. Yani Tseng has made headlines at this week's Chevron Championship for her...unique putting stroke. But let's all take a walk down memory lane and remember that the talented, young player from Taiwan has one of the best runs in professional golf we've seen.

The visibility of women's golf in the late 2000s into the 2010s isn't where it is today, so it may have been easy to miss out on what Tseng accomplished in a small window.

She joined the LPGA in 2008. That June she won her first of five majors at the LPGA Championship (now called the KPMG Women's PGA Championship). She'd go on to earn the Rookie of the Year honors that same year.

In 2010, Tseng won her second and third majors, the Kraft Nabisco Championship (now Chevron) and Women's British Open, becoming the youngest woman in the modern era to win three major championships—she was only 21.

She'd win Player of the Year twice and maintain her world No.1 rank for over two consecutive years.

Tseng amassed 27 LPGA titles, including two more major titles (totaling five) by March 2012...and hasn't won since. It's actually jarring to go to the results tab on her LPGA bio page and seeing that she hasn't made a cut since October 2018. Her last made cut was at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship where she finished 9-over par, in a tie for 60th.

The now 36-year-old's descent from grace has been a gradual one. Slowly she lost her form and soon after, her confidence followed. Battling driver yips, losing her card, and then, when it seemed like things couldn't get worse, cue the putting woes.

So how is she in the field this week? As a previous champion she gets invited back to the competition. Tseng is making her first event start of 2025.

But don't get it twisted—the five-time major winner is the fourth active tour player with three different major titles, and she needs the U.S. Women's Open or the Evian Championship to make it four different major titles—aka completing the LPGA career grand slam. Tseng is also four points shy of qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame, a feat Lydia Ko accomplished last year with her gold-medal performance at the Olympics.

This switch up is a clear indication that Tseng is desperate to get back into form, and like a true champion she'll go to any measure to make it work. She told Golfweek, "When TV was following me today, I played much better than when I’m by myself. I just feel more pumped up, like I want to show you. I just feel like I still have that inside of me, that I really want to show what I’ve got, but that takes a little time.”

And that's what we call having that dawg in you. We're pulling for you, Yani.