Yani Tseng, Karrie Webb, LPGA greats, plan ahead for HSBC Women's Champions

The HSBC Women’s Champions returns to Singapore in February, with LPGA legend Karrie Webb defending the title as the latest name in a roll of honour that is almost unrivalled in recent years. Tim Maitland talks to the stars of the women’s game to work out why the event has only ever been won by the best of the best.

 

Lorena Ochoa, at her most dominant, finished streets ahead of a returning Annika Sorenstam in 2008. A year later Jiyai Shin lifted the trophy at the start of her “rookie” season (she won three LPGA events as a non-member in 2008, including a Major) as part of a relentless charge that would make her the third number one in the history of the official rankings. In 2010, Ai Miyazato held the same silverware and shortly afterwards held the number one ranking, too. Then came Karrie Webb, who by the age of 25 had already qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame and who, but for the Rolex Rankings only being introduced in 2006, was a number one in everything but name.

 

Has any other tournament consistently crowned such worthy champions in this time span? It’s a question that prompts plenty of head scratching.

 

“Maybe Kraft is one?” ponders current world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan.

 

[[posterous-content:pid___1]]Yani Tseng, w/Honda LPGA Thailand trophy

 

“The British Open?” she asks, cracking up laughing because her main motivation for mentioning it is the fact that she’s won it the past two seasons.

 

Of the Majors, the Ricoh Women’s British Open might be the nearest comparison to the HSBC Women’s Champions roll of honour, with Yani winning in 2011 and 2010 while Jiyai claimed it in 2008, but 2009 champion Catriona Matthew might be the first to point out that she doesn’t quite belong in the conversation if we’re talking about the greats in the game. The same applies for Stacey Lewis and Brittany Lincicome, winners of the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2011 and 2009 respectively, in between wins for Yani (2010) and Lorena (2008). The LPGA Championship also comes close with Cristie Kerr in 2010 and Yani in 2011 and 2008, but 2009 winner Anna Nordqvist hasn’t yet thrust her name into the highest echelon.

 

New to Major status next year, the Evian Masters won by Ai, Jiyai and Ai in the past three years comes close, and another of the Asian Spring Swing – the Honda LPGA Thailand – also belong in the conversation, with Yani, Ai and Lorena its most recent champions.

 

One can talk oneself around in circles debating the argument. The certainty is that in short order the HSBC Women’s Champions has become something special.

 

“It’s one of the best tournaments we ever play!” is Yani’s take.

 

“I think the HSBC event is the biggest LPGA event in Asia!” is Jiyai Shin’s verdict.

 

“It’s great from when we first arrive to when we leave. We get looked after very, very well. We stay in great hotels, there’s great hospitality and we play on a great challenging golf course!” declares Karrie, who has certainly earned the right to talk about greatness.

 

“We’d like it like that every week,” the Queensland legend adds.

 

Yani, like Webb, expands on her statement by citing the overall package of the tournament week, rather than purely the golf.

 

“It’s a good one. They’re all the best players in the world challenging that week. It’s always very tough to win that tournament. You have to play so well to be among the great players, which is fun. It doesn’t matter what your score is; it’s always very enjoyable in Singapore, the hospitality there. And you know I love Singapore; I have so many good friends there. I always look forward to going back. I have so much fun and have so many good friends come,” says Tseng, last year’s double Major champion, seven-time winner and Player of the Year on the LPGA with 11 total wins worldwide.

 

Jiyai meanwhile backs up her description of the event being Asia’s best with the following explanation: “All the events are very important, but it feels like a really big tournament.  It’s a beautiful course and a nice city. The tournament is early in the season, and when you win it feels like a good start and it gives you confidence at the beginning of the season, too.”

 

Roll of Honour

 

The first sign that something unusual was happening in Singapore was, perhaps, when Ai Miyazato declared eight months after her 2010 win that it was “an honour” to have added her name to a list of winners that had only two others on it. At the time she was speaking as the reigning world number one.

 

Karrie Webb is the youngest member of an exclusive club of five other legends to have won the LPGA’s Career Grand Slam of Majors, joining Louise Suggs (1957), Mickey Wright (1962), Pat Bradley (1986), Juli Inkster (1999) and Annika Sorenstam (2003). Yet the Aussie is unswerving when asked whether joining the HSBC Women’s Champions roll of honour registered with her.

 

“Definitely!” says the Aussie.

 

“It’s a quality field there. Anytime you win with that sort of field – you can win an event another time of the year and not every one of those players is there – when you win with that quality of field: I held off Yani at the end and since then she has completely dominated the tour. She’s done it for two years, really, but I take a lot of pride in that.”

 

What’s interesting is it’s hard to put a tag on the Singapore winners, beyond the fact that they have all been at the very top of the women’s game. As Jiyai Shin explains, it doesn’t seem to be the style of the player, more just the ability to play at a world-class level for four demanding days.

 

“Ai and me, we’re a pretty similar game type. Karrie plays quite safely and Lorena plays aggressively, so we’re all a little different. The LPGA Tour has a lot of long hitters and the course is pretty long, but you need consistency. It’s got really narrow fairways, lots of bunkers, pretty tough greens: it’s a good course for consistent players,” Shin says of the highly regarded Tanah Merah Country Club’s Garden Golf Course.

 

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]credit: Tanah Merah Garden Golf Course

The runners-up over the years also defy a stereotype as golfers, but do have a common trait. Chie Arimura, who fought Webb all the way last year, is described by caddies on the Japan tour as mentally tougher than any other player out there. Cristie Kerr, runner-up to Ai in 2010, happily calls herself as “a scrapper, a mudder and a grinder”. Annika needs no introduction, while Katherine Hull, pipped by Shin in 2009, thrives in a battle.

 

“I agree, they’re tough players,” says Shin.

 

“They’re all good players. They all hit good iron shots and have good control over their second shots. They really focus only on their own game.”

 

What’s Luck Got to Do with It?

 

While the tournament doesn’t seem to favour any particular aspect of the game – despite the length of Tanah Merah, it certainly can’t be described as a long hitter’s haven – there is a consensus that it does bring out the best from the best.

 

“I think so. You have to have good skill and a good mentality to win the tournament. You can’t be lucky and win that tournament; you have to play good for four whole days,” says Tseng.

 

Her statement, that there will never be a lucky winner, is greeted with all-round agreement.

 

“That’s true. The golf course is difficult enough; it’s like a Major tournament,” Miyazato concurs.

 

“I agree. If you miss a shot, your next shot is a tough shot,” says Shin.

 

“We play great golf courses around the world, but on some holes you can miss a shot and it’ll come back and you can escape. When you miss a shot a Tanah Merah you lose a shot, so we have to hit good shots all the time. For me, it’s fun!”

 

England’s Karen Stupples, who won the 2004 Women’s British Open at Sunningdale by starting her final round with an eagle and albatross in successive holes, is another to wholly back Yani’s point of view.

 

“That’s absolutely right. It’s about quality shots. You can’t get away with having a lucky bounce and banking it onto the green, because if you miss the green the chances are it’s going to bounce into some trouble. Kicking off a mound and bouncing onto the green doesn’t happen there. She’s right. You’ve got to hit good drives, good shots and you’ve got to golf your ball; that’s the bottom line,” declares the 38-year-old from Kent.

 

Further proof to support the argument comes from the fact that every winner of the HSBC Women’s Champions has had multiple wins in the season of their Singapore triumph. Karrie doubled up in her next outing to take the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup. In 2010, Ai had four other LPGA wins and a domestic Major at the Japan Women’s Open. Jiyai claimed two other titles and the Rolex Rookie of the Year award as well as a win on the Japan LPGA, while Lorena went wild in 2008, winning seven events in total, including a Major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship during a spell of four wins in four successive weeks.

 

Not a Game of Perfect

 

That’s not to say all the winners have played perfectly. Jiyai Shin was one over par after two rounds in 2009 when she headed to the range and found a fix: it worked. The next morning she started her third round with almost no-one watching her, but by the time she had completed back-to-back rounds off 66 she had everyone’s undivided attention.

 

Karrie Webb’s win was based on one part of her game working brilliantly and that perhaps helped her believe in the rest.

 

“It was one of those events where my short game was probably the best weeks I’ve had, especially in the last five or six years. My ball striking I wouldn’t say was my best, but under the gun, even when it was a little erratic, I hit some great shots and trusted myself. I hadn’t won on the LPGA for a couple of years and I think I always felt I had to be at my best to win; I took away from that week that I didn’t have to be 110 per cent to win. I just need to find a way to get it in the hole,” she says, echoing what Karen Stupples means when she uses the phrase “golf your ball”.

 

In contrast, Ai Miyazato killed the course with consistency in 2010, carding three 69s in her four rounds.

 

“I’d won the first event in Thailand, so I felt good about my game at that time. I just tried to make simple plays; trying to hit the fairway and trying to hit the greens. That golf course is always in good shape, but the greens are really difficult. You need to make sure you know where you’re going to hit your second shot. You need to be really smart on the golf course. I played really well. My putting was really good all week. I always remember the 16th, the short par four: I made eagle hitting driver to a back pin, getting on the front and making the putt. I played really good the whole week, really solid,” Ai said.

 

The Japanese star has little doubt as to the stand-out winning performance of the four.

 

“Lorena shot 17 under or something?” she asks.

 

It was actually 20 under par.

 

“That’s ridiculous!” she declares.

 

“I think shooting 10 under par on that golf course is really good. I played with her when she won the tournament and she was playing totally different golf. It looked so easy. Annika finished second, but Lorena was so solid and Annika couldn’t touch her!” Ai adds.

 

That win becomes even more impressive when one considers the context. Lorena had risen to number one in April 2007 when Annika was struggling with ruptured and bulging discs in her neck. By the start of 2008 Annika had announced her return to fitness and not just verbally; she won the SBS Open in Hawaii and 10 days later, with Lorena opening her season in Singapore, it was on! Annika beat the rest of the field, but was a massive 11 shots behind Lorena’s winning total.

 

A Chess Match

 

So what is it about Tanah Merah’s Garden Course that tests the best in women’s golf? It starts with the fiendish mind of Phil Jacobs and his 2004 redesign. The end result is a course where the current world number one says you have to think several shots ahead and there is hardly a shot out there that allows you to relax.

 

“Maybe for tap-in putts! All the other shots you have to think in a different way and you have to think about what your strategy is, because it might cost you when you get to your second shot or third shot. You’re always thinking ahead about what you’re going to do. It’s a really fun course to play,” says Yani.

 

“You play all the 14 clubs in your bag. Even though you’re using all 14 clubs, you still have to hit a lot of different shots. There are different winds; all the challenges make you think and make you think you’re enjoying the tournament and having fun with the challenges of the course. It doesn’t feel stressful. You have to have the challenge and some stress, but that’s why it’s so much fun.”

 

For Karen Stupples, one of the things that stands out is the number of times you find yourself with nowhere to make a ‘good’ mistake.

 

“There are some holes you play and you think ‘where is the out?’ and there is no out. Typically a golf hole has an out – one side or another that is favourable to a miss. There are some holes where there is nowhere to miss it. That’s a bit brutal! It’s like the 17th at Sawgrass; there’s no get out! There’s a tiny little bridge, but that’s it. You’ve got to bring it!” says the Englishwoman.

 

“There are some holes that are incredibly challenging, like 10. Last year, 1 and 10 were incredibly tough holes. You’re going in there with four irons; there are not too many courses that we go into with four irons with elevated greens and bunkers or water.”

 

For Jiyai, the enjoyment comes from the way Tanah Merah tests everything you’ve got.

 

“It’s a really strong course for the women: long distance, tight golf course, firm greens. So we need really good ball control with every club. We need the whole skills. It’s pretty tough because the greens are mostly elevated above the fairway, so if you miss, the ball is going a long way,” she explains, adding that her duel with Katherine Hull in the final round three years ago shows how slim the margin is for error.

 

“Katherine and me, she made only one mistake, but it made a big difference. She played good and could have made a lower score, but if you make one mistake it can lose you a lot of strokes, easily. You have to focus each and every shot. Number 18 is pretty tough. If you lead by one shot, you can easily lose one or two there. You have to really focus. It’s easy to make bogey or double-bogey. So nobody knows before the finish.”

 

Sheer Willpower

 

All those factors demand a level of resolve that Na Yeon Choi, currently the highest rated Korean in the official rankings, believes plays into the hands of the women at the top of the global game.

 

“We have to have really good course management on that course. The top players never give up and always do their best until the last hole on Sunday, and the top players get better results because of that,” adds the winner of the 2010 LPGA Official Money List.

 

In a nutshell, it’s a course that demands you get into the designer’s head and understand the questions he’s posing. In Phil Jacobs own words, he does everything from test the golfer’s self-discipline to “constantly have that question in a player’s mind: ‘If I’m going to miss it, where should I miss it?’” And in the case of the hardest holes, he tests their game to breaking point.

 

“It asks you to miss in the right places and to be aggressive when you can be, and I think I did a good job of that,” says Webb of last year’s victory.

 

“When I missed greens, I missed in places where I could get up and down. With my putting that week, I didn’t give myself 12 or 13 unbelievably great birdie opportunities each day. I gave myself six or seven and probably made five of them. I just took advantage of the opportunities I had. It was just about getting the ball in the hole.”

 

Webb reckons that all the factors – a great course, a great field enjoying their entire week at the time of year, when everyone is raring to go – is what has combined to produce the almost unparalleled list of victors… that with the more unusual challenge of the holes that run along the side of Changi Airport.

 

“I think with the quality of the field, you’re bound to get a good winner and it’s the start of the year, so it’s whoever is ready to go straight out of the blocks. It’s whoever is ready mentally to overcome those things and to overcome not making that birdie on the first day, and the heat and the wind and the planes, and all of that,” she explains

 

Stupples, however, feels the final preparations for the tournament – the speeding up of the greens, the growing in of the rough and the other adjustments made to take something a weekend warrior can survive, and morph it into a monster – play a big part, together with the fact that the most successful players make more minor adjustments during the winter break.

 

“They set it up particularly well. It’s a tough, quality golf course, particularly that early in the season. You’ve got to be ready to play and typically you’ll find that the quality players will always be ready to go. That’s what you’re finding there,” she explains.

 

“They’re ready for it. They’ve had a very good season the year before, so they’re coming off good finishes, so the confidence is already pretty high. They’ve done a little bit of maintenance work over the winter, but they haven’t had to do swing overhauls or any of that crap. They’re ready to go. They’re primed. All they have to do is go and play a quality golf course, which is what it is. You have to hit good shot after good shot after good shot, make good putt after good putt. That’s what the course does for you and that’s why you get the winners you do there.”

 

Digging the Vibe

 

Another of the factors seems to be the feeling of the whole week. To understand that, one has to remember just how many weeks of the year these players spend on the road and, especially for the internationals, how much time they’re away from their real homes. It’s also worth bearing in mind just how hard women golfers have had to fight over the years to establish their tour and to be taken seriously in a sport where, in certain parts of the world, to this day women golfers aren’t always welcomed.

 

So when Singaporeans throw open their arms and the red carpet is both literally and metaphorically rolled out, it’s universally appreciated.

 

“I love the tournament atmosphere, too. It’s very special for everything. Very organized and the people are very nice. Because the tournament atmosphere is so good, that’s why everyone is playing so good,” says Ai, referring as much to what is available away from the golf course as to what they get on it.

 

“The hotel is really nice and you can go shopping or do whatever you like. That’s really special as well. That tournament is almost too good!” she exclaims.

 

“It is a terrific event. Every which way, it’s top class!” says Stupples, who appreciates some of the “home” comforts all the more having gambled her house, furniture and car to move to the States in a bid to make it on the LPGA at the start of her career.

 

“I love Singapore! I feel very comfortable in Singapore. With my British background, how could you not feel comfortable in Singapore? The sockets are UK sockets. There’s a kettle in the room and you can make a cup of tea… even if the weather is a little warmer. You’ve got Raffles just across the road and Marks & Spencers! It feels very comfortable. I love Marks & Spencers! I’m old now, what can I say?”

 

The answer to Stupples rhetorical question is ‘lots’. We leave her as she enters into a charming monologue about all the reasons why she would be the perfect person for the British retailer to sponsor.

 

Who’s Next?

 

If you start asking who is most likely to be the next to add their name to the prestigious list, one shouldn’t overlook the chances of the event producing its first back-to-back champion. Karrie Webb has an unusually strong record going back as the title-holder, despite the fact that conventional wisdom suggests it is one of the harder things to do in golf.

 

“I’ve always enjoyed it. I obviously played the best there last year. I always feel it gives me an advantage: it gives me good vibes going into the event. I enjoy it,” says Webb, whose CV backs her up.

 

Among the Aussie’s multitude of triumphs are repeat wins at the US Women’s Open title in 2000 and 2001, as well as The Office Depot tournament in Florida, Washington State’s Safeco Classic and at two very differently named editions of an event at Murrells Inlet in South Carolina.  At the Australian Ladies Masters in her native Queensland, she monopolized the trophy from 1998 to 2001, and more recently won the MFS Women’s Australian Open title in 2007 and 2008.

 

Given that an HSBC Women’s Champions victory has more often than not been the early signal as to who the year’s dominant player will be, Na Yeon Choi might be a contender after a year of constant English lessons. The difference it has made to this engaging, but previously shy and nervous 24-year-old is heart-warming. With her multiple wins in 2009 and 2010 and the fact that last year she was close to Yani’s levels in making the top 10 in over half of her events in 2011, the more outgoing Na Yeon could be set for a career year, simply because her new-found language skills have made her life less stressful. 

 

“I wasn’t scared, but I think I was uncomfortable. If I was walking through the clubhouse and someone was smiling at me, I would worry about what they were about to say to me. I didn’t have the confidence with my English and that was why I seemed uncomfortable with maybe the LPGA players and with all the fans. I’m a lot more comfortable with American people or with Asian people who are speaking English. I have fans on facebook from Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand; I like it! It’s made me a better player I think, a more confident player!” she reveals.

 

The most logical choice, however, is the most confident player of all: Yani Tseng.

 

Third behind Webb and Arimura last year, Yani has turned into a winning machine. She now understands that to add the HSBC Women’s Champions to her rapidly increasing list of titles she has to find a balance between the self-styled “Birdie Machine” approach that helped her become the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five Majors and being more selective about when she attacks.

 

“Being more patient is better, playing smart. Some of the holes are sometimes really hard to make birdie. You can still be aggressive, but sometimes you have to play smart, too,” she says.

 

“I’m getting closer and closer. I was pretty close last year! I played well and did my best. Everyone wants to win, but it’s not like I’m playing bad. This year I have a chance, because I know the course better, better than the last four years. I know how the strategy is on the golf course and how to play on the golf course. I’m looking forward to playing this year, because it’s a fun course and it’s a very good challenge.”

 

 

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Yani Tseng Hopes Number One Rule Applies at HSBC Women's Championship in Singapore

New women’s world number one Yani Tseng is hoping that the HSBC Women’s Champions rule that its winners belong to the exclusive club of top-ranked players still applies when she gets to Singapore next week. Tim Maitland reports.

The three champions of the tournament at Tanah Merah come from the elite group of six players to have been rated number one since the rankings were introduced in 2006: Ai Miyazato of Japan, Korea’s Jiyai Shin and Lorena Ochoa of Mexico.

“That sounds really good! Yeah! Thanks for reminding me of that!,” said the 22-year-old Taiwanese star Tseng, who won the Honda LPGA Thailand this weekend by five strokes extending her 2011 record to four wins in four events!

 

credit:Zimbio

“I’m really looking forward to this year. I know I have lots of confidence right now and I can’t wait to get to Singapore and see my old friends, to play that tournament and see all my HSBC friends over there. It’ll be pretty nice,” said Tseng, who is eager to test herself on the Garden Course after winning the Taifong Ladies Open on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour and claiming the Handa Women’s Australian Open and the ANZ Ladies Masters in Queensland in successive weeks.

“It’s a great golf course. You can play all 14 clubs on that course; it’s not just driver-wedge, driver-wedge. You hit a three wood off the tee, you hit a rescue off the tee all the different kinds of shots you have to hit. You really need to focus on what your strategy is and every hole is different. Some of the par fives are reachable, which makes it more fun and then there are island greens; it’s just a fun golf course to play. You never know the winning score and there are big crowds too,” Yani says.

However Tseng will face fierce competition to keep hold of her number one ranking when she gets to Singapore. As well as 2009 HSBC Women’s Champions winner Jiyai Shin who Tseng toppled from top spot on the Rolex Rankings at the start of this week, Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr and Na Yeon Choi are all one win away from taking the number one ranking away.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for golf at the moment. We had Lee Westwood arrive at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai last November as the new number one with Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson all with the opportunity to toppling him that week and it made for a great tournament. The HSBC Women’s Champions is going to have that same buzz and excitement,” said Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“Last year was the first time that a tournament in Asia had impacted the very top of the men’s world rankings, now we have young talented Asian women fighting for the right to be world number one in an world-class event in Singapore. It all proves Asia’s emerging in to the top echelons of the golfing world,” he added.

For Tseng, just being able to return to the Lion City as number one, to a place where she played and won some of her earliest junior tournaments as a girl, will be a memorable moment.

“That would be great! I’d really wish that. I’m trying not to think too much about only staying number one for one week, but sometimes you never know. I really just want to stay focused and keep working hard,” she says.

“When I first started playing [tournaments] in Singapore, I didn’t even think of being women’s number one; I just came to play and to try and win those championships. I didn’t think about the world. I didn’t even know how big the world is. It’s only since I went to the United States that I started to know how big it is. But all the tournaments I won in Singapore gave me a lot of confidence too. I’d win a tournament, come back the next year and win again.”

YANI TSENG INTERVIEW

Q: So, little Ruby* Tseng is the world number one! How about that?

A: It’s very exciting for me to be world number one. For the last five or six months everybody in the top six in the world has had the chance to be number one and then finally I’ve got to world number one. It’s really, really exciting. I’ve dreamed about being world number one and I’ve talked about being world number one and now that moment has come it feels so unreal. I wasn’t expecting that it was really going to come. It makes me so appreciative. I appreciate my friends, my team, my coach and all the people around me that are always supporting me. I just really appreciate it.

Now, I have lots of confidence. I know how to be on top. I feel like I know more how to win a tournament. I’m not afraid to be in the lead. I’m happy to be in the lead. Everything’s started to change a little bit; I feel like I’m improving and improving every year and it’s very exciting for me to see how I’m getting on this year.

[*Ruby was the western name Yani used for a time when she was an Amateur]

Q: Was there a moment when it really sank in?

A: Not really. All the moments are there in my mind. I’ve looked back at every day from the first time I started playing golf and I’ve finally become world number one, but you know we’re all still very close; you never know what will happen this week or next week. So I just want to keep working hard, because everybody’s working, so it’s very challenging for me. There are still a lot of things to learn. It’s not just for the short term. I want to be long-term; like Annika and Lorena.

When I first started playing [tournaments] in Singapore, I didn’t even think of being women’s number one; I just came to play and to try and win those championships. I didn’t think about the world. I didn’t even know how big the world is. It’s only since I went to the United States that I started to know how big it is. But all the tournaments I won in Singapore gave me a lot of confidence too. I’d win a tournament, come back the next year and win again. Through all the years it’s been very successful, as an amateur playing all over Asia. Going back for the HSBC [Women’s Champions] I was always very happy to go back there again.

Q: Can you believe the little girl who used to go over there to play tournaments is now number one?

A: No. I was expecting that, but I didn’t know it would be so soon. This year I set out the goal to be world number one, but it’s been just two weeks! After three tournaments this year I’ve become world number one! It feels unreal.

Q: Your game seems to be so good. It’s not just that you’re winning, but you don’t seem to be making mistakes!

A: Yeah. I’m trying. I’m working out with my coach Gary Gilchrist and I’ve been changing my swing and I think my swing is better now. I’ve been working on my putting; my putting has always been sometimes up and sometimes down, but I’m working to be more consistent. My putting is working pretty well and I think everything is all set.

Q: And the HSBC Women’s Champions? A course you HAVE to be straight on…

A: Yeah, that’s for sure. It’s a great golf course. I’m really looking forward to playing that course. You can play all 14 clubs on that course; it’s not just driver-wedge, driver-wedge. You hit a three wood off the tee, you hit a rescue off the tee all the different kinds of shots you have to hit. You really need to focus on what your strategy is and every hole is different. Some of the par fives are reachable, which makes it more fun and then there are island greens; it’s just a fun golf course to play. You never know the winning score and there are big crowds too.

Q: And always a good champion. The three champions so far have all been*…

A: Number one! That sounds really good! Yeah! Thanks for reminding me of that! I’m really looking forward to this year. I know I have lots of confidence right now and I can’t wait to get to Singapore and see my old friends, to play that tournament and see all my HSBC friends over there. It’ll be pretty nice.

[*Strictly speaking, it’s better to say the three winners of the HSBC Women’s Champions also belong to the group of six women to have been ranked number one since the Rolex Rankings were introduced in 2006]

Q: Is it important to you to keep that number one so you can go back and see those friends as number one?

A: That would be great! I’d really wish that. I’m trying not to think too much about only staying number one for one week, but sometimes you never know. I really just want to stay focused and keep working hard.

Q: And what’s happening in Taiwan? They must be going crazy.

A: Yeah, I think so. On Sunday (at the ANZ Masters) I wrote on Facebook ‘Everybody wear pink. I’m going to wear pink and want everyone to support me’ and lots of people were wearing pink on Sunday in Taiwan. That was really interesting. I want to thank them for their support in Taiwan. It’s huge. I’m going back to Taiwan after the HSBC.

Q: So you have two homecomings? A homecoming in Singapore and then a homecoming in Taiwan.

A: Yeah. Yeah.

The HSBC Women's Champions event will be played February 24-27th on Tanah Merah Golf Course. Sixty-three of the best female golfers in the world will converge in Singapore in the fourth edition of the tournament.

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Jiyai Shin caddy offers insight into Tanah Merah golf course

2010 HSBC Women’s Champions Caddy of the Year Dean Herden has been the man on the bag as his player Jiyai Shin rose to the very top of the game. The 46-year-old Australian has been on Shin’s bag for every edition of the tournament, 7^th in 2008, winner in 2009 and 3^rd in 2010.  He casts his expert eye on the subtleties of Tanah Merah’s Garden Course, which is rapidly building a reputation for bringing the very best golf out of the world’s very best golfers. Tim Maitland reports, in Dean Herden's own words.

 

credit:Tanah Merah Garden Course

I love this course! When they design courses these days it all sets up in favour of the long hitters. At Tanah Merah, if you’re long it is still an advantage, but you’ve got to be straight. I love the course because it gives everyone in the field a chance to win. It’s just a great test.

Jiyai’s not long, but she hits it so well and she hits it solid. Ai Miyazato, who won in 2010, is not that long but she hits it straight. Lorena Ochoa, a longer hitter, won with an unbelievable putting display in 2008, but she wasn’t missing fairways. You’ve got to be on the fairway because the ball sits down in the rough at Tanah Merah so much that you can’t get away with being in the rough all week long. You’ve got to be able to control the ball to get on the right spots on the greens and you can’t do that from the rough.

It brings the best out of the best players. All the winners are superstars. Some courses you’ll find also-ran players will crop up and win because they had a good week on the putter and because the course wasn’t that demanding shot-wise: because it doesn’t demand perfect tee shots and perfect shots into the greens.

Tanah Merah has the beautiful aspect that it all starts from the tee and only the best players are going to win around there; the ones with best records.

It’s a great event and great players will always want to play great golf courses and they’ll always want to come back to Tanah Merah. It’s the golf course that really makes the event. HSBC do such a good job, but the golf course is just so tough and so interesting. Every hole’s a little different and there’s a really nice mix. It’s got some fantastic par threes, not super-long, but daunting. It’s always a lot of fun and because it’s beside Changi Airport you get to see the double-deckers taking off too! It’s a hell of a golf course, it really is. Great golf courses bring out great champions by the end of the week and Tanah Merah does a great job of that.

Hole 1 Par 4 401 Yards 367 Metres

It’s a fantastic starting hole: very tough!

Because the fairway is shaped like a bowl it’s very hard to get the middle of it. It’s either going to kick left or right. It’s a very ‘strong’ hole length-wise because it mostly plays into the breeze and your second shot is uphill 5 or 6 yards elevation.

A very tough pin on this hole is a middle-right pin because, when you look at the pin from the fairway, you’re concerned about going over when in actual fact the grain of the green is towards you and it actually holds the ball quite nicely. You have to be aggressive with that second shot, but it’s hard to convince yourself because you can’t see the pin.

With a back pin it’s very important to tell yourself to be long. It doesn’t matter! Be aggressive! So many players make bogey there because they’ve played to the centre of the green when they should have been more aggressive. Being long’s OK because from there you’re chipping back into the grain, so it’s not a difficult chip shot.

The Smart Play: Take you’re four and get out of there. If you can get a four here on all four days you’ve done well. It’s a great starting hole.

Hole 2 Par 4 381 Yards 348 Metres

Number 2 is a wonderful little par four because it has the lake in front of the green. With the tee shot you can’t really reach the water, but visually it’s a distraction. A lot of the time it plays down breeze and then a lot of players start thinking about hitting three wood. The longer hitters – Michelle Wie, Suzann Pettersen – if they got hold of one the water is in range, but only if it’s howling.

For a front pin you can be on either side of the fairway, but the big key is the angle of your second shot to the back-right pin; it’s always a big advantage to be coming in from the left side of the fairway because you’re playing down the length of the green. You can aim at the fairway bunker on the left because the whole fairway slopes and it’s always going to kick right. One of the difficult parts of this hole is that the tee faces a little bit off to the right, so setting up to aim to the left is difficult. It’s got its little idiosyncracies this hole.

The grain at the back-right runs away from you and if you pitch your approach two-thirds of the way on it always releases and runs over the back.

The Smart Play: Be smart! For the back-right pin, you’ve just got to aim at the centre. Don’t get too greedy.

Hole 3 Par 3 140 Yards 128 Metres

Most of the time this is into the breeze and it’s a tough little par three when there’s a lot of wind. Because you’re hitting a short-iron into the wind, sometimes you can hit an ‘up-shooter’ which balloons then the wind hits it and it goes nowhere. If the pin’s at the front when that happens you can easily be in the water. 

The thing I’ve noticed about this hole is that, if there’s the slightest breeze, don’t underestimate it, because once the ball’s above the tree-line it could just hit a wall.

The tree-line at Tanah Merah is a big key. The location right next to an airport means you’ve got to be conscious of the fact there has got to be a decent breeze most of the time.

It’s a tricky little par three; an island green and to a back pin you always find everyone short all day. It’s just one of those pins that looks closer to the water behind than it actually is, so you’ve got to trust the yardage. If it’s 150 to the back pin, stick with it, because the grain on that back part is into you, which is another reason why everyone’s always short.

The Killer Play: To the back-middle pin, play to your yardage and be aggressive. I’ve hardly ever seen any players go long.

Hole 4 Par 394 Yards 360 Metres

I love this hole! It takes two strong shots and the tee shot is so demanding. Long hitters have a problem on this hole because they go through the fairway on the left, where it doglegs. For Jiyai the wide part of the fairway just before the bunkers is a good distance for her off the tee. It’s a must to hit the fairway here. It suits someone who can hit a power fade because you can line up on the left and rip it around the dogleg!

There’s also a down slope at 220 to 240 yards from the tee and if you’re playing a longish iron off that it’s a tough shot.

The green is slightly elevated, probably two or three yards, and it’s a green where in the middle of it, it releases out. The front part of the green doesn’t release, but if you hit the top tier of this green the majority of the time it’ll feed over the back. Mate, four pars in four days here and you’ve done well.

The Big Mistake: Keep away from the fairway bunker on the right: it’s pretty much an automatic bogey. The lip of that bunker is hard and you’re coming from 160 to 170 yards to a narrow green.

Hole 5 Par 5 531 Yards 486 Metres

It’s a long slog and a lot of the time it plays into the breeze. It’s a must to get it on the fairway and hit a decent tee shot because you don’t want to mess around with the bunker 120 yards short of the green. If the hole’s is playing into the breeze you don’t want the pressure on your second shot being to have to carry that bunker.

A couple of times Jiyai has been in the position when it’s been howling into the breeze and she didn’t quite get her tee shot away and it’s an eerie feeling to be staring at that bunker – it’s a nasty thing to look at – because you don’t want a long third shot; you really want to be getting to about 80 yards from the front of the green.

It seems like a basic-looking straightaway par five, but it’s a must to get your tee shot away. That makes every shot after that much easier.

The tough part is you can’t see the base of the pin; it’s just that elevation for the third shot that’s nasty… maybe four or five yards up. You see so many players land at the front and spin off the front.

Par’s definitely a good score.

The Big Mistake: Not getting your tee shot away.

Hole 6 Par 4 415 Yards 379 Metres

It play’s tough. It’s a narrow fairway and the bunker on the right just seems to gobble them all up. There’s a massive row of trees on the left and the tee actually faces those, so it’s hard to get angled correctly on the tee. A lot of players will over-compensate and push it right into that trap. Again it’s a must to hit the fairway.

Missing left is actually the better mistake. At least there you get a chance of getting some sort of shot towards the green. For some reason, if you miss right, you just can’t. I don’t know why.

If you do find the fairway it’s still a tough second shot. It’s quite undulating and you never seem to get a comfortable position for your feet; your stance is either uphill or downhill, which makes the second shot that much more difficult. Jiyai will usually have 170 or 180 left so we’re hitting quite a long club in there; a hybrid or the seven wood. There’s a down slope that gives the longer hitters an advantage and they could be coming in from 120-130 yards with a seven or eight iron.

A tough pin on this hole is the back one, because it’s a long shot made even longer and the green’s hard. It’s a very undulating green that slopes away on each side and you have to aim at the spine in the middle of the green.

The Big Mistake: Missing the fairway. When Jiyai Shin won here in 2009 the key was driving it straight. That was a big advantage for us; massive!  

Hole 7 Par 4 384 Yards 351 Metres

The dreaded seventh! Very nasty! The club choice for the second shot is a tough one, always. There’s not much to the tee shot; most players are committed to laying up short of the bunker on the right, which is a good yardage for us. The normal breeze is right-to-left and slightly into you, off the airport on the right-hand side, and we can hit driver down there and be comfortable. The killer for most players is the second shot, because they buried a massive elephant under the green. It’s a tough shot! At least two of the days they stick the pin at the very back and club choice into those pins is so difficult. It’s always a cross breeze, always floating around between two o’clock, three o’clock and four o’clock and you’re never sure if it’s with you or into you. If you catch the down slope it skids through, but you’ve got to get over that mound on the green if the pin is at the back: otherwise it’s a shocking putt… a horror putt! Once it gets over the hill the grain runs down towards the water.

The Killer Play: It’s just a matter of having the yardage on your second shot; that’s the big key. If you get it right, you’ve got a chance of holing it because it will funnel down to the hole once it gets over the mound.

Hole 8 Par 3 153 Yards 140 Metres

A super hole, it really is. It’s so attractive from the tee. It’s a pleasure to play the par threes around Tanah Merah, because they’re not a great length, but they’re all so attractive. They’ve almost all got water feeding around them and the eighth hole is a classic example of that.

The back-left pin is really tough. Anything left is tough. The green feeds from right to left and there’s the wind factor; it’s a down breeze hole most of the time. It’s a toughie! The green is so undulating that it is important to get near the hole, but nine times out of 10 on the back-left pin everyone finds themselves up on the top-right hand side putting downhill, down-grain towards the water.  It’s a great hole. Length-wise I love it. It’s a good length. Jiyai sometime hits a utility or a good solid six iron for a back pin, seven iron for a front pin. It’s a great little hole, a great little hole!

The Killer Play: Putting down that slope from the right to a back-left pin is not easy, not easy at all. It looks like it’s really, really fast, but in actual fact it’s not! It’s so eerie, it looks so fast, but you have to convince yourself to give it some to get it there.

Hole 9 Par 5 497 Yards 454 Metres

Risk-reward! It’s a fantastic par five! You’ve got to get your tee shot away, but you can’t see it land. You’ve got to get the ball turning over right-to-left (for right-handed players it’s a draw, for lefties it’s a fade) to get full advantage of the length of this hole because you’re hoping it will skip off one of the mounds and get down the hill for you. You’ve got to get the shape right with your tee shot, because a straight tee shot always stays at the top of the hill.

Most of the field will have a chance to at least get to the front edge of the green in two. You’ve got the pond on the left of the green, but the long hitters will definitely be going for it. The water on the left is so daunting; it makes the decision to go for it in two really difficult. The bunker on the right-front of the green isn’t that punishing, so this is a definite birdie chance. If you haven’t birdied it three out of the four days you feel like you’ve missed the boat.

I like the two traps on the right 60 to 80 yards in front of the green. It’s more of an optical illusion, but it makes you think you can’t go too far right. It’s a good hole.

The Killer Play: The shape of that tee shot is so important. It’s a great par five because it is risk-reward and it gets the player deciding to have a crack at it or not.

Hole 10 Par 4 382 Yards 349 Metres

What a par four this is! Fantastic! Bunker left and right off the tee. In Jiyai’s case it’s just a driver down there, but the tough part of this hole is that it’s into the breeze most of the time. You’ve got to allow for the kick from left to right. The fairway’s quite narrow down the left-hand side and you’ve got two bunkers down the right-hand side, which will just gobble your ball. If you get in any of the bunkers you haven’t got much choice; you can’t get on the green in two and you have to half-lay-up and give yourself a full shot for your third because it’s such an elevated green. 

The biggest thing about this hole, watching the players over the years, is the green is more elevated than you think. It reads in the yardage book as six yards up but I always allow 10, which is a full club. It’s very rare that you see people go over the back. A lot of players don’t seem to allow enough [for the elevation] on this hole. There’s a massive slope at the front of the green and if you land anything less than six yards on the ball is coming all the way back down that slope: it’s huge! It can run back 30 yards and leave you a daunting 40 or 50-yard half-chip shot back onto the green. It’s not a very deep green either – only 25 yards from front to back – and you’ve got to be spot-on with the club selection.

It’s a strong par four. If you’re going to have any chance of winning on the Sunday making par is a great

indication that you’ll go on and do something. A bogey gets the back nine off to a bad start.

The Big Mistake: Finding sand anywhere, with your tee shot or your second. The other thing, with the second shot is not allowing enough for the two things going against you; the elevation and the fact that the breeze is usually against you and stronger than you think above the tree line.

Hole 11 Par 3 172 Yards 157 Metres

The big one on this hole is it’s always into the breeze. It’s an elevated tee, probably about half a club up, and it’s just a great hole. This green has a giraffe buried under it and that’s the thing about this golf course, the undulating greens. A front pin is not such an ordeal, it brings the water into play on the left, but if you play to the middle [of the green] you’re fine, but a back pin is always tough. Being into the breeze, the longer hitters are taking up to a four iron, but the shorter hitters are taking a seven wood into a green that you don’t want to be hitting such a long club into.

The water guards everything on the left; if you tweak it even slightly to the left you’re in the water and case closed. That’s it.

Being on the right-hand side for a left pin leaves you a very, very fast putt. It’s very hard to stop it and it usually has a massive break in it.

The Killer Play: Just play the right-hand half of the green. Don’t go left! If you make a mistake right, it’s probably going to be a bunker shot and you can get away with that.

Hole 12 Par 4 384 Yards 351 Metres

A dogleg right and it’s no picnic. If you go up the right off the tee you have a blind second shot. You’ve got to get far enough down there so you can see the whole green and if you block it anywhere slightly right you can’t see the green. Anyway the green is angled left-to-right, so from the right-side of the fairway you haven’t got a lot of room to work with.

It sets up really well of the tee and I don’t see many players having too much trouble getting their tee shot down the fairway, but you’ve got to get the ball on the fairway in a position where you can attack the green.

I find the toughest thing for most players is if you’ve got a back-right pin. There’s a swale that runs alongtwo-thirds of the green on that side and to the back pin the grain is running away from you, so I find a lot of players give themselves too much club and they either tend to go a little long, or they don’t give it enough to carry the slope that creates a false front on the first 17 yards of the right side of the green and leave themselves a tricky little chip shot.

The Big Mistake: You don’t want to get into any of the fairway traps and stay away from the bunker at the front of the green; it’s got a massive lip and I’ve seen a lot of players with their balls plugged straight into that lip. It’s nasty!

Hole 13 Par 5 512 Yards 468 Metres

A memorable hole for some players, like Katherine Hull, who went left here when she was in a position to win in 2009. It’s actually very easy to do what she did because the fairway and the tee set-up left and it’s very easy to hit it straight through the fairway. If you go slightly left into the mounds on the side of the fairway, you’re down onto the cart path and in amongst the mess, which is out of bounds for the members. There’s a tree that hangs over the bunker on the right, but the best line from the tee is straight over the left edge of that bunker.

There’s an opportunity for the longer hitters to get there in two, for the medium hitters they still have to lay up. I always think it’s important to give yourself the best yardage for your third short. If you’re going to lay up, lay up. Don’t get caught in between. You need to make sure it’s 90 yards to a back pin or 80 yards to a middle pin; that right yardage where you can hit a full sand-iron or a full pitching wedge, not a half shot.

The green doesn’t break that much, although it looks like it does. I’ve seen a lot of birdies made there because there are no massive hooks or massive slices on that green. They put the pin at the front a lot and it looks like it wants to break everywhere when you’re looking at the putt, but it keeps a pretty straight line from whatever angle you’re coming from.

The Killer Play: It’s a tough fairway to hit because it gets very narrow around the 240-yard range. I think it’s one of the most demanding drives on the entire course. It’s a key tee shot if you’re coming down the stretch on Sunday.

Hole 14 Par 3 169 Yards 155 Metres

The dreaded 14^th! It’s a great par three this, although not everyone likes it because it’s tough to stay on the green. You’d be happy with threes here all week. Club choice is of massive, massive importance on this hole.

The big thing is you’ve usually got the wind coming from right to left and into you. The back-right pin is very difficult because you’ve got to carry the bunker on the front-right, but when you’ve got the right club in your hand to clear all that, if it pitches on the wrong spot everything feeds over the back of the green.

Halfway onto the green the grain starts to run away, this is the big key on this green, because on the front half the grain is back into you and therefore the ball stops quicker.

Any player getting within 20 feet of the pin here has done really well and has hit a great tee shot because of those main points; the grain, the wind and the slopes.

Usually three of the four days they put the pin in the back area. The toughest pin though, is middle left on top of the ridge in the green where you’ve only got about four yards in which to land and stop the ball.

Over the back of this green every year you see a bunch of chip-shot marks; two out of every group of three is over the back and chipping.

The Killer Play: It’s about having the right club. The green’s only 30 deep and it’s so tricky with the grain running away from you and taking you over the back

Hole 15 Par 5 554 Yards 507 Metres

It’s a wide fairway for your tee shot; you can push it as far right as you like and you won’t get in trouble. The second shot is a big key here. It gets very narrow. It bottle-necks in with bunkers on one side and the problem is you’ve got water on the left, which is a tough one. The medium-length hitters have got to lay up to about 130 yards to the front of the green, but the green is 42 yards deep, so, if you’ve got a back pin, you’re looking at around 165 yards for a third shot! That’s quite a long way to a very narrow green.

For the players who get a really long tee shot away, if it’s slightly down breeze, they can have a crack at it. I’ve seen a couple of players do it, but there’s water on both sides and it creeps in all the way along the left, so you have to make sure you have enough club to get all the way up there. I remember one day in 2010 it was down-breeze and Jiyai, who is not a long hitter gave it a good try, even though we couldn’t get all the way to the green, because it was such an advantage to get close to the green.

The Killer Play: A demanding second shot on this hole. That’s the key. Don’t get carried away going down the left side because the water follows the fairway.

Hole 16 Par 4 269 Yards 246 Metres

This is a great spectator hole. Great holes don’t have to be long ones and I love this hole because it is risk-and-reward. You can give it a crack and have a go off the tee. With no wind they’ll all be trying, but it’s a very narrow entrance to the green and you’ve got to have a tee shot that is spot on! The golden rule is to make sure you carry those traps that are looking at you 220 yards off the tee. 230 is usually the landing point of most players out here and if they slightly miss the tee shot it’s easy for those shots to end up in the bunker. From there it’s a really tough shot and mentally it affects them because it’s such a basic hole and now they’re struggling.

You’ve got a bunker really tight to the green on the right (as you look from the tee): don’t go in there! It’s deep! A lot of players end up with a chip over that bunker. The rough usually cuts right in on that side, so it’s not a perfect lie.

The sucker thing about this hole is that a lot of players are just chipping to it with their second shot and before they know it they haven’t given their chip shot enough because it is one of those awkward half shots.

The toughest pins are on the right hand side: the right pin, 10-to-15 on, in the middle, just over that right-hand bunker. That’s a really tough pin.

It’s just a great hole because you’ve got a ton of spectators behind the green and they’re watching either birdies or bogeys. It really kills your round when you walk off there with bogey!

The wind can shift. It’s not the prevailing wind, but I remember in 2009 the breeze switched and we had to lay-up short of the bunkers and play it as a true par four! That was really different, making that decision when every other day we’d been going for it.

I love it, because it’s short and dangerous!

The Killer Play: Be aggressive! If you’re going for the green and you’re going to miss, miss left. It’s not a difficult shot from there and you’ve got the whole green to work with.

Hole 17 Par 4 395 Yards 361 Metres

A very important tee shot. I’ve seen so many tee shots go into the nest of bunkers on the right. The problem is the tee faces those bunkers, so you have to commit yourself to going up the left enough. A lot of players don’t do it, but you’ve got to commit yourself to whack it up that left-hand side. It’s a daunting tee shot, it really is and it’s not easy.

The designers point tees at hazards deliberately and it’s great. You have to be really aware of it.

There is also a nasty, deep little grass pot bunker out at about 270 yards. Jiyai doesn’t quite hit it out there, but the killer on this hole is all the stuff on the right. If you get in there your second shot gets real messy and if there’s a back-right pin… forget about it! It gives you no chance at all to get near the pin.

The second shot changes completely depending on where the pin is. If you get a front pin it’s a very basic hole: I remember Jiyai when she won almost holed her second shot. I was surprised the pin was there on the last day because all we were doing was hitting an eight or nine iron in.

I love this hole when the pin is up the back: it’s a real tough hole. The pin at the back-right side makes it a totally different hole and once the pin’s back there you can’t mess with the bunker on the front-right of the green, you have to get your second shot right up there. This hole killed Cristie Kerr’s chances of winning last year.

The Big Mistake: Don’t miss right off the tee. Do that with a back-right pin and you’ve got no chance at all.

Hole 18 Par 4 414 Yards 379 Metres

An awesome finishing hole and a daunting tee shot. There’s a lot of stuff that cuts in on the left, visually, while you’re trying to protect yourself from going in the bunkers on the right. You’ve got more room than you think on the left, but the bushes growing on the rocks on the left seem to loom over the shot when you’re standing on the tee.

I’ve seen a lot of girls make the hole look easy, but it’s not an easy tee shot.

When it’s down breeze, and 80 per cent of the time it is down breeze, you can reach the water; so the majority of the field will be worrying about that.

When Jiyai won in 2009 it was into the breeze and lengthwise it was so long! A second shot that was normally 150 yards and a six or seven iron turned into 190 and you’re hitting a three wood or five wood into a three-tiered green surrounded by water, with a back-left pin on the last day. It wasn’t an easy shot, but she hit a beauty! Ai Miyazato hit a similar sort of shot to the same pin to win last year.

It’s not an easy pin position. It’s 43 yards deep, so when they put the pin at the back it’s a totally different hole!

The Killer Play: Happy with par. A lot of players have blown their tournaments hitting it into the right bunkers off the tee.

 
Credit: Getty Images


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