The Jock Box: Yani Tseng

This week’s Jock’s Box --where we pay homage to a great woman in sports -- will be written with a British accent (my Taiwanese sucks) in honor of Yani Tseng’s win at the Women’s British Open. Yani won the open by one stroke making a 6-foot putt over Katherine Hull. This is the 21-year-old’s third major title and second of the year paired with the Kraft Nabisco.

"I was nervous and tired with all the pressure and attention out there today," Tseng said. "Katherine played really well and put me under a lot of pressure. It was the toughest win I've had to date. I usually come from behind to win. I've never won from the front before."

Yani was awarded a paycheck of $408,000 and a message from Annika Sorenstam: I'm very happy to see you on top, that's where you belong.

Yani was the top-ranked amateur in Taiwan from 2004 to 2006 and won the 2004 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links by defeating Michelle Wie in the final again by only one stroke. She went pro in 2008 and was the first player from Taiwan to win an LPGA major championship. At 19 she was also the youngest player to win the LPGA championship and the second-youngest player to win a major.

If you want to congratulate Yani, she lives in Annika Sörenstam’s old house at the Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida.

From a post-British Open interview, I found out that Yani has this interesting habit:

Q. You said yesterday that you liked to sing as you go around the golf course. Were you singing all the way around today and as you were coming down the final stretch?

YANI TSENG: Actually I did, but it was really hard for me to sing a song, because my mind was so busy. I was jumping around trying to sing a song, but I was like, stop thinking of winning and stop thinking about the score. But my focus was really I really want to just try to sing this song. It made me feel very relaxed. It was very tough to sing a song in my mind.

Look for her to continue to do great things at the top of the leader board.

Get more sports from Helen here!

Follow SheWired on Twitter!

Follow SheWired on Facebook!