ROGERS — Yani Tseng knows she must be on her game when she begins playing a golf course that’s undeniably on Stacy Lewis’ home turf.
Tseng remains the world’s No. 1 female golfer, but over the past two months her confidence has waned and her scores have increased as Lewis has made a charge at the top spot on the LPGA Tour.
The former Arkansas star has been on a hot streak lately, earning her first victory of the season in late April at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic and following it up a little more than a month later with a win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
And things should be interesting at this week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club, with Tseng entering as the two-time defending champion who’s trying to hold off the local favorite in Lewis.
“It’s just so much fun to play here. The fans always have a big crowd, especially if Stacy is playing behind me,” said Tseng, who has heard the loud reception that Lewis gets when she’s playing well at Pinnacle.
“You can always hear Woo Pig Sooie. I’m like, ‘Oh, she’s making birdie there.’”
Perhaps a good rivalry between Tseng and Lewis is taking shape.
The closest Lewis has come to winning the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship was in 2007, when she was an amateur and led after the first round. But rain washed out the remainder of the tournament, forcing Lewis to settle for being named the unofficial winner.
Her game has come a long way since then, so much so that she has emerged as a challenger to Tseng’s nearly two-year reign atop the LPGA.
Thanks to her improved putting, Lewis had overtaken Tseng for the top spot in the Rolex Player of the Year standings heading into this weekend’s Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Canada. Lewis entered the tournament with $857,689 in earnings this season, putting her only $147,838 behind Tseng.
“It’s crazy to think of that just a couple months ago I was pretty far behind Yani, and I played some really good golf the last couple weeks and it’s been fun,” Lewis told reporters last week. “But I have to keep doing it. I want to be on top of that list in November, so I just have to keep going and keep playing good golf.”
Still, Tseng will be the golfer to beat when eight of the world’s top 10 players tee off in Friday’s opening round.
She became the first repeat winner of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in September 2011, when tapped in a 4-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a sudden death playoff with Amy Yang. Tseng celebrated by leading the crowd gathered around the 18th hole in the Calling of the Hogs, which is typically reserved for Lewis.
But Tseng said she has lost confidence in her game since winning three of the LPGA’s first five tournaments this season.
Heading into this weekend’s Manulife Financial LPGA Classic, Tseng had finished no better than tied for ninth in her past four tournaments. That includes the worst performance of her record-breaking career, a tie for 59th place at the Wegmans LPGA Championship in Pittsford, N.Y., earlier this month.
Not surprisingly, Tseng admitted she’s looking forward to returning to Pinnacle, where she hopes to regain her form on the 6,274-yard course.
“The golf course suits my game,” Tseng said. “There is a lot holes that are dogleg left and right, and you need to shape the ball very well, playing your ‘A’ game here to win the tournament.”
Of course, others golfers could challenge Tseng’s bid for a three consecutive win at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. And Lewis won’t have an easy road to finally winning the LPGA event that she’s so closely connected to her, the one played a short drive from Arkansas.
“I know I’m the top American, but I don't know if I still quite believe it myself and I don’t know when that will happen,” Lewis said last week. “But it's cool because I can tell that people are starting to recognize me more and asking more of my time and more autographs and things like that.
“So it’s really cool that people are finally taking notice of it. I don't know, I’ve just got to keep playing good.”
FAIRWAY TICKET
WALMART NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY P&G
WHEN: June 29-July 1
WHERE: Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers
COURSE: 6,274 yards; par 71.
PURSE: $2 million
FORMAT: 54 holes
CHARITIES: The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Benton and Washington County.
ON THE AIR: All three rounds will be televised by The Golf Chanel. Friday’s rounds — 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday’s rounds — 6 to 8 p.m.; Sunday’s rounds — 6 to 8 p.m.
2011 CHAMPION: Yani Tseng (66-67-68-201) successfully defended her title at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G, beating Amy Yang on the first hole of a playoff. After missing a 4-foot putt on the final hole of regulation that would have given her the title, Tseng sank a four-foot birdie putt when they replayed the par-5 18th in the playoff to capture her fifth LPGA title of the 2011 season. Tseng is the first two-time winner of the event, which started in 2007.
ON THE WEB: nwachampionship.com
TICKETS: Available for purchase online at www.nwachampionship.com or by calling 715-6100. Daily tickets are $25 for championship play, Friday-Sunday. Weeklong grounds badges can be purchased for $50. Admission is free to the public Monday-Thursday. Children 17 years old and under are admitted free with a paid adult admission.