Makers of golf history: Ms. Yani Tseng is the youngest to win 4 major championships at 22; Mr. Tiger Woods, at 24

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June 26, 2011 - Yani Tseng wasn't satisfied with merely winning the LPGA Championship and, at 22, becoming the youngest to win four LPGA majors.

Once she made the turn with a 10-stroke lead Sunday, the best female player in the world set her sights on making a little more history. "I was like, what's a new goal for me?" Tseng said. "And that's why I told myself I wanted to set a record, to make 20 under."

Tiger Woods won his fourth when he was 24. And Tseng's idol, Annika Sorenstam, was 24 when she won the first of her 10 majors - the 1995 U.S. Women's Open. "It's very special," Tseng said. "Now I'm thinking about a grand slam."

It's one step at a time for the top-ranked Tseng, who won her second LPGA Championship and has won three of the tour's last six majors. The only major she's missing is the U.S. Women's Open title, which she'll have an opportunity to complete her career slam in two weeks at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo.
For the star from Taiwan, it was her eighth career LPGA Tour victory, second in a row and third of the season. She has three other victories this year, sweeping the Australian Open and Masters and winning in Taiwan.

Tseng turned professional in January 2007. She competed on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour and won the DLF Women’s Indian Open. She also competed on the CN Canadian Women’s Tour, where she won the CN Canadian Women’s Tour at Vancouver Golf Club. After finishing sixth in the final LPGA Qualifying Tournament in December 2007, Tseng earned full playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for 2008. In June 2008, she claimed her first LPGA tour victory – the LPGA Championship – to become the first player from Taiwan to win an LPGA major championship. At age 19, she was also the youngest player to win the LPGA Championship and the second-youngest player to win an LPGA major. Tseng was named LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2008.

On 4 April 2010 Tseng won the first major championship of the LPGA season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, by one stroke. She went on to win her second major of the year on 1 August 2010 by winning the Women's British Open by one stroke and is now the youngest woman in the modern era to win three major championships.

In January 2011, Tseng defended her title at the Taifong Ladies Open on the LPGA of Taiwan Tour. Three weeks later she won the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open and a week later the ANZ RACV Ladies Masters, both events co-sponsored by the ALPG Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Her wins moved her into the number 1 position in the Women's World Golf Rankings. She won again the next week in the first tournament of the LPGA season, the Honda LPGA Thailand.

In June 2011, she firstly won the LPGA State Farm Classic over Cristie Kerr by 3 strokes. Two week later, she subsequently won the LPGA Championship. This meant she was the youngest player to have achieved four LPGA majors.

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time.

Woods has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player (Jack Nicklaus leads with 18), and 71 PGA Tour events, third all time behind Sam Snead and Nicklaus. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer.

He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. Additionally, Woods is only the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to have achieved a career Grand Slam three times. Woods has won 16 World Golf Championships, and won at least one of those events in each of the first 11 years after they began in 1999.

Woods held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record ten times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons.

At the close of his first 11 seasons, Woods's 54 wins and 12 major wins had surpassed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record of 51 (set by Byron Nelson) and total majors record of 11 (set by Jack Nicklaus). He was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for a record-tying fourth time.

Woods and tennis star Roger Federer, who share a major sponsor, first met at the 2006 U.S. Open tennis final. Since then, they have attended each other's events and have voiced their mutual appreciation for each other's talents.

Despite his power advantage, Woods has always focused on developing an excellent all-around game. Although in recent years he has typically been near the bottom of the Tour rankings in driving accuracy, his iron play is generally accurate, his recovery and bunker play is very strong, and his putting (especially under pressure) is possibly his greatest asset. He is largely responsible for a shift to higher standards of athleticism amongst professional golfers, and is known for putting in more hours of practice than most.

"Genuine connection, friendly rivalry, and peer support"

The familiar voice of Tiger Woods winds along smoothly underneath flashing images of a champion's evolution. But this slick 2007 Nike commercial is not about the world's greatest golfer. It's the biography of Roger Federer, Woods' tennis counterpart. "He's definitely the man to beat," Tiger intones, earnestly. "This man is Roger Federer. He's won 10 majors and counting."

Then Woods, looking up from a putt, says, "But my name is Tiger Woods. I have 12 majors and counting. So keep up, buddy."

As it turned out, Federer also reached the finals of the season's last three Grand Slam events and won two of them, the French Open and Wimbledon. He was within two points of beating 20-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro at the U.S. Open, but surprisingly fell in five sets. Still, Federer now leads Woods 15-14 in majors after Woods went 0-for-4.

Asked earlier this year at Wimbledon what he had in common with Woods, Federer said, "Success, I guess. Our mindset, our approach. We're driven. We try to dominate."

They don't just try. They do it. Of all the world's great athletes, they might be the only ones who can call each other a true peer.

Federer took the career Slams record from Pete Sampras, whom he passed at Wimbledon this year and leads by that identical 15-14 mark. Woods needs to win five more majors to surpass Jack Nicklaus' total of 18.

On Sept. 13, Woods won the BMW Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club by 8 strokes to take the lead in the FedEx Cup standings with one event to play. Afterward, he was asked about Federer.

"Is he playing right now?" Woods asked, fully aware that Federer, like himself, does his most important work on Sundays. Indeed, Federer was in the process of defeating Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

Although their relationship is seen by some cynics as convenient, enabled by the Nike apparel behemoth and overstated, they are in fact friends. A major sporting publication recently questioned the depth of their relationship, but people who know them say the connection is genuine. Woods actually calls Federer "Fed" to his face.

Given their ambitious global schedules, who they are and where they live, it's difficult to find common time and space. So they do what everyone under 35 does: They text -- almost every day, according to both -- connected by their BlackBerrys.

"Our text messages are pretty funny," Woods said after winning the BMW. "We do needle each other pretty good. But also, a lot of support. He's one of the first ones to always congratulate me and vice versa. "Wherever I'm playing in the world, he's always following what I'm doing and I'm following what he's doing."

Woods and Federer are perhaps the best athletes ever to play their respective individual sports. Woods, at 33, is five years older and is a native Californian. Federer, from Switzerland, speaks a handful of languages.

Woods has been known to rearrange his practice schedule and tee times to watch Roger play. In late spring, he was preparing for what turned out to be his winning final round at the Memorial when Federer was attempting to complete his career Grand Slam in Paris. "I was as nervous as can be for him," Woods said. "I was yelling at the TV, the whole deal."

Tony Godsick, of the International Management Group, is Federer's agent: "What the friendship does," Godsick said, "is put two unbelievable superstars into the same conversation. I think that's great for both sports -- and something for fans to talk about."

Federer, as he was pursuing Sampras' record for Grand Slam singles titles, reached out to the former champion and, over time, they have grown friendly.

The catalyst for the relationship with Woods was not Nike but the golfer himself. His agent, Mark Steinberg, contacted the Federer camp, saying he wanted to attend the 2006 U.S. Open, where Federer was trying to win his third straight title. Shortly before the final, they spoke for the first time in the locker room, and Federer acknowledged Woods in the stands during the match.

"It all started and stemmed from playing individual sport," Woods explained. "Granted, I have a great friendship with Michael [Jordan], but he played a team sport. It's so much different than an individual sport when you're out there by yourself all the time, the difficulty.

"It's a different difficulty and a different challenge, and that's something that Roger and I, we connected on."

When Federer won the 2007 Australian Open, Woods sent along a major update by text, "12 to 10." In March 2007, Federer accompanied Woods on the back nine of a practice round at the World Golf Championships in Doral, Fla. The night before, they had dinner on Woods' 155-foot tri-deck motor yacht. Federer was playing a few days later at the tournament in Miami. "I think it's pretty neat when you have probably the most dominant athlete on the planet out there in your gallery," Woods said.

Woods returned the favor at the March 2008 exhibition between Federer and Sampras at Madison Square Garden. Woods sat in the front row, next to his wife, Elin, along with Federer's soon-to-be wife, Mirka, and Federer's parents. At one point, Sampras gave Wood his racket.

"Mirka and myself and Roger and Elin, we've all become pretty close," Woods said. "If we do talk about our sports, it's more in the sense, how we prepare, what he does, all of his training that he does off the court and what I do off the course to get ready," Woods explained. "Just a number of wind sprints and miles we both log and our lifting schedules, how long and what type of lifting do we do. "It's obviously very sport-driven, but also very similar at the same time."

Does Federer play golf? "Yeah," Woods said. "He played for a number of years and then got a rib injury for a while and he thought it was caused by golf, so he quit playing golf for a little bit and that's when his tennis took off. But he's playing a little more now, really enjoying it."

When Federer passed Sampras and Woods with his 15th major title, prevailing over Andy Roddick in an astonishing 16-14 fifth set at the All England Club, Woods texted: "Great job. Now it's my turn." Woods was in position at Hazeltine National in mid-August but was beaten on the last hole by unknown Y.E. Yang.

"Roger, when Tiger wins, doesn't get angry," Godsick said. "Same with Tiger. It's a competition, but they're happy for each other."

Federer and Woods are ranked No. 1 in their respective sports, but last year they were visited by injury and uncharacteristic bouts of frustration. Woods was limping when he won the 2008 U.S. Open in a playoff over Rocco Mediate and was forced to take the rest of the year off after surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

The combination of a debilitating bout of mononucleosis and a back injury reduced Federer's effectiveness. In Miami, when he smashed his racket in a loss to Djokovic, it was a window to his deep frustration and, perhaps, doubt.

According to people around them, Federer and Woods helped each other through their down times. "Absolutely," said an observer who knows them both. "Tiger really helped Roger when he was going through a little slump. If you went up to Roger and said, 'Hey, you can do this. Work your tail off,' it's not going to do anything. But if it's someone of Tiger's stature, and he knows what it's like to struggle, who does it, well, it's different."

After they had both won their contests, Woods was asked whether theirs was a friendly, but bantering rivalry. "Of course, of course," Woods said. "That's the fun part. He gives me a lot of grief and I give him a lot of grief, but also, we have an understanding and a great friendship that's built upon -- first of all, it was understanding what it took to get to that point."

* UPDATE July 28, 2011 *

Woods announces his return to action
GOLF: DARREN CLARKE will be able to thank Tiger Woods in person for the help he gave him in winning the British Open after the former world number one’s announcement that he will be back in action in Ohio next week.

Woods has been out with knee and Achilles tendon injuries since May 12th, but returns with a new caddie expected to be friend and business partner Bryon Bell at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Clarke has been a friend as well since before Woods turned professional – they played together in the 1996 British Open – and the Ulsterman was the grateful recipient of text messages during his British Open triumph two weeks ago. “It’s great he’s coming back to play again,” said Clarke at the Irish Open in Killarney yesterday.

“He’s been a very good friend for a long time. He offered some helpful advice on Saturday (of Open week), but I’m not going to tell you what it was. That’s between friends.” Clarke added that he will probably now text the American to convey his delight at his ending a lay-off many were starting to think could go on all year after he pulled out of the US Open and British Open.

Woods’ last playing appearance was The Players Championship in Florida, where he limped through nine holes in a six over par 42 before quitting. “I’m excited to get back out there,” he said in announcing his comeback on his website.

He sustained a mild medial collateral ligament strain to his left knee and aggravated a strained left Achilles’ tendon while finishing fourth at The Masters in April, the last event he completed.

The announcement also said he had only just recently begun hitting balls again, so it remains to be seen how he performs on the course where he has won seven World Championships, but last year finished joint 78th out of 80 on 18 over par as his divorce was being finalised.

Michael Jordan tips Tiger Woods to return to his former self

TIGER Woods will play in the Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio next week, ending an 11-week break to heal injuries to his left leg. Woods used his website to announce his return today and posted on his Twitter account that he's "feeling fit and ready to tee it up at Firestone next week. Excited to get back out there!''

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Related Article: Tiger Woods Career Summary - Major Victories

Photos courtesy of Wojciech Migda / Wikipedia, mashable.com, ontennis.com, Christopher Lee / Getty Images Europe, Golf Digest, and sportdownunder.com.au