Feng aiming for Qizhong three-peat

Fuelled by home cooking and the company of friends and family, a happy and content Feng Shanshan is back on home turf this week looking to delight her legion of fans with a win at the Buick LPGA Shanghai.

Speaking at Shanghai Qizhong Garden Golf Club on Wednesday, an the eve of the start of the US$2.1-million tournament, a co-sanctioned China LPGA Tour-US LPGA Tour event, the China No. 1 said she was looking to hopefully produce something special this week. In 2015 and 2016, she won back-to-back tournaments at the Dana Fry-designed course when the CLPGA Tour co-sanctioned the event with the Ladies European Tour.

With the yardage of the par-72 course playing at 6,691 yards, Feng said the layout will provide an excellent test for the game’s best players. This year’s field includes world No. 1 Ko Jin-young of South Korea, defending champion Danielle Kang of the United States, 17 of 20 tournament winners from the US LPGA Tour this season, and 22 players from the Chinese mainland.

“This Qizhong Garden course is a fantastic golf course. It does play a little differently compared to two years ago because it was a (Ladies) European Tour event and played a little bit shorter,” said Guangzhou native Feng, a winner of 23 tournaments worldwide since 2007.

“Starting last year it became a little longer course so it’s maybe a little challenging for short hitters. This year the weather’s nice, there’s not much rough, the greens are softer, so I am expecting a lot of low scores.”

This season has seen Feng bounce back, relatively, to her old form after struggling for much of 2018. Currently No. 21 on the Rolex World Rankings, the 30-year-old won the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in July for her first victory since late 2017, a year when she became the first Chinese, male or female, to become world No. 1.

She followed up her Thornberry Creek win with a tie for second at The Evian Championship in late July, finishing two strokes behind Ko.

“I played really well but Ko Jin-young played even better. But second is still my best finish at the Evian. After that I think my confidence level is back. Even though I missed a few cuts after that I still think that my game has improved compared to last year. I am going in the right direction,” said Feng, who has changed both her driver and irons this season in an attempt to get more distance.

SHINE

“I maybe gained a few yards but then I kind of lost my control about the ball. I think the Thornberry was the week that I actually got my control back. I played like a Shanshan that week.”

With CLPGA Tour regular Liu Yan currently at 9-under and tied for the lead after the second round of the Stage II of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament, Feng said she was delighted to see the young Chinese players coming up in her wake. The top-30 players and ties in Florida this week advance to the LPGA Q-Series.

“Liu Yan is managed by my company. I don’t know how much we can help her but I think the girls back in China, a lot of them they are very talented, they just need chances. They just need people to guide them, to tell them what to do and plan for them. Maybe we’ve been helping them a little bit. Seeing the Chinese flag on top, and her name on the top, I was so proud of her.

“Other than her, there are a few more Chinese girls that are doing pretty well. There are two more days to go. I hope that, of course, all of them can make it to the Q-Series.”

For Feng, this week was all about enjoying the moment, focusing on every shot and being on home ground, something she seldom gets to do with her busy travel schedule that takes her all over the world.

“I’m looking forward to the food. I miss Chinese food so bad because if you talk about Chinese food in the US you only talk about a few dishes. It’s totally different than China. Here we have so many choices. I just love Chinese food and every time I’m home it’s like ‘yes’. I have three meals a day, seven days to go, so I have 21 meals to decide what to eat.”