Wie, Tseng inspire each other to improved play

• By Randall Mell
• Aug 22, 2012 9:35 AM ET

Michelle Wie and Yani Tseng seemed to have inspired each other last week at the Safeway Classic.

After playing practice rounds together at Pumpkin Ridge, where they empathized with each other’s summer swoons, the pair enjoyed seeing renewed sparks in their games. They’ll take the momentum of encouraging finishes there to this week’s CN Canadian Women’s Open.

Wie finished eighth at the Safeway Classic, her first top-10 finish of the season. She takes some positive thoughts now to one of her favorite events at the Vancouver Golf Club. Wie won the second of her two LPGA titles at the CN Canadian Women’s Open at St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg two years ago. She tied for second behind Brittany Lincicome in the event last year at Hillsdale Golf & Country Club in Quebec.

“I love playing golf up in Canada,” Wie said in her pre-tournament news conference. “I absolutely love it up here. I think the crowds are just so nice. The people are just so nice here. We play different golf courses, but every golf course we go to is topnotch and always in perfect condition.”

With her strong finish last week, Wie qualified for the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Titleholders Championship at the TwinEagles Club in Naples, Fla.

“It was a lot of fun last week.” Wie said. “It's been my toughest year so far, but I think that I've really tried to see positives through it and done a good job with that. I've enjoyed every single week. Even though I haven’t played as well, I still try to take the positives out of it because the game is tough enough without beating yourself up too much.”

Tseng shot a 67 on Saturday at Safeway to make a run into contention before finishing 11^th.

“I’ve never been that happy to shoot 5 under in my life,” Tseng said.

The world No. 1 enjoyed her best finish in four months.

“I’ve been struggling, it’s very tough, but Yani is back,” Tseng said.