The PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open is preparing to offer LPGA star Yani Tseng an invitation to play on a sponsor’s exemption.
“It’s no gimmick,” Sidney Wolf, general chairman of the Puerto Rico Open, said Wednesday. “It has always been our intent to try to bring the best players here, and to create as much interest in our event as we can. Yani’s a proven winner. She has won all over the world, and we think this is something that could be good for her and good for us.”
The Puerto Rico Open is scheduled to be played at Trump International March 8-11 next year, opposite the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral. The LPGA schedule for 2012 isn’t out yet, but the Puerto Rico PGA Tour dates didn’t conflict with an LPGA event this year, falling in an open two-week window in the women’s schedule.
Wolf said he was preparing to formally make the sponsor exemption invite on Thursday. Tseng was in transit Wednesday, flying back to the United States from Taiwan, and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Ernie Huang, Tseng’s advisor, told GolfChannel.com that while Tseng is focused on meeting her goals as an LPGA player, she would give an offer careful consideration.
Tseng, No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings, has won 11 LPGA titles worldwide this year. Asked in China last week whether she would ever consider playing in a PGA Tour event, Tseng told reporters there she would enjoy the chance solely for what she would learn playing against the men.
“We read that,” Wolf said. “We hope she will consider us. I don’t know if she’ll do it, but I’d like to present my case to her as to how impactful it could be to Puerto Rico. People around me know I don’t give up easily.”
As an added incentive to entice Tseng, Wolf said Puerto Rico has shown some interest in hosting an LPGA event.
“Yani would add another dimension to our event and maybe open the door to our hosting an LPGA event here,” Wolf said.