DUBAI // Back at where she describes as her “lucky place”, Shanshan Feng should presumably be aiming high at the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters.
The defending champion blatantly loves the Majlis Course, having cruised to a five-shot victory here last season, the second time she had clinched the trophy.
Two years previously, Feng set a tournament-record total of 21-under par, while she is in relatively decent nick now too, with the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit title already wrapped up.
By dint of that, she became the first Chinese woman to capture the crown, not to mention coming into this week as the highest ranked player in the field, at world No 6.
So for Feng to declare yesterday that she is targeting a top-10 finish understandably raised eyebrows among the gathered press at Emirates Golf Club.
Especially considering her typical mantra is “top five”, no matter where she is positioned on the leaderboard.
“OK, I’ll say top five then,” said Feng, backtracking. “It’s not really something that I’m like, ‘I have to make this top five or I have to make this top 10’.
“It’s just a goal coming into this tournament. It’s usually a goal that I feel comfortable and confident to reach.
“So it doesn’t really matter. I could say top five, yeah.”
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The pretence is plain to see. By setting sights a little lower than expected, Feng is hoping to stave off the added pressure that comes with spending the week with a sizeable target on her back.
She confesses she did not wear it well in 2013, when her initial Dubai triumph was followed by a fifth-place finish. Granted, that does not sound that bad, but Feng was 12 shots adrift of the winner, Pornanong Phatlum.
“This year, coming back as defending champion, I don’t feel as nervous as I was in 2013,” Feng said. “Because last time I knew I was defending champion, maybe I still had a little pressure, so I didn’t perform as well as I thought I would.
“I’m a person that I know the pressure from the other people and from the fans, it’s already enough. So I don’t want to give myself extra; I try to do everything that can relieve it. Not saying I’m going to win is one of the ways I do it. So I don’t say it. I just try my best. If it’s mine, it’s mine.”
Feng can already call this year’s Buick Championship and the Order of Merit hers, sealing the seasonal race despite entering only five LET events.
That win in Shanghai in July not only contributed to clinching the money list, but it helped offset what has been a slightly disappointing 2015 campaign in America.
In 21 tournaments on the LPGA Tour, Feng has 12 top 10s: characteristically consistent, but without a trophy to show for it.
So seizing another trinket in the season finale would end the season on a positive note.
And Dubai seems the best setting for it. “I’m really happy to come back here every year because this is my lucky place, and also my sponsor’s tournament.
“I know I’ve already won the Order of Merit, but it doesn’t really affect how I’m going to perform this week. This week is just like every other that I try my best and do the same thing, stay to my routine and just bring out my A-Game.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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