Yani Tseng Continues to Struggle as Stacy Lewis Wins and Moves to No. 2

Yani Tseng has been the world No. 1 for 85 weeks, but her poor play during the second half of this year allowed the rest of the LPGA to narrow the gap.

Tseng had three wins in the early part of the 2012 season, but she also has three missed cuts and no top-10s in her last ten events.

It's a mystery why Tseng has had such a poor summer when she is the youngest person to win five major championships and has been compared to LPGA legends, Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa, in the past.

She seems to have lost her motivation to continue reaching for loftier goals, resulting in a slump.

On the other hand, Stacy Lewis picked up her third win of 2012 at the Navistar LPGA Classic at the Robert Trent Jones Senator Course in Prattville, Ala.

The win moves her into the second spot, past Na Yeon Choi and behind Tseng on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Lewis has played very well over the past two months, and her win at the Navistar LPGA Classic marked her fifth top-10 finish in the last seven events.

Overall she he is having an outstanding year, with 14 top-10 finishes and three wins. She is also No. 2 on the LPGA money list, with nearly $1.6 million.

Lewis joined the LPGA Tour in 2009 after a stellar collegiate career at the University of Arkansas.  She won the rain-shortened LPGA NW Arkansas Championship as an amateur.

Her first official win on the LPGA was a major the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship. The Navistar was her fourth LPGA Tour win. 

Perhaps Lewis and Tseng can develop a rivalry similar to Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods' on the PGA Tour.

Rivalry or not, Tseng needs motivation to regain the form that made her such a great champion on the LPGA Tour.