Yani Tseng and the 7 Lessons We Learned at the LPGA Championship

Rochester, NY celebrated 35 years of women's professional golf this week—the second-longest running tournament in LPGA Tour history—with the Wegman's LPGA Championship at Locust Hill Country Club.

I spent the weekend at the Tour's second major of the year, an event that began in 1955 and is now one of the four majors on the LPGA Tour.

An impressive 14 of the top 15 players in the Rolex Rankings were featured in the field of 150 golfers.

Here are seven lessons we learned at the Wegman's LPGA Championship.

Yani Tseng

Yani Tseng is dominating women's golf.

At just 22 years old, Tseng became the youngest player in LPGA history to win four majors since the tour began in 1950. Not even Tiger Woods nor Jack Nicklaus have done what Tseng has done.

It was a start to her young career she didn't see coming.

"I never think about going to win majors," Tseng admitted after her victory. "This is fun. It's always very fun to win a major."

As the Rolex Rankings No. 1 player, Tseng assembled rounds of 66-70-67-66 en route to her eighth LPGA Tour victory and a 19 under par finish.

There's no telling just how successful she's going to become, but people are already calling this the Yani Tseng era.

Cristie Kerr

Cristie Kerr can shoot 19 under par on this golf course, too.

In the defense of her LPGA Championship victory of a year ago, Cristie Kerr fought off early round illness and returned—well, sort of—to the form that enabled her to run away with the tournament last year.

Kerr followed opening round even-par 72s with scores of 67 and 69.

"I didn't hit it well, but I played well for four days and was eight under," Kerr said. "That's usually what contends if there isn't somebody that steps away."

Yani Tseng stepped away, matching Kerr's 19 under par performance of a year ago. But this finish will give Kerr some much needed momentum heading into the U.S. Women's Open next week.

Paula Creamer

Paula Creamer is the most popular player on the LPGA Tour.

As one of the faces of the ladies' tour, Creamer garnered the most attention from the fans in Rochester with huge galleries.

Creamer is an obvious fan favorite. The crowds are bigger. The applause is louder.

And as I followed her throughout her round Sunday, fans yelled her name in encouragement on almost every hole. One spectator even asked if her grandfather was in attendance—to which she nodded with a smile.

Her golf game wasn't too shabby, either.

Creamer built some much needed momentum in the upcoming defense of her U.S. Women's Open title by compiling rounds of 67-72-72-69 for an eight under par total and a third place finish.

Look for my Paula Creamer U.S. Women's Open Preview interview next week.

Cindy LaCrosse

Please welcome, from Tampa, Florida—Cindy LaCrosse.

This little-known second year LPGA Tour player made her presence felt in a hurry with impressive scores of 70-69-69, enabling her to play in the final group on Sunday with Yani Tseng.

She collapsed under major championship pressure with a closing round of 77, but the potential is obvious.

Outside of driving accuracy—she's sixth—LaCrosse had done nothing impressive this season entering the week. She had no top 10 finishes in 10 starts and wasn't even a blip on the LPGA Championship radar screen at the beginning of the week.

With two more majors on the not-too-distant horizon, this tournament will give LaCrosse some much needed experience.

Minea Blomvquist

Minea Blomvquist is a great interview.

The down-to-earth and talkative Blomvquist entertained the media, myself included, with explanations of her son Elmo's name and how he was born on Donald Duck's birthday.

His middle name is Aku, which is Donald Duck in Finnish. And her boyfriend's name is Roope, which means "the guy who has money in" or something like that.

And on and on.

We would later find out she plans to name her second child after Donald Duck's girlfriend.

Don't worry; I didn't really understand much of anything Blomvquist said, either.

But she has a magnetic personality and warmth about her. And she played some pretty good golf, too, opening with rounds of 69-69 before imploding with a 77-78 finish.

Morgan Pressel

Morgan Pressel was trying to catch Yani Tseng.

As she teed off in Sunday afternoon's final round, Pressel was five shots behind the leader, Tseng. Following a bogey on the second hole, however, her thought pattern changed.

"I just wanted to make as many birdies as possible," Pressel said, "not necessarily thinking I was going to catch her."

She didn't come close to catching Tseng. Nobody did. But Pressel's closing round one-under(-par) 71 gave her a second place finish alone at nine under par.

Suzann Pettersen

Suzann Pettersen isn't afraid to speak her mind.

After shooting a final round 67, good for a T3 finish, Pettersen said she didn't think Locust Hill Country Club was a major championship golf course.

"This is a phenomenal golf course," she admitted in her post-round comments. "You've got to be accurate and they are small greens. But for me, this is not a major golf course. That's my personal opinion."

OK, that quote might ruffle a few Locust Hill feathers. But you have to respect her honesty. And her golf game.

Pettersen's strong finish—not to mention her No. 3 Rolex Ranking—makes her a favorite in next week's U.S. Women's Open.