Nov. 24, 2019. It has been 494 days since Shanshan Feng last teed it up in an LPGA Tour event, thanks to a season lost from the pandemic. With the option to skip the season and not lose her LPGA Tour status, Feng, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, spent a year at home in the People’s Republic of China, enjoying time with her friends and family and living a quiet life.
But in recent months, the urge to get back on the course grew. Feng pulled the clubs back out a few months ago and after finally getting a U.S. visa, she rejoined the LPGA Tour with a bang, carding a bogey-free 67 in Thursday’s first round of the ANA Inspiration, the first major of the professional golf season.
“ANA was the earliest I could make and I'm so glad that I can be here,” said Feng after the round. “Doesn't matter how I really played. My goal was to actually enjoy the whole process, whole time on the course with my boss – I mean my caddie, Mercer (Leftwich) – and also my teammates in the group. So I really enjoyed the whole time.”
The self-proclaimed “old rookie” didn’t show many signs of rust on Thursday, cruising around the Dinah Shore Tournament Course alongside Nelly Korda and Mel Reid. Reid’s caddie, Ryan Desveaux, recounted a classic Shanshan story, saying the jokester cried “bye bye ball” as an errant tee shot came oh-so-close to the water on No. 6.
As usual, Feng brushed off the down points and focused on the many positives to take from her grand return to play.
“I know what it takes to play well in the tournament, and I really did work to get my distance back because I did lose some distance,” said Feng. “At the same time, just commit to myself to say, ‘Hey, even though maybe I'm not as long as the other girls are,’ but actually the course plays shorter that way because my balls release so much.”
But the pressing question remains – with no golf on her schedule, how did Feng spend the last year and a half? Well, even major champions struggle with finding ways to pass the time. And as happens to so many of us, the answer nearly inevitably is edible.
"After you get up, you think about what you want to eat for breakfast. After breakfast, you think about what you want to eat for lunch. Then after lunch, you think about what you want to eat for dinner. Just boring life,” said Feng, followed by her trademark bellow of laughter.
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