On the 17-hour plane ride to Singapore for the HSBC Women’s World Championship, Xiyu Lin took advantage of the long flight to catch up with mentor and friend, 10-time LPGA Tour winner and major champion Shanshan Feng. Playing in only her third event in the Lion City and first since 2016, Lin was grateful to have the ear of a Tour veteran as she prepared for the week abroad.
“This week, I was saying I need to build my confidence, so I force myself not to practice or even like practice quality, so more of trust myself. So that avoids time on the range and saves energy like Shanshan,” said Lin, who carded a 4-under 68 on Friday. “It's so nice to have her back, and on the night over, we talked a little bit. I asked her some things about my game and what's her thinking and she gave me some good advice, of course. This week she just keep telling me, don't work too hard. These to days, actually, funny, she's around my tee time and she only got here and start practice like 20 minutes before her tee time. But she's doing great, so, yeah, that's something I can learn from.”
After the second round, Lin sits in a tie for third at -9, only two strokes back of the lead. As she juggles the heat and challenging conditions at Sentosa Golf Club, Lin said she’s happy to have someone like Feng in her corner week after week. “She's a very experienced golfer, so I'm so glad she's back on Tour and I'm able to talk to her again,” said Lin. “I mean just see she's definitely a little bit different personality than I am. She is so outgoing and she is so positive. You know, it's just so nice to be around her.”
In contention heading into the weekend, Lin said she’ll be focused on making sure her body and mind are one in the same. “I guess keep hydrated first. That's the one biggest thing. And then playing-wise, I mean, so far I've been doing everything I wanted to do, so I'm very happy and I just going to keep it going.”
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