Except for a new title as an LPGA Tour winner, not much has changed for Hsu Wei-Ling (徐薇凌) a day after her historic victory at the Pure Silk Championship at the River Course. Still needing to get ready for some morning training routines, Hsu’s alarm clock rang at 8 and before she could get up, she got a call from the TLPGA from the other side of the earth to do a pre-arranged phone interview.

“Sleep enough?” Hsu appeared surprised by this question. “Nah, but hey, I’ve still got many important tournaments ahead. I won’t going to let up just because I had one good week, I want to do more and get my name seen more. So not now, but eventually I will get the sleep I deserve, I’ve got plenty more time to sleep when I’m older!”

Hsu got a packed early-season schedule with two weeks in Singapore and Thailand, a number of LPGA tournaments plus an intense US Open qualification event, and countless COVID tests in between. The 26-year-old said she neared just 20 hours of sleep in five days before the Pure Silk Championship started, due to bad jet-lag. “My body was very tired but I had a clear head, knowing where I wanted to get to this year, so I have a lot of faith in myself which kind of carried me through.”

“I feel like these faiths have a lot to do with the support I’ve got around me. I have some amazing sponsors during my career. Wintek, from which I won a sponsorship so that I could make up my mind to move to the U.S., gave me the courage to dream. CTBC Bank was so supportive when I just started out and then Taiwan Mobile, my main sponsor currently, believed in me when I was at a low point in my career. And many, many more people who somehow appeared and gave me what I needed the most whenever I was doubting myself.”

“I think this feeling of mission and commitment grows in me that I need to work extra hard not just for myself, but for these people. Without this mindset, I honestly don’t think I could achieve what I just did. The seven years might not have been long enough.” said Hsu, whose first official LPGA Tour season was 2015.

“Financial supports are hugely helpful, let’s be honest, when you travel so much to catch every tournament. But what cannot be replaced is the sense of belief that someone’s got your back, that you’re not alone, that you’ve got a team behind you.”

As Hsu dubbed, “saviors” would be what her sponsors, and the TLPGA are like to her. There are no words to describe how much she’s thankful for their help along the road. “I chose to stay in Taiwan when the COVID situation was rather tamed and the TLPGA made their greatest efforts to kind of run the TLPGA Tour normally in 2020. The feeling of adrenaline in a real tournament is not what I can get in practice, which is super important to keep myself on a high standard for the upcoming challenges.”

Looking back, Hsu said, the slow-down in 2020 because of the pandemic outbreak has provided a much-needed chance for her to “look at where she’s at and what she can do to become better”, instead of chasing for shot after shot week in and week out.

“It’s not like suddenly what I’m saying is the guideline to success but if I’m to share my advice to the young players would be ‘look at yourself from different perspectives, not just look at the skills,’” said Hsu. “Don’t just play. The psychological part of the game is what sets you apart. Learn to know more about yourself and train your mentality. Spend more time thinking about what would you do when you’re feeling upset or playing bad, rather than keeping all your focus on what you do to hit well.”

Parents are two of Hsu’s biggest fans and supporters from the very beginning.



“Oh, and Mom and Dad, yeah, their unconditional love has helped me through the toughest times.” With a short figure, Hsu was never among the most promising girls in her peer group, but parents’ continuous encouragement and companion cleared her self-doubts. “It’s fun because I got one Symetra Tour victory with Mom at my side and the other with my daddy carrying the bag. It’s somehow like I planned to give them each a present!”

“Can you imagine your baggage got delayed, in which you have a life-saving GPS device in the time when smart phones weren’t so common, and there is no Internet connection in the airport, but you need to get to a new place or you get kicked out from the tournament and you are going to pay all the big expenses for nothing? It was a really stressful situation my mom and I faced in Orlando years back. These things happen but I was able to find ways to overcome them, thanks to Mom who was always my greatest emotional support so I don’t panic easily.”

In her 147th start, Hsu finally enjoyed her first bite of success on the biggest stage, hoping there would be more sweets to come so she could make a fair share to parents and all her loved ones.