South Korea's Y.E. Yang, Asia's lone major champion, does not want to be the forgotten man in golf.
The Asian Tour star has hit hard times since his historic triumph over Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship, dropping to 464th in the latest world ranking after missing 11 cuts, including his last seven events, this season.
As he enters the final year of exemption from his major success at this week's Open Championship at Hoylake, the 42-year-old is hopeful of finally seeing some light at the end of a very long tunnel.
"It's do or die right? I have to start playing well," said Yang at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Wednesday.
"There have been a lot of things going on with me over the past year. I'm trying to sort things out and it's getting better. I feel like I'm getting back to some form and the feel is slowly coming back. Hopefully I can turn it around in the next couple of months.
"Not a lot of players have consistent form year in, year out. If you look at the rankings, there are many players who have been up and have then come down. You've got to have an ebb, but you've got to try to flow back into it."
With his exemption on the PGA Tour also expiring at the end of this season, Yang naturally feels the pressure to perform to keep his playing status in the United States.
"I have to loosen up a little bit. I've put so much pressure on myself in the past few months trying to stay on the PGA Tour. I just think that I need to relax a bit and ease up a little bit more," he said.
He hopes the missing links to his game will fall into place at Royal Liverpool, host of this week's Open Championship.
With near ideal conditions the past two days, Yang knows he must make the most of his opportunities.
"On this course, it's all about getting up onto the green. Once you're there, it's not too difficult like the other Opens as they're relatively flat. But from tee to green, that would be the key as that's where shots will be dropped," he said.
"The weather is ever-changing in England, although it's not as bad as Scotland. You have to be prepared for the weather which is unpredictable.
"I'm going to prepare for the worse. If it's great conditions, the scores will be lower but you can't expect the weather to stay like this in the Open."
Source: AFP
