Sal Johnson has this observation on the PGA Championship

Monday, August 17, 2009 3:12 pm (Eastern)

By SAL JOHNSON
Publisher, GOLFOBSERVER
E-mail me at: Golfersal@aol.com

Sal Johnson looks at how Y.E. Yang won and Tiger Woods lost the PGA Championship.

CHASKA, Minn.Ten days ago when Tiger Woods made the announcement that he would be happy with his season, even if he didn't win a major if Tiger had thought out what was happening. It was a shocking bit of talk from Woods who for years have told us that a season is never good without a major. You had to wonder then and now if Woods realized that the major championship year had turned into "The year of the Spoilers." What we could of had was some really great stories, Kenny Perry finally getting the major monkey off his back by winning the Masters at 48. At the U.S. Open, how about either David Duval or Phil Mickelson winning, gosh for about a half hour we thought that Mickelson was a shoe-in for the title. Then we had what could of been the story of the year, 59 year-old Tom Watson winning a major championship. Then this week the story of Tiger Woods. All of these stories would of been written and produced Hollywood style, those make believe pieces that make audiences very happy.

Photo: © Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Y.E. Yang with the winning blow on the last hole.

Then we had what could of been the story of the year, 59 year-old Tom Watson winning a major championship. Then this week the story of Tiger Woods. All of these stories would of been written and produced Hollywood style, those make believe pieces that make audiences very happy.

But those stories never had that Hollywood ending, just like Cinderella, the clock struck midnight and we got the pumpkin stories of Angel Cabrera winning the Masters, Lucas Glover winning the U.S. Open, Stewart Cink winning the British Open and now Y.E. Yang winning the PGA Championship. Of course they were all great theater, but honestly it won't be something that we will be looking back on for years to come.

This week we had a rather strange person emerge in a very strange roll. Since Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997, the golfing world has been looking for the "Tiger slayer" that person that would be able to beat Woods. Many a folk from Phil Mickelson to Sergio Garcia toVijay Singh have audition for the role. Yes Vijay Singh beat Woods a bit in 2005 and Retief Goosen got the better part of Tiger in a past Tour Championship but nobody has been able to knock down Woods, especially in major championships. For years now there has been thousands of words of copy written on this subject, but every time Woods got the lead in a major after either the second or third rounds, it was automatic.

So this week when Woods went out and took, then built on the lead it seemed to be the right time to put his name on the Wanamaker Trophy. It seemed such a good bet that bookmakers in England were paying off players on Saturday and Sunday, despite Woods having to play more golf.

Photo: © Jaime Squire/Getty Images Tiger was hitting last must of the back nine

When Woods teed off with Y.E. Yang, it looked like just another stroll in the park for Woods, he would easily polish the Korean along with anyone else that got in his way. We now think of Tiger Woods winning when he has a lead being as automatic as every breath of air that we breath. But things just didn't happen like that. Yang had dreams of his own of bringing Woods down. In the course of the last several years, Yang had dreamed of meeting Woods on the final day of a major, having the two go mono-a-mono and then sneaking by Tiger.

Funny how dreams can come true.

Yang played steady golf on Sunday, while Woods also played steady but in the end, Yang made less errors and more putts than Woods to beat him. Many won't remember this but back in November of 2006 Woods ventured off to China to play in the HSBC Champions and came away with second place, to guess who, one Y.E. Yang. Now being two for two against Woods is pretty good, about the only other person that can say he has beaten Woods twice is Nick O'Hern, but his wins were just one match at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and nothing compared to beating Woods for a title.

Photo: © Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Yang becomes the first Asian to win a major championship

Now who is this "Tiger Slayer"? Yang was brought up on a farm, on a Island in Korea. As he told the media he has always been an "average Joe", a working class person that had high work ethics. He didn't start playing golf until he was 19 when a friend talked him into hitting some balls on a driving range. That was enough and he spent a couple of months learning how to play the game until it was time for him to do military services. He wasn't able to play the game for two years until his service was over, at that time he still had the golf bug and tried to learn as much as he could. He was self thought, watching the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo, but he worked hard on his game and was able to venture into the professional ranks. As he said, "All I thought about being was a club pro", that turned into a touring pro which got him onto the Korean Golf Tour to the Japan Tour to the European Tour and finally onto the PGA Tour. In 2004 he played on the Japan Golf Tour and in a span of two years won 5 times. This helped him get into the 2007 HSBC Champions and he made the best of his special moment, beating a great field which included Tiger Woods to win that title. After that it was off to America to see what would happen.

Yang has been a member of the PGA Tour since Q-school in 2007. Last year he finished 157th on the money list which forced him back to Q-School and he just made it on the number finishing T18th. So a stroke higher for Yang would of meant no PGA Tour card, thus no win at Honda. Before his win at Honda, Yang had played in 46 PGA Tour events with only one Top-20 finish, T9th at the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am. Despite the struggle and the hard work, Yang got things together and and won the Honda Classic to everyone's surprise since he was the 460th world ranked player.

Photo: © Streeter Lecka/Getty Image Tiger Woods had a painful look on his face the whole day

Still since that win he hasn't really done much until the Canadian Open last month, when he finished T8th and then the next week when he finished 5th. Last week at the Bridgestone he finished T19th, but again he showed signs of some good play as he finished play shooting 69-66 over the weekend.

Still how could you tell that he could possibly win, in 7 previous majors, only made the cut twice, T30th in 2007 Masters and T47th in 2005 PGA Championship. Before this year in 18 previous major rounds, only broke par twice, 71 in 2nd round 2005 British Open and 67 in 2nd round 2005 PGA Championship.

Despite this background he was able to put things together and beat Woods. How did he do it you ask?

The key was overcoming a poor start, after the 4th hole on Friday Yang was five over par, ten behind Tiger Woods and on the cusp on not making the cut. He played his next 49 holes in 11 under par, only making three bogeys. Yang got better as the tournament progressed and was able to get into the final match along side of Tiger Woods. Now for the week, Yang and Phil Mickleson were the only players to have two eagles for the week. Yang also hit 55 of 72 greens to lead in greens hit for the week, was 3rd in ball striking and played the par 4s in 4 under, best of the week. He didn't putt that bad but was able to survive making four, three-putts.

Photo: © Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Yang telling the media about his day in winning the PGA Championship.

While this was going down, Woods was having a tough time with the putter, culminating it all with 33 putts on Sunday. Woods wasn’t able to take advantage one of his best weeks in hitting fairways. He hit 40 of 56, which was T4th for the week. In all the majors Tiger has only had a higher rank once, finishing 1st in the 2005 British Open and that happened because there was no rough to speak of. Also in his favor was the point that Woods hit 52 of 72 greens which was T3rd. So Woods wasn’t able to capitalize on the good combination of fairways and greens hit.

But the most important thing that never seems to happen, over the course of 18 holes Woods never pulled off that magical shot which would help boost his confidence and help him to victory. Woods over the course of the last couple of holes looked like a mere, frustrated human like the rest of us. While Woods was struggling, Yang hit the shot of the week at 14, a chip that went into the hole for an eagle that got him the lead.

Woods shot a final round 75, it was his second worst score in the final round of a major championship. So just like that, Tiger Woods’ streak of 16 straight overall PGA Tour wins when holding the third-round lead/co-lead ended along with his streak of 14 wins while holding the third round lead ended at the 2009 PGA Championship. So just like that Yang becomes a part of the Tiger Woods story, a bit of folklore just like Nick O'Hern as a player that has beaten Woods more than once, a very rare thing. Yang was asked in a media interview if he was looking forward to meeting with Woods again and he answered no, he never wanted to face Woods again, he was a winner and didn't want to spoil that. Of course he was making a joke, but for Yang it's the beginning of a lot of obligations.

That's because Yang is the first Asian born winner of a major championship. Now that he lives in Dallas, there will be things that he has to play in Asia, events and meetings to help boost the cause of bringing golf to places like Asia. Just by chance, the Olympic committee voted to recommend to include golf into the 2016 Olympics so in a span of a week these two things will help golf grow in Asia.

As for Yang, it will be interesting to see what happens to him. Will he be able to live up to the title of first Asian golfer to win a major? Will he be able to win again, possibly at the expense of Tiger Woods? Or will he turn into the next Jack Fleck, another player that shook up the golfing world be beating the great Ben Hogan in 1955.

Talking about Woods, how will this bode over for him, this is really his first time at defeat at not only his hands but someone else. At the age of 33 Woods has finally lost a tournament and did it in a ugly manner. We aren't use to Woods losing the lead and shooting a final round 75, we have to wonder if this will become a trend or if Woods will find away around this. One thing for sure, we have not seen as much strain on Tiger in his face, his actions and his cursing which became all-time on the 17th hole. Last month at Turnberry we saw an ugly Woods, throwing clubs and not being able to control himself. In a way the same at Hazeltine, we saw a Woods that couldn't do anything right and again it was a ugly site. We have to wonder with him being 33 now, having the responsibilities of a family and such, could his will to play great golf go away. We saw this happen to Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, after years of pulling off those magical shot at the right time, they couldn't produce that key putt or shot at the right time and wonder, could this be happening to Tiger?

Guess we will have to wait close to eight months to get our answers at Augusta in April. Still you have to think that Woods will find a way to be better than ever, but boy he would rather of traded wins the event before a major, into wins at the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship.


1 comment
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Jan --- Aug 18th, 2009 09:06 pm

You should be ashamed of yourself. Did you see how gracious Tiger was to Yang? So Tiger lost one tournament. So What! He is human. He is still the greatest golfer ever! We always thought Jack would never be outdone, but Tiger has proved to be even greater. All your negative remarks are a sign of envy and jealousy. I am eager to read your next article when Tiger rebounds from this, and he will. I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing too many wins from YANG. He just had a lucky day and you know it. I really think you should write an apology to Tiger. You know he will make you look foolish the next time he plays in a tournament. I for one am looking forward to it. JC