Monday, August 17, 2009

Asia's First Major Winner - YE Yang


We all thought it would be KJ Choi to win the first, but it is YE Yang instead!!

Woke up at 6am this morning hoping to catch the last few holes of the PGA Championship and saw YE Yang leading Tiger by 1 with 3 holes to play.

I was thinking, surely Tiger will catch him and force a play-off.

On the Par-3 17th, Tiger was in the rough whereas Yang was safely on. Tiger chipped short but Yang made an even bigger boo-boo by putting short. I thought that would be the turn-around by Tiger but he missed his putt. Yang also missed his too, but maintaining a 1-shot lead with 2 holes.

At that point, I had to leave home to send my daughter to school. I rushed back hoping to watch the play-off. But there was none. The message is clear, I knew then that Tiger had lost.

I was totally elated. An Asian Major Winner. A virtual unknown beat Tiger. 14-0 for a major frontrunner after 54 holes and he lost his first. A Korean not named KJ beating Tiger. Wow!

This can only be good for golf. This can only be good for Korea. I think this is the push for Asian golf to break into the big time.

BTW, if you think this is the first time Yang has beaten Tiger, you are wrong. He beat Tiger in HSBC Champions in Shanghai 2 years back.

Well done, YE Yang! Thank you for showing us that Asians can be up there with the best! Thank you for being our inspiration!

7 comments:

Chee Hoo said...

I woke up at 4am to watch the match up and it was well worth it!

First of all, Tiger didn't putt well all day. He had several birdie chance but narrowly missed them.

I think the turning point was the short par-4 14th at just over 300yards. Both were tied at -6 and both went for the green with driver. Yang's tee short landed short right and Tiger's tee shot landed in the right bunker. Tiger blasted out to 12ft of the hole. Then magic from Yang, he chipped in from outer for eagle! Tiger made his birdie but was 1 shot back.

More importantly, Yang did not seem to be under pressure at all and he was actually smiling to the camera from that hole on.

At the end of the day, Yang did Asians proud by becoming the first major winner. Well done Yang!

KJ Choi said...

awesome man...i tot Yang will crack but looks like Tiger was the one who was "buay zai" !!

Padraig Harrington said...

Well that is really surprising to say the least! Yang surpassed everyone's expectations for sure! Too bad I wasn't the one to spoil Tiger's party. Another time old chap!

Ernie Els said...

I will be back..once I ditched my Callaways

Jon Goh said...

Tiger always come back stronger...i fear for the competitors at the next tournament!

Lam Chih Beng said...

So Tiger not so difficult to beat after all. Next time I try harder.

KJ Choi said...

Hi Chih Beng, can I call you CB for short?

I din know you are trying to beat Tiger...for goodness sake, you cant even beat the Thai girls.