Hideki Matsuyama’s victory in the latest edition of the Masters was an impressive qualitative leap for Japanese golf, as he became the first Japanese national to win a Grand Slam tournament. However, this was not the first time that an Asian player was elevated to the Olympus of stars who have won a major. Such a tremendous honor belongs to South Korea’s Yang Yong-Eun, when he lifted the 2009 PGA Championship trophy at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. And he did it in a big way, and never better said, as he surprisingly beat Tiger Woods himself, who by that time had already accumulated 14 majors.
Yang, then 37 years old, defeated Woods by three strokes in a round where the Asian started with two strokes more than the Californian and closed with a 70, 2 under par, for a total of 280 (-8). With 75 strokes, Tiger missed out on his fifth PGA Championship.
The South Korean player, 110th in the world ranking in that August twelve years ago, started the decisive Sunday as a clear contender to be defeated by the theoretically unbeatable Tiger. Faced with Tiger’s thunderous resume of victories on the U.S. Tour, no less than 70, Yang, who did not play golf until he was 19 years old, had only one.
Woods was looking for his first major victory of the season after missing the cut at the British Open. And he was looking forward to it, having missed the previous year’s PGA Championship due to the fact that he was recovering from reconstructive knee surgery.
And the dance began. Woods made par on the first three holes before scoring a bogey for the second consecutive day on the par-3 4th hole and then doing it again on the 8th.
Yang took the lead for the first time with an eagle on the par-four 14th to take a -8 overall. Woods responded to that eagle with a birdie to stay within one stroke of Yang.
Yang, who earned $1.35 million for his victory, capped his win with a nearly six-foot birdie putt on 18 after a long approach that flew over a tree and ended with the ball rolling onto the green.
Yang’s round included one eagle, two birdies and two bogeys, while Woods’ round finished with five bogeys and only two birdies.
Two Europeans, Lee Westwood and then-rising star Rory McIlroy, tied for third, five strokes behind Yang and one ahead of that year’s US Open winner, Lucas Glover.
“Tonight is going to be a bit of a crazy party,” Yang said. “I knew the odds were against me. I tried to be as un-nerved as I’ve ever been and went for it.”
Yang not only became the first Asian to win a major, but also bettered the previous best performance by a South Korean. His compatriot K.J. Choi was third in the 2004 Masters tournament.
The victory surpassed previous top performances by an Asian: Huan Lu-Liang of Taiwan, who finished second at the 1971 British Open, Japan’s Isao Aoki of Japan, second at the 1980 US Open, and China’s Chen Tze-Chung, second place at the 1985 US Open.
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