Y.E. Yang made a big splash this year by doing the impossible and that was take down Tiger Woods (when Tiger wasn’t with a lady of the night).  When we mean the impossible, we’re referring to his unbelievable defeat of Tiger Woods at a major golf championship: The PGA Championship at Hazeltine.  To put this into perspective, Tiger Woods had never lost a major championship when leading in the final round of a major golf tournament. However, it was Y.E. Yang of all Korean golfers (Anthony Kim, K.J. Choi) that stared down the greatest golfer of our generation and maybe of all time, and executed one of the greatest shots on the final hole (72nd) of a major golf championship.  He perfectly landed a hybrid shot that set up the birdie to bring down the hammer on Tiger Woods on the 18th hole.  No one east of Hawai’i would have predicted that Y.E. Yang would be the first Korean golfer to win a major golf tournament and no one in their right mind would have bet on Y.E. Yang beating Tiger head to head in the final group of a golf major.  Y.E. Yang is #7 on our top ten list of most influential Korean-Americans because he not only broke through to victory on one of golf’s biggest stage, but he showed the whole world that Tiger was beatable and that you could go toe to toe with the greatest golfer in the world.  And now the rest of the golf world knows that you can beat Tiger (on the golf course .  He made believers out of everyone!

Hard to believe but the impossible just happened with Y.E. Yang taming the Tiger.  Tiger Woods is the most dominant golfer and athlete in the world.  When Tiger enters the final round of a major golf tournament with a lead, he is 14 of 14.  It’s what they call “automatic” in the sports world.  Tiger had a 2 shot lead over Padraig Harrington and South Korean Y.E. Yang entering Sunday, but over the difficult windy conditions at Hazeltine on Sunday, Tiger just couldn’t get the putter to get the ball in the hole when he needed it.  He said he hit the ball beautifully all day; the flat stick just wouldn”t cooperate with a few misread putts.  If you’ve followed Tiger Woods’ career, it’s been clutch putt after clutch putt that one remembers about Tiger when he wins major golf tournaments.  Today he was denied for the first time in his glorious career, and he was stopped cold by Y.E. Yang who beat Tiger by 3 strokes after the scorecards were signed.  So how big or hard was this accomplishment?

• Tiger Woods is 14 of 14 when leading the tournament going into the final day.
• Tiger Woods has 70 tour victories.  Y.E. Yang has 1 tour victory.
• Y.E. Yang has never been in the final group with Tiger where everyone crumbles under the pressure and the massive crowds that surround them.
• Y.E. Yang is ranked #110 in the world.  Tiger Woods is ranked #1 for the longest time.
• Tiger Woods has won 14 major championships.  Y.E. Yang has only played in 5 major tournaments.
• No Asian born player has won a major golf tournament.

On the final hole, the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship, Y.E. Yang hit the greatest 3 hybrid of his life with the ball landing about 10 feet from the hole.  Tiger had to be aggressive because he was trailing by one shot, but his aggressiveness landed him in the rough and he ended up bogeying the hole, while Y.E. Yang slammed the door with a birdie.  Tiger Woods didn’t lose this tournament – Y.E. Yang won it.  The staff here are big Tiger Woods’ fans, but we’re very happy that South Korean Y.E. Yang played David and slayed Goliath.  This only gives hope to the rest of the PGA tour that other players can face the barrel of the cannon known as Tiger Woods and win.  Congratulations to Y.E. Yang.  The Korean women have been dominant on the LPGA Women’s Tour, now Y.E. Yang is showing that the Korean men are here to stay.  Don’t forget about K.J. Choi, Anthony Kim, Kevin Na, and other players of Korean descent who are on tour.  It’s the Korean wave!

Entering today’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine in Minnesota, Tiger Woods leads the field by two strokes over South Korean Y.E. Yang and Padraig Harrington.  It’s the final round and when Tiger Woods is leading a major tournament going into the final round, it’s like Mariano Rivera closing out a Yankee’s game: thank you for coming, good night and have a nice drive home.  Well, what you may not know about Y.E. Yang is that the last time Tiger and Y.E. were going head to head, Mr. Yang beat Tiger Woods at the HSBC Champions Tournament in 2007 in Shanghai.  However, he did it without having to be in the same group and dealing with the massive crowds that follow Tiger Woods, which always gives Tiger a big psychological advantage because he’s used to the followings while his fellow competitors are overwhelmed by so many eyes on them.  How does Y.E. Yang feel about his odds of beating Tiger Woods?

“With Woods, he’s won 70 times now, and I’ve won only won once,” Yang said through an interpreter. “So it’s sort of 70-to-1 odds. So I might as well go for broke as well.”