Anthony Kim played on the west team on Friday night’s NBA All-Star Celebrity game, which included other celebs and athletes like Chris Tucker, Terrell Owens, Mark Cuban and Common.  He played great defensive (including a steal), lead a couple of fast breaks, and dis’d out a couple of nifty passes.  I believe this is the first Korean-American to ever participate in an NBA All-Star celebrity game.   SWEET!  Now if we could finally get someone to play in the NBA full-time.  Anthony Kim must have been a kid in a candy store because not only did he play basketball at All-Star weekend, but he was coached by Magic Johnson, the player he grew up watching and idolizing as a Laker’s fan.

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!

Update from the PGA Tour website on late Wednesday: A statement from the Australian on the PGA Tour website read: “While I feel like the comments published were taken out of context, I did call Anthony to apologise for anything that I said or inferred that could possibly portray Anthony as anything less than a professional of the highest calibre.”

Kim has accepted that apology and commented; “we are both moving on”.

Intriguingly the duo could soon lock horns again as both are scheduled to play at the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain at the end of the month.

Update from ESPN on Wednesday:  ”Kim ‘crushed’ by Allenby Allegations.”  Looks like it’s getting a little heated with Fred Couples backing up AK that he wasn’t out partying during President’s Cup week in San Francisco.

“I promise you, there’s no way you can go out and beat a guy like Robert Allenby 5 and 3 if you’re out until 4 in the morning. There’s just no way,” Fred Couples told Seattle radio station KJR in an interview Wednesday on its “Mitch in the Morning” show. “It kind of crushed him. It was the best week that he ever had and those comments kind of crushed him.”

“Absolutely false,” Kim said, according to Golf World. “I was at the hotel, had dinner with the team, met my buddies for about 20 minutes, then went straight to my room. I was in tip-top shape. If Robert had that to say, he maybe needs to practice a little more.”

Couples said he told Kim he had to “let it go under the rug quick” and said that Allenby had called Kim to apologize.

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Anthony Kim is the best Korean-American golfer and one of the best golfers in the world.  He’s young, brash and has got balls of steel.  He’s got all the talent in the world but his issues previously were work ethic and focus.  Well, he finally cleaned things up and he had a breakout year last year by winning twice on the PGA tour and also dominating at the Ryder Cup.  This past weekend was the President’s Cup, a team golf competition between the Americans and the Internationals not from Europe.  Well, AK was ok during most of the weekend but he sure stepped up during singles competition by beating up on Robert Allenby.

Interestingly, Allenby suggested afterwards that AK may be back to his old ways because it was hinted that AK was out partying the night before his match against Allenby and AK showed up at the hotel a little sideways at 4am.

Allenby said friends here witnessed Kim getting back to the team hotel, in Allenby’s words, “sideways” at 4 in the morning, less than five hours before his scheduled tee time against Allenby at Harding Park.

“Some guys (from the U.S.) who didn’t play well played very well today,” Allenby said after the U.S. downed the International team, 19 1/2 – 14 1/2, to win its third consecutive Presidents Cup. Kim, going out in the fourth match of the day, drummed Allenby, 5 and 3, running his record in the matches to 3-1.

“Maybe we should all take the theory of Anthony Kim,” Allenby said. “Get home at 4 o’clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6 under.”

Asked if his comments were on the record, Allenby said, “I don’t care. Ask his playing partners. Ask his team. He is the loosest cannon in that team.”

Allenby went on to call the 24-year-old Kim golf’s “current John Daly.”

Informed of Allenby’s comments outside the U.S. team cabin, Kim said reports he didn’t get back to the team hotel until 4 a.m. were “absolutely false.” Kim said he joined his team for dinner Saturday night, met up with friends for 20 minutes and went “straight to my room.”

Said Kim, “He said that today? Wow. That’s pretty surprising. . . . I hope that was a joke.”

Told it was not, Kim added, “I’m actually pretty surprised that he said that. I was in tip-top shape coming into today. When you get sat out in a match (as Kim did Saturday morning in foursomes), you’re out there to prove a point.”  Read the full article at GolfWeek.

According to ESPN.COM this week, PGA Champion Y.E. Yang and Tiger Woods could face each other again at the HSBC Champions Tournament taking place in Shanghai this November.  The question is whether Tiger is going to be look forward to a rematch or if “home court” advantage could mean that Y.E. Yang beats Tiger for the 3rd time!  What do you all think?

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.”

A year ago, Anthony Kim was further fueling the fire that he was the next big thing on the PGA tour.  Mark O’Meara had said AK was better than Tiger was at a similar age and AK was on the verge of winning his second PGA tournament before the age of 24 at the AT&T National Tournament.  The only other person to accomplish that was none other than Tiger Woods.  Fast forward a year later and AKs had a tough year with injuries and missed cuts.  There were flashes of brilliance like the 2nd round at the Masters when he broke the Masters record for most birdies in a single round.  He’s got every shot in the book and a mind that’s probably closest to Mr. Woods.  So what’s up AK?  Is it a sophomore slump or jinx after your first successful year on tour?  This year is not his sophomore year technically, just his second year after his breakout year.  Hopefully he’ll get his groove back when he returns to Congressional CC this week to defend his title.  The Washington Examiner chatted with AK and asked what’s up.

Kim is putting (1.73 per hole) even better than last year, ranking No. 18 on tour, and ranks No. 3 in birdies with one for every 4.24 holes. But Kim also makes too many bogeys, largely due to his erratic driver (50 percent/No. 185) and his go-for-broke mentality.

“I’m trying to find the balance where I’m firing at less pins,” said Kim. “It’s been very draining to make quite a few birdies and not see the 65, 64s that I’d like to see out of my round.”

Physical problems have also contributed to Kim’s swoon. Over the last seven months he has had to withdraw from tournaments for reasons ranging from shoulder and ankle injuries to the flu.

“There’s been one thing after another, but that’s not the reason I’m not scoring well,” said Kim. “I’m just not as patient as I need to be on the golf course.”

Kim has been hampered by a sore thumb, but after proclaiming himself healthy before the U.S. Open, he had his best finish (T16) in six months, followed by another solid showing this weekend at the Travelers (T11).

“It’s a long year. I’m getting back into good shape,” said Kim. “If I come out and peel off some wins, it will be another great year.”

Kevin Na finished in 3rd place today at the PGA Players Championship in Ponte Verde Beach, Florida. After making a big push in the second round, Kevin was able to stay near the top of the leaderboard despite a rollercoaster 3rd round. He was among a dozen players, including Tiger Woods, who all had a chance to win the tournament in the final round. Kevin and fellow 3rd place finisher, John Mallinger, earned a nice paycheck a little over $500,000 on Mother’s Day 2009.

Danny Lee is the reigning U.S. Amateur champ in golf, but he’ll be turning pro tomorrow.  It had been rumored for weeks that he would be turning pro soon after the Masters.   Well it looks like his first tournament as a pro will be on the PGA Tour in New Orleans.  Here’s the scouting report on this Korean-Kiwi:

• Incredibly long for a thin kid who has reserve power if he needs to reach back
• World class short game and a putter – though he 6-putted on the 10th green in the 2nd round of the Masters
• Is an attacker who won’t take his foot of the pedal on the back 9 if he’s got the lead

Anthony Kim (AKA “AK”) finished 2nd to Geoff Ogilvy at the opening PGA tournament for the 2009 season. Had he not had a pedestrian start on Thursday’s opening round, he may have more than a puncher’s chance to pass Ogilvy. ”Geoff played a tremendous tournament, and my hat goes off to him,” Kim said