Late to pick up game and with no grand illusions, Yang lives out his dream with PGA win

After beating Woods, life about to change for Yang

CHASKA, Minn. — The staff and the owner’s family were waiting outside the Hoban Korean Restaurant, applauding when Y.E. Yang arrived.

“They were supposed to be closed,” said Michael Yim, an IMG agent who works with Yang. “They said, ‘If you can come at 3 in the morning, we would have kept it open.’ Their eyes were teary. What just happened is huge.”

And not just for Yang. In a matter of four hours Sunday, Yang’s life — and that of every aspiring golfer around the world, but particularly in Asia — changed forever.

Not only did the 37-year-old South Korean become the first Asian player to win one of golf’s majors — the PGA Championship — he took down none other than Tiger Woods, the sport’s No. 1 guy, to do it.

“Honestly, I’m not prepared, I think,” Yang said through an interpreter. “It’s going to be a bit tough, sure, I know that. It’s going to be fun, too. But honestly, I’ve never been in this spot, so I really can’t assess it.”

Golf is hugely popular in Asia, the game’s fastest-growing market. But while it has produced some stars — 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa of Japan carries a head cover that looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid doll of himself, complete with spiky hair, sunglasses and visor — the game is still a work in progress.

The men’s game, at least.

Since Se Ri Pak won the LPGA Championship and U.S. Women’s Open as a rookie in 1998, seven Korean players have combined to win 11 majors on the LPGA Tour. Yet Yang and K.J. Choi are the only PGA Tour players who learned the game in South Korea before coming to America.

China has no players on the PGA Tour. Jeev Milkha Singh, who finished tied for 67th on Sunday, is the first Indian golfer to play at the Masters and qualify for the U.S. Open.

“Golf in Asia has been growing steadily, so to have the guy who finally found a way to beat Tiger on Sunday is so big for the region,” said Geoff Ogilvy, an Australian. “It’s hard for us here in the U.S. to imagine the impact this will have.”

Added PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka, “Earlier this week, I said the addition of golf to the Olympics is the single biggest thing to accelerate the growth of the game. I stand corrected. … There are now going to be other Asian nations saying, ‘OK, how are we going to prepare our players to go play on the international stage?’”

Knowing one of their own has broken into golf’s mainstream by winning a major is sure to inspire and motivate young players throughout Asia. Indeed, in South Korea, golf fans woke up at 4 a.m. for the final round, some rushing over to a sports club in the Seoul suburb of Bundang when it opened two hours later.

“I think Yang’s victory will give young Asian players a confidence that they can beat the odds in any situation,” said Suh Gee-young, a physician who stopped by the driving range to take a few swings before heading to work Monday morning.

That’s a heavy burden to put on Yang.

But while golf is his job, it’s also his love.

Yang — his full name is Yang Yong-eun — grew up on an island called Jeju, about an hour by plane from Seoul. His father is a farmer and his older brother is in the agricultural business, too. Yang wanted to be a bodybuilder, and dreamed of someday owning his own gym.

But when he was about 17 or 18, he blew out his knee. He was, he said, “like anybody else in the world, an average Joe.”

Then a friend suggested he go work at the local driving range. It paid minimum wage, but Yang could eat and sleep there.

“The driving range was no longer than the tent we are in right now, probably about 60 yards, tops,” he said, while speaking in the interview room. “The first grip I ever had was a baseball grip, and I was just whacking it into the net. It just felt fun.”

The more he played, the more he fell in love with the game. He practiced for three months before he played his first round, and shot 101. It was three years before he broke par.

There have been a few successful Asian golfers over the years — Japan’s Isao Aoki finished second to Jack Nicklaus at the 1980 U.S. Open — but Korea has been late to the game. Yang didn’t even have a coach when he first started playing, teaching himself by watching tournaments on TV — his early idols were Nick Faldo and Nicklaus — and instructional videos. He thought maybe he’d be a club pro or teach at a driving range.

But the more he learned about golf, the more his horizons expanded. He started playing tournaments in Korea, then moved to the Japan Golf Tour. He’s played on the PGA Tour the last three years, going through qualifying school in 2007 and 2008 before winning at the Honda Classic earlier this year.

“My life has been sort of very slow, actually,” Yang said. “And I’ve always tried to take it a step at a time. I didn’t really look and envision myself 10 years, two decades away.”

Even if he had, odds are he wouldn’t have seen a player as poised, unflappable and determined as he was Sunday.

Though Yang describes himself as “still more of the lower-than-average PGA Tour players” he admitted that he wanted to play with Woods. When they were at tournaments together, he’d sit in the clubhouse, watch Woods play and try to envision strategies he’d use to beat him.

But daydreaming is one thing. A Who’s Who of golf — Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, David Duval, Sergio Garcia — has tried to beat Woods on the final day of a major and failed. Usually spectacularly.

Not Yang.

“The odds are against me. Nobody’s going to be really disappointed that I lose,” he said. “So I really had nothing much at stake, and that’s how I played it.”

He was aggressive all day, making the two biggest shots — his chip on 14 and his approach on 18 — when he needed to. He was calm, never once getting caught up in the circus that is Tiger Woods in the last group on the final day of a major. Dozens of cameras track Woods’ every move, the galleries are massive and golf etiquette is the last thing fans are worried about as they rush to see the next shot. Yang even had some fun with it, smiling and waving at a TV camera as he crossed the bridge at the turn, and giving a Woods-like fist pump when he made that spectacular chip on 14.

And when it was all over, he hoisted his golf bag over his head — shades of the bodybuilder he once wanted to be.

“I guess the fearlessness comes from the fact that I know I’m doing my dream job,” Yang said. “Every day I’m living my dream.”

Associated Press Writer Jae Hee Suh in Bundang, South Korea contributed to this report.