Tiger Woods reacts to missing a birdie putt on the second hole of the final round, foreshadowing his putting performance for the rest of the day.
Of course, it was Yang – all 5-foot- 9 of him – who gunned down Woods last August with a birdie on the 72nd hole to become the first Asian-born male golfer to win a major championship while striking a significant blow for international golf just days before the game was reinstated as an Olympic sport (returning in 2016). Yang, who thought his athletic career would be as a weightlifter, also proved that the once-invincible Woods could be bench-pressed, or beaten, under the proper circumstances.
“Nobody usually beats Tiger in this situation,” Yang observed through an interpreter after posing with the Wanamaker Trophy, while back in South Korea thousands of supporters celebrated the major milestone achieved by Yang in a classic final-round shootout with Woods.
“I have visualized playing against the
best player quite a few times and always
sort of dreamed about this,” noted Yang.
“When I was at home watching Tiger, I
would try to visualize and bring up a mock
strategy on how to win if I ever played
against Tiger. When the chance came, I
thought, hey, I could play a good round and
Tiger could always have a bad day. I guess
today was one of those days.”
Some pundits immediately christened
Yang’s come-from-behind victory over
Woods at Hazeltine National one of the
greatest upsets in golf history. Given
Woods’ pedigree and record in majors, it
was undoubtedly a cataclysmic surprise.
But there was evidence before Yang’s
triumph that this David had more than a
simple slingshot in his pocket with which
to slay the seemingly invincible Tiger.
50 THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM OF THE 2010 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP