Y.E. Yang Wins the PGA Championship in Close Battle With Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods started the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine in a familiar position, atop the leader board.

Lurking behind him was Padraig Harrington, his felled foe from last week at Firestone, and Seoul, South Korea native Y.E. Yang.

It looked as though it would be a three man race to finish the day, until Harrington quintuple bogied a par three, recording another waterlogged snowman on the score card.

After the seventh hole of the round, Tiger lined up for a fade into the green, but struck the ball true sending it straight into the bunker. He bogied the par-three, and luckily for Woods, Yang missed his birdie putt, tying Woods at six under with his par.

After going fourteen straight holes without recording a birdie, Tiger broke the tie on No. 11, knocking in a short birdie putt to move to seven under after leaving his eagle attempt short.

On No. 12, Woods' errant tee shot led to a bogey five, moving him back into a tie with Yang at six under.

Yang took command on No. 14, sinking a beautiful running pitch for an eagle, putting him up two strokes on Tiger.

Woods answered with a birdie of his closing to within a stroke.

Woods could have tied Yang on No. 15 with a 12-foot birdie putt that lipped out—mirroring his putting for the day, solid, but just unable to stick a few daggers into the competition.

On No. 16, with Lake Hazeltine glimmering alongside the hole, Yang caught a bit of luck when his ball held the last shelf of the green, avoiding the ripples of the water behind.  

Both players parred and Woods was still down by one stroke with two holes to play.

Woods flew the green on Par 3 No. 17 before barely escaping the rough, leaving him a long putt for par.  Woods missed it, failing to capitalize as Yang made bogey, launching an onslaught of cusses from Mr. Woods.   

Only two birdies had been made on No. 18 all day when the final two made there way to the tee. Tiger needed a birdie to tie Yang if the South Korean made par.

Both players sat in the fairway after their drives, Woods almost 20 yards closer to the hole than Yang.

Yang’s second shot, from just over 200 yards with a hybrid club, flew a tree and bounced within feet of the pin.

It was a breathtaking exclamation on a great day and tournament by Yang.

Woods’ second shot rolled into the rough off the green,

Tournament over.

The gallery roared as the two approached the green in this magical PGA Championship.

Woods eventually missed his chip and Yang stroked a seven footer for the major win, the first major championship victory for an Asian-born player and the first time Tiger had lost a major after leading for 54 holes.

And no matter if Tiger wins or not, there is seemingly always another record being broken.

If he would have won he would have tied for most PGA Championship wins, and this loss was his first after winning 36 straight times after leading for 54 holes.