Yang overtakes Woods, wins PGA title
South Korean Y. E. Yang surged past a faltering Tiger Woods Sunday and won the 91st PGA Championship at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National by three strokes.
Yang closed with a 2-under par 70 for a score of 8-under 280 and a history-making victory.
The stunning win by the unheralded 37-year-old spoiled Woods’s attempt to claim his 15th major title and made Yang the first Asian-born player to win a major.
Yang started the round two shots behind, stayed close and pitched in for an eagle at No. 14 to take the lead.
Woods, who had been 14-0 in majors when he had at least a share of the 54-hole lead, bogeyed five holes and finished at 3-over 75 and an overall score of 283.
The victory was Yang’s second on the PGA Tour. He also won the Honda Classic in March.
I tried to master the art of controlling my emotions throughout the small wins I had in my career,
Yang said. I think it turned out quite well today.
It was a bad day at the wrong time,
said Woods, a four-time winner of the event. That’s the way it goes.
Yang won $1,350,000.
England’s Lee Westwood and 20-year-old Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland each shot a 70 and ended up at 285. U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover (74) was at 286 and three-time major winner Ernie Els (74) was in a group of four at 287.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, who began the round tied with Yang for second place, two behind Woods, suffered a disastrous quintuple-bogey 8 on the par-3 eighth hole and carded a 78 for 288.
The 7,674-yard Hazeltine course was the longest in major championship history.
