After beating Tiger, life will change for Y.E. Yang

Whenever Y.E. Yang was in a tournament with Tiger Woods, he would sit in the clubhouse and think about playing against the world's most famous athlete.

He'd visualize different scenarios, come up with strategies.



Deep down, he had a secret that he shared with no one: Yang would imagine beating Woods.

"The good players, the great names that you've mentioned, when they tee off with Tiger, their competitive juices sort of flow out and they go head to head and try to win," Yang said through an interpreter. "For me, I don't consider myself as a great golfer. I'm still more of the lower-than-average PGA Tour players."

Not anymore. 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 the sport's No. 1 guy to do it. Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia — they all tried and failed.

Not Yang, who was poised, unflappable and determined throughout.

Not bad for someone who took up golf at 19 simply as a way to pay bills and ended up finding the job of his dreams.

"Honestly, I'm not prepared, I think," he said. "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. This is my first time. I'm just going to try to go and improvise."

Pretty good plan, considering that's what got him here.

Yang — his full name is Yong Eun Yang — 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 watching videotapes. 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," said Yang, the only member of his family who lives outside of Jeju. "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."

Which is why, though he knows its significance, he can't yet fathom what his victory at Hazeltine National will mean to South Koreans and Asian players and fans, in general.

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.

"Seeing Yang ranked 110th in the world win against Tiger Woods, the best player in the world, I felt so proud to be a Korean today," Kim Soo-mi said as dozens of golfers practiced at an indoor driving range.

That's a heavy burden to put on Yang. Based on his performance Sunday, he'll be able to handle it.

He admitted he was nervous before playing Woods, and didn't sleep very well Saturday night. Once he stepped on the first tee, though, the nerves disappeared.

After all, he said, it wasn't as if they were in a UFC fight and Woods was going to bite him.

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, 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."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_sp_go_ne/glf_pga_championship_yang_s_dream_6

The Business of Golf: Golf as a Business Tool

LPGA players hopeful about future under new leader

By NOAH TRISTER, AP Sports Writer

As the LPGA Tour searches for a new commissioner, Brittany Lincicome summed up the challenge her sport faces in a dismal economy.

“We need tournaments,” said Lincicome, who won April’s Kraft Nabisco Championship. “Even if we’re playing for half the purses.”

Carolyn Bivens resigned under pressure as LPGA commissioner this week, and Marsha Evans took over as an interim replacement. The tour’s board of directors hopes to find a full-time commissioner by the end of the year.

Bivens was no stranger to controversy—she was criticized last year when she proposed an English-only policy for tour players. Now, the LPGA’s schedule is everyone’s big concern. The number of official money events dropped from 34 in 2008 to 28 this year.

“The economy was not helping Carolyn at all,” Lincicome said.

Bivens’ tenure ended after a group of players wrote a letter to the board calling for her to quit.

“I believe 100 percent she had our best interests in hand,” said Nicole Castrale, a 2007 Solheim Cup participant. “I believe that everyone involved just wants the best for our tour. … I just think that it became alarming to the players that we were losing events so quickly.”

When Lincicome won the Kraft Nabisco Championship this year, the winner’s share was $300,000—double what it was at that tournament 10 years ago. That’s a sign of progress, but Lincicome said she’s not the only player who would be open to playing for less money—in the short term, at least—if it would help save events.

The average purse per event this year is $1.78 million, up from $1.31 million in 2004.

The tour says it has 13 events committed for 2010, including two that weren’t on this year’s schedule. The LPGA also says discussions are ongoing with 15 events from the 2009 schedule.

Still, McDonald’s is no longer sponsoring the LPGA Championship, and Paula Creamer expressed concern last month about not knowing where the major would be next year.

Creamer, who is eighth on this year’s money list, said in an e-mail this week it’s important to strengthen relationships with sponsors.

“Over the past five years, I’ve learned that there are many different priorities, goals and expectations of our various sponsors. Charity giving at the end of the week is very important to many tournament owners and sponsors that have been with us for decades,” Creamer said. “Other events have unique mission statements and objectives which are equally as important to them as well. Community pride, exposure, economic stimulation are just a few others.”

Two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Meg Mallon called the LPGA “the best bargain in sports,” but she’s still cognizant of the financial concerns facing sponsors.

“Professional sports, especially golf, is a luxury. You don’t underestimate that when businesses are looking at us,” Mallon said last week. “I think the players are very concerned about their future, and I’m proud of them stepping up and taking an active role because this tour has always been motivated by the players, run by the players. When players take an interest, good things happen.”

Lincicome said she hopes the full-time commissioner will come from a golf background. Evans, a retired rear admiral in the Navy, began serving on the LPGA board just this year. She was on an LPGA commissioner’s advisory council in 2007 and 2008.

For now, she’ll try to reach out to players and secure tournaments despite the economic climate.

“She definitely will command respect,” Castrale said. “I know the economy is in a tough position right now. … When it’s all said and done, the sponsors see what we bring to events as players.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-lpgafuture&prov=ap&type=lgns

Korean golfers are a growing LPGA presence (understatement of the week)

By Joe Juliano
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20090712_Korean_players_are_a_growing_presence_in_LPGA.html

When Jeong Jang began play on the LPGA Tour in 2000, she had just two people from her homeland of South Korea whom she could call for advice and guidance on coping in an unfamiliar country.

"When I was younger, I was just following Se Ri and Kimmy around," Jang said, referring to Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim, who came on the tour before her. "They were three years older than me. But it was still hard."

From the modest beginnings of Koreans coming over to play at the highest level of women's professional golf, the numbers now have exploded. More and more players qualify for the LPGA Tour every year, and the number is now at 47.

The pipeline of Korean players continues to flow. About 35 players from South Korea are competing on the Duramed Futures Tour, the LPGA's developmental circuit. The 36 Koreans at the U.S. Women's Open include the top five money leaders on the KLPGA tour.

The numbers figure to keep growing, and the rest of the women's golf world needs to keep up.

"It's not about adjusting, it's about how you perform out here," said Jimin Kang, who was born in South Korea but attended high school in Seattle and college at Arizona State. "The LPGA is worldwide. It's for whoever can play the best out of the whole world. It's great to see all the Korean girls who are good enough to be on the tour."

For those coming over to play, the comfort level is much better than when Jang began competing in the United States.

"Right now, you can ask 49 or 50 players out here for help instead of one or two," said Jang, winner of the 2005 Women's British Open. "It's easier to learn from them. It's a lot easier than 10 years ago. It's more like family, more like a hometown golf tournament, more comfortable."

The latest wave from South Korea is one of blue-chip players. Jiyai Shin, 21, not only is running away with rookie of the year over competition such as Michelle Wie, but also is the points leader in the player-of-the-year chase over established stars such as Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr.

There is 21-year-old Inbee Park, the defending champion at this week's U.S. Women's Open, and 21-year-old In-Kyung Kim who, like Park, played in the United States in American Junior Golf Association tournaments and captured the U.S. Girls Junior championship.

With Pak, who touched off the Korean golf boom in 1998 with a spectacular LPGA rookie year, and the early players setting the tone and educating the next group of players on what to expect, the transition to a new culture had been made easier.

"It's like the first generation, second generation, and third generation," said Minsuhk Choi, writer for the JNA Golf News Agency of Seoul. "The first generation, like Se Ri and Mi Hyun, didn't have enough information about the LPGA. But now the third generation, they have that information."

Choi said at least one parent travels with most of the Korean players. They dine together, hang out together, and listen to music together. The support and work ethic are important reasons the players are so successful.

"It's the support that parents give to the players," Park said. "They're putting the most hours in on the driving range or the putting green compared to everybody else. They work very hard."

The tour was entangled in controversy last year when LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens demanded that Korean players become more proficient in English - to deal better with sponsors, pro-am partners, and the media - or be threatened with suspension. The resulting uproar prompted the pronouncement to be rescinded.

Choi, however, said that the Korean players "totally understood and agreed with" Bivens on the need to speak English, and that they have studied hard to learn the language.

"It's a different culture," he said. "Some Korean players are very shy and not comfortable speaking [English] in public. In Korean culture, we don't like to speak in public or in front of the media. We want to be perfect. If not, we're just afraid to say anything."

Regarding players seeking a grasp of the English language, Jang said, "They'd better be.

"We get a lot of help if someone doesn't speak English," she said. "We have tutors. It's a lot easier to learn than a couple of years ago."

Jang was referring to the LPGA's Cross-Cultural Professional Development Program, which helps players understand different languages and cultures. The program also tailors individual tutors to the needs of a player to help her for situations like pro-am events and media interviews.

The LPGA's Korean community also is helping out in the communities of the nation where they work.

Nearly two weeks ago, a group of 30 Korean players donated their time to the Ronald McDonald House of Northwest Ohio, cooking, cleaning, and doing yard work. They also took up a collection and made a contribution of more than $13,700.

"We talked and we wanted to do this," Jang said. "Everybody had a really great time."

After she won the Women's Open, Park donated $50,000 to LPGA/USGA Girls Golf to help it purchase golf clubs.

"We want to do more," Jang said. "We've always made money here. We have charities in Korea and we donate to them. But I think we should do more here to help them and share with them."

Eun-Hee Ji wins 2009 U.S. Women's Open

It took an even-par round of golf for Eun-Hee Ji to snatch the U.S. Women's Open crown from Candie Kung. What's more, she did it in dramatic fashion on the 72nd hole. Ji, 23, converted a 20-foot, lagging putt for birdie that left Kung, in the clubhouse, disappointed.

Ji won her first major shooting level-par 284, nipping Kung by one stroke. Cristie Kerr, who started the day in the lead, struggled to a 75. In-Kyung Kim, co-share of the lead until bogeying the 18th hole, tied Kerr at 2-over 286.

"I was extremely nervous before the last putt," said Ji through a translator. "I am still extremely nervous.

"I told myself the worst-case scenario is to go into a playoff. I was at ease and it went in."

Ji became the fourth Korean-born player to win in the last 11 years. She was the first woman to win in her second attempt since 1998, which incidentally was won by Korean Se Ri Pak.



When Ji birdied, she became the first player since Lauri Merten (1993) to win by one stroke with a birdie on the 72nd hole. When the ball dropped, she bear-hugged caddie Zac Austin.

Kung, the 2001 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champion, had been sequestered inside the clubhouse watching on TV. She held the lead for four holes down the stretch (Nos. 13-16). Kung capped off the 2-under 69 round with a par on No. 18. Never did she look at the scoreboard during the day.

"I did not know at all," said Kung when asked if she knew she had held the lead.

As much as the championship will be remembered for an exciting finish, ala Birdie Kim holing out from a bunker in 2005 on the 72nd hole, Kerr might one day recall this day when her putter betrayed her. She took 35 putts that left her bewildered. Kerr said she couldn't get comfortable with the green speeds.

Kerr had entered the round with a two-stroke margin on Ji. After her round Saturday, Kerr said she felt confident. And why not? Kerr has a mental toughness unlike many other players, and besides, she had the experience of having won a Women's Open crown on her side. However, she cited too many "mental errors" that led to her demise.

On the 16th hole, Kerr had positioned herself for a par. The 12-foot putt navigated the bumpy green, picking up speed. She eventually three-putted for bogey and could never catch Ji or Kung.

"It was a little disappointing," said Kerr. "I tried my heart out. I left it all out there today."

Ji receives the winner's prize of $585,000.
http://tinyurl.com/nkgm3t

http://www.uswomensopen.com/news/sundayrunningupdates.html

Se Ri Pak Inspires A Generation Of Golfers

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA
http://www.uswomensopen.com/news/pakinspires.html

The 1998 battle seems a long time ago, but it remains fresh in the minds of those who saw it and its repercussions are still being felt in a big way.

Eleven years ago this month, Korea’s Se Ri Pak, a poised professional, battled the pride of Timonium, Md., Jenny Chuasiriporn, a young amateur, for the U.S. Women's Open championship at Blackwolf Run, in Kohler, Wis.

The two met in a playoff. Head to head. Eighteen holes that became 20. Winner take all.

Chuasiriporn clinched her spot with a twisting 40-foot birdie putt that magically found the hole on the 72nd green. When the ball dropped, her eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her mouth.

Spectators, among them former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, went wild.

Moments later, Pak nearly pulled her tee shot into a water hazard on the same finishing hole. But Pak hit an expert iron shot and salvaged a matching 72-hole score of 290.

The next day, the two dueled in an 18-hole playoff that was extended to 20 holes before Pak gained the edge with a 15-footer for a birdie and the win.

It’s hard to overestimate just how important Pak’s victory was to the Korean fans.

Only the two competitors – Pak and Chuasiriporn – can know what their playoff was really like, but the 8,000 fans who came to watch that day raised the week’s total attendance to a record 123,000.

More important, however, all of Korea was watching, glued to their television screens in the early morning hours. And with them thousands of little girls, who began to idolize Pak.

Today, many of those little girls have grown up, and there are 36 Korean women playing in the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open at Saucon Valley Country Club. A handful are older than the age of 26, but most are in their late teens and early 20s, inspired by Pak's dramatic playoff victory.

Jiyai Shin, 21, is a winner on the LPGA tour and she was one of those little girls who watched Pak win the 1998 Women’s Open.

“It's amazing for me, because before Se Ri Pak won, I never know the sport of golf, and then Se Ri Pak won,” said Shin. “I watch it on TV. Oh, it looks like very interesting game. So after Se Ri Pak won, my friends, Inbee Park, many players started golf. She's our idol, actually.”

Park, 20, is the defending Women’s Open champion and when she won last year she became the youngest winner in history, just as Pak was in 1998. Park was mesmerized by Pak’s 1998 victory.

“I was very much inspired by Se Ri Pak,” said Park. “At that time, not just me, but a lot of young girls like me picked up golf and wanted to be like her. It was very early in the morning. I was half asleep.

“There were replays, a thousand times after that,” Park said. “I was able to watch it quite a few times. I liked what she did for the people in Korea. They were all happy with her and I think that’s what really inspired me. My dad…had been begging me to play golf two years before she won…After I watched that, it looked like very, very much fun and I really wanted to do it.”

Sometimes Pak is paired with her fellow countrywomen, occasions that mean so much to the young players.

“I’ve played a couple of times with her,” said Park of her rounds with her heroine. “It felt a little bit weird, because I never thought that I would actually be able to play with her in such a short period of time and be at the same level of competition. So, I felt very honored and I was very proud of myself that I actually made it all the way here.”

“The first couple of years it was a little bit of pressure,” Pak said, referring to the Korean youth movement on the LPGA. “If I was the one leading I needed to show them the right way to go. For some reason that’s kind of hard for me, but now it’s fun to watch them. They give me the energy because I’m still here practicing, playing, and when they see me they remember the long ago time that I was their age. Now it’s a fun time to hang out with them and I’m kind of friends with them.”

Now 31, Pak remains a contender on the LPGA tour. She finished second in the State Farm Classic a few weeks ago. She still bombs it out there and was 15th in driving distance this week, averaging slightly more than 260 yards off the tee. She was 5 over par after a first-round 76 at Saucon Valley, but struggled in the second round and seemed destined to miss the cut at 76-77-153.

But Pak is also thinking about her future, and beginning to make plans for life after competitive golf. In a year or so she plans to start her own golf academy in Korea. She wants to help young players such as Park and Shin, the players she inspired not so very long ago.

It’s a dream Pak has, but many of her dreams have already come true, as have the dreams of the hundreds of little girls who watched her win.

Rhonda Glenn is a manager of communications for the USGA. E-mail her with questions or comments at rglenn@usga.org

Jiyai Shin’s miracle in the making

Family Ties
By RANDALL MELL
Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/tour-insider/family-ties-30588/

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Jiyai Shin’s week is a miracle in the making.

No matter how the U.S. Women’s Open ends, the South Korean rookie is preparing to wrap her arms around a trophy as big as a dream.

Shin is scheduled to close on the purchase of her first home in Duluth, Ga., upon her return there after the championship.

The five-bedroom house is going to be more than her home alone. It’s going to allow her to bring her family together in the United States , a dream she’s had since she won her LPGA playing privileges late last year.

It’s a desire Shin believes is heavenly inspired.

Almost seven years ago, Shin’s mother, Song Suk Na, was killed when a garbage truck broadsided the car she was driving as she headed to a birthday party. Shin’s brother, Ji Hoon, 7 at the time, fractured his neck in the crash. Shin’s sister, Ji Won, 13 then, suffered fractures of her left shoulder and right leg.

Jiyai wasn’t in the car. She got the bad news while working on her game on a driving range with her father, Jae Suhp.

Shin’s brother and sister were so seriously injured, they spent nearly a year in a hospital recuperating. Shin spent the year with them, sleeping in the hospital on a cot, leaving for school and to practice her golf but always returning.

“My brother and sister were hurt badly, but losing our mother hurt even more,” Shin said.

Shin believes the way her career has flourished and allowed her to buy her American home is orchestrated by her mother.

“I think all the time she care for me upstairs, from upstairs all the time,” Shin said. “I fight for my mom, too.”

The competitive fight is impressive with Shin, at 21, already having claimed 28 victories around the world, five of them LPGA events, including last year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open. With her second LPGA title this season, the Wegmans LPGA two weeks ago, Shin overtook Lorena Ochoa in first place in the Rolex Player of the Year standings. She has a chance to join Nancy Lopez (1978) as the only players to be Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season.

Shin’s last title also moved her to No. 1 on the money list and No. 3 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She’s considered a rookie with her three LPGA titles last year coming as a non-member.

At 5-feet-1, with a compact build and swing, Shin has medium-range power but is noted for her remarkable accuracy.

Shin’s fairways-and-greens game suits a U.S. Women’s Open test, even though Saucon Valley Country Club is playing long at 6,740 yards. She and Ochoa are among the favorites this week.

“Jiyai’s always on the short grass,” said Dean Herden, Shin’s caddie.

Shin keeps a photo of her mother in her yardage book. Her brother and sister recovered from their injuries and are thriving in school in South Korea , where her father and his new wife take care of them. Her brother and sister flew to the SBS Open at Turtle Bay to watch Shin make her debut as an LPGA rookie.

“Jiyai speaks to them both almost every day,” Herden said. “They are very close.”

In Hawaii , Shin shared her dream of buying an American home, a place they could all be together when she’s playing in the United States .

“My brother was very excited,” Shin said. “He said he was going to learn English to be ready.”

Shin hopes to bring her brother over in November. Her sister may stay in South Korea to attend college.

Herden sees how the death of Shin’s mother affects the way Shin lives her life.

“I’m sure she hit rock bottom when all that happened,” Herden said. “Today, she’s so grateful for everything life brings her. I think it’s because of that experience. Even on the golf course, she never gets flustered.”

The U.S. Women’s Open promises to test that, but the outcome won’t affect the trophy she’s poised to claim, the home that will bring her family together.