Congratulations Y.E. Yang!

Congratulations to Y.E. Yang on his extraordinary accomplishment! The first Asian golfer to win a PGA major.

This was big enough news for the President of South Korea to wake up before dawn to watch the tournament. President Lee Myung-bak personally called Yang to congratulate him. Keeping true to his Korean heritage, he said, “I feel energetic only when I eat soybean paste soup and kimchi soup that my wife cooks.”  In the final round, his wife Park Joo-Yeong came to the golf course to give him an all white outfit to fend off Tiger Woods, who is usually adorned in red. In Korean culture, red is the color of passion.

Y.E. Yang (pronounced like “yawng,” not like “ying-yang”), full name Yang Yong-eun, is a 37 year-old South Korean golfer who currently resides in Dallas, Texas.  Yesterday, he won the PGA Championship finishing -8, while Tiger Woods finished -5. Woods blamed his loss on his lackluster putting.

Asian women (mostly South Korean) dominate the LPGA, but this is the first time a male Asian golfer has won a PGA major.  This was a particularly tremendous feat considering his opponent record, Tiger Woods, was 14-0 leading in the final round of a championship.  Tiger has never before in his professional career lost when leading with at least a one shot lead in an American golf tournament.

Not only that, Yang was nine months fresh out of Q-school before defeating the #1 golfer in the world. Q-school is the PGA Tour qualifying school. The only other golfer to win the PGA Championship within a year of Qualifying School was John Daly in 1991.

For those of you who live in Korea or have visited Korea, or anywhere in Asia for that matter, understand how big golf is. When you visit Korea, especially, every other Korean traveler in the airport is pushing around their suitcase – along with their golf clubs.

Although golf is extremely expensive in Korea it remains popular. Just in my modest neighborhood, there are 3 golf ranges within 4 blocks.  A round of golf in Korea will set you back at least $200 USD, which is why I am limited to hitting balls at Home Plus.

His current sponsor, Taylor-Made, just hit jackpot. Watch the endorsements rolling in. His agent probably has a few calls to return right now.