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Yang Yong-eun
Professional golfer

Yang Yong-eun

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
Professional golfer
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Jeju, South Korea
Age
52 years
Stats
Height:
177
Weight:
88
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Yang Yong-eun (Korean: 양용은, pronounced [jaŋ joŋ ɯn]; born 15 January 1972), or Y. E. Yang, is a South Korean professional golfer currently playing on the PGA Tour, where he has won twice, including most notably the 2009 PGA Championship where he came from behind to defeat Tiger Woods. He is the only Asian-born man to have won a major championship.

Professional career

In 2006 he won the Korea Open, an Asian Tour event, gaining him entry into the HSBC Champions Tournament in November 2006. He won the tournament, beating a strong field including runner-up Tiger Woods. The victory earned him membership of the European Tour and moved him into the top 40 of the Official World Golf Ranking. In 2008 he played on the PGA Tour after earning his card through qualifying school; he had to regain his tour card in 2009 after placing 157th on the money list in 2008. Yang won his first title on the PGA Tour at the 2009 Honda Classic in his 46th career start in the United States. With this win, he became only the second Korean after K. J. Choi to win on the PGA Tour.

On 16 August 2009, Yang won the 91st PGA Championship, his first major championship, overcoming a two-shot deficit going into the final round to finish three strokes ahead of Woods, his playing partner. The victory was the first major championship for a male player born in Asia, surpassing the runners-up finishes achieved by Lu Liang-Huan in the 1971 Open Championship, Isao Aoki in the 1980 U.S. Open and Chen Tze-chung in the 1985 U.S. Open. The previous best finish by a Korean was Choi's 3rd place in the 2004 Masters Tournament. It was also the first time that Woods had failed to win a major after holding at least a share of the lead at the end of 54 holes. Yang was ranked 110th worldwide prior to the tournament, but moved up to 34th after the victory. The win earned Yang a five-year PGA Tour exemption and helped him to a top ten finish overall on the PGA Tour.

In April 2010, Yang won the Volvo China Open with a one-under-par 71 final round.

In February 2011, Yang had his best run at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship reaching the quarter-finals before eventually succumbing to American Matt Kuchar, 2 & 1. Previously Yang had defeated Álvaro Quirós on the 20th hole in round one, Stewart Cink, 4 & 3, in round two and the 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell in round three, 3 & 2.

The following week Yang was in contention for his 3rd PGA Tour title at The Honda Classic, an event where he had earned his inaugural PGA Tour win in 2009. Despite entering the final round five strokes behind the eventual winner Rory Sabbatini, he was able to close the gap to just one stroke by birdieing the par-three 15th, where he was 18 inches away from a hole in one. However, needing an eagle on the par-five 18th after Sabbatini had stretched his lead to two with a birdie on the par-four 16th, he was unable to hole his bunker shot and a birdie earned him a runner-up finish one stroke behind the winner.

Yang reached a career high OWGR ranking of 19th in 2010, but a string of bad finishes and missed cuts in 2013 and 2014 plummeted the former major winner to 638th at the end of 2014, the final year of his PGA Tour exemption after winning the 2009 PGA Championship. A poor 2014 saw Yang finish well outside the top 150 in the FedEx Cup, which limited him to the Past Champions category for 2015. Yang spent much of 2015 playing on the European Tour and Asian Tour. 2015 saw a resurgence for Yang, making the cut at the PGA Championship for the first time in multiple years. Yang moved up to 262nd in the world by November 2015.

After a poor 2016 European Tour season where he finished outside 110th, Yang regained his Tour card through Q School.

Personal life

Yang was born in the island province of Jeju-do. He is the fourth of eight children. He started to play golf at the age of 19 while picking golf balls part-time and, later, working as a golf instructor at Jeju's Ora Country Club. Yang learned by watching the movements of players who visited his golf club. Although he now has teaching coaches, Yang is a self-taught golfer. His brother recommended he try hitting balls at a local driving range. Trying to get a 'proper job', Yang fell down a flight of stairs and tore his ACL while he was learning to use an excavator for a construction company. After recovering from his knee injury, he began mandatory service in the South Korean military at the age of 21.

On conclusion of his service, he moved to New Zealand, where he pursued a professional career in golf. He turned semi-pro on 21 July 1995 and pro on 22 August 1996. Yang is married to Young-Joo Park and has three sons. He is an active owner of an indoor golf range in the Koreatown section of Dallas. He currently resides in Southlake, Texas, near fellow South Korean PGA player K. J. Choi.

Professional wins (11)

PGA Tour wins (2)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (1)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of victoryRunner-up
18 Mar 2009Honda Classic−9 (68-65-70-68=271)1 strokeUnited States John Rollins
216 Aug 2009PGA Championship−8 (73-70-67-70=280)3 strokesUnited States Tiger Woods

European Tour wins (3)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other European Tour (2)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
112 Nov 2006
(2007 season)
HSBC Champions
(co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour)
−14 (66-72-67-69=274)2 strokesUnited States Tiger Woods
216 Aug 2009PGA Championship−8 (73-70-67-70=280)3 strokesUnited States Tiger Woods
318 Apr 2010Volvo China Open−15 (68-66-68-71=273)2 strokesWales Rhys Davies, Wales Stephen Dodd

Japan Golf Tour wins (5)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other Japan Tour (4)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of victoryRunner(s)-up
18 Aug 2004Sun Chlorella Classic−13 (67-70-69-69=275)3 strokesNew Zealand David Smail, Taiwan Yeh Wei-tze
27 Nov 2004Asahi-Ryokuken Yomiuri Memorial−17 (69-78-69-65=271)2 strokesJapan Shingo Katayama
39 Oct 2005Coca-Cola Tokai Classic−18 (66-72-65-67=270)4 strokesJapan Taichi Teshima
410 Sep 2006Suntory Open−14 (67-68-68-63=266)6 strokesJapan Hidemasa Hoshino, Japan Toru Taniguchi
516 Aug 2009PGA Championship−8 (73-70-67-70=280)3 strokesUnited States Tiger Woods

Asian Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of victoryRunner-up
124 Sep 2006Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open−14 (65-67-68-70=270)3 strokesSouth Korea Kang Ji-man
212 Nov 2006HSBC Champions
(co-sanctioned with the European Tour)
−14 (66-72-67-69=274)2 strokesUnited States Tiger Woods

OneAsia Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner-up
118 Apr 2010Volvo China Open
(co-sanctioned with the European Tour)
−15 (68-66-68-71=273)2 strokesWales Rhys Davies, Wales Stephen Dodd
210 Oct 2010Kolon Korea Open−4 (74-71-69-66=280)2 strokesSouth Korea Choi Ho-sung, South Korea Kim Bi-o

Korean Tour wins (3)

  • 2002 SBS Championship
  • 2006 Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open (co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour)
  • 2010 Kolon Korea Open (co-sanctioned with the OneAsia Tour)

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
2009PGA Championship2 shot deficit−8 (73-70-67-70=280)3 strokesUnited States Tiger Woods

Results timeline

Tournament2005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017
Masters TournamentT30CUTT8T20T57CUTCUT
U.S. OpenCUTCUTT3CUTCUTCUT
The Open ChampionshipCUTCUTT60T16CUTT32CUT
PGA ChampionshipT47CUT1CUTT69T36CUTCUTT48CUTCUT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00001274
U.S. Open00111161
The Open Championship00000173
PGA Championship100111115
Totals1012353113
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2011 Masters – 2012 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2009 PGA – 2010 Masters)

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament200420052006200720082009201020112012
Accenture Match Play ChampionshipDNPDNPDNPR64DNPDNPR32QFR32
Cadillac Championship64DNPDNPT65DNP74T30T3959
Bridgestone InvitationalDNPDNPDNPT56DNPT19T46T53T36
HSBC ChampionsT33T51DNPDNP
  • DNP = Did not play
  • QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
  • "T" = tied
  • Yellow background for top-10.
  • Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Professional

  • Royal Trophy (representing Asia): 2007, 2012 (winners)
  • Presidents Cup (International team): 2009, 2011
  • World Cup (representing South Korea): 2009
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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