New Game, New Thinking: Y.E. Yang profile

text size

Editor's note: As part of the New Game, New Thinking series, Y.E. Yang, one of 25 rookies on the PGA TOUR this season, recently spent some time with PGATOUR.com freelance writer Rudy Klancnik:

Y.E. Yang's rookie season will go down as a year of discovery. He found a new swing, a new swing coach, a new culture and many new challenges, not the least of which was a language barrier that he continues to work through.

PGATOUR.COM: When did you feel that the PGA TOUR was within your grasp last year?

Y.E. YANG: Before coming to the U.S., when playing in Asia, I didn't think I had a chance to play on the PGA TOUR. But after I started winning in Japan, I slowly thought about moving on to the U.S., thinking maybe, "I can do it." Winning the HSBC Champions in 2006 was the turning point in my career, and I gained confidence about my game and made the decision to try for the PGA TOUR. The process wasn't easy, as I had to go through q-schools, invites and more q-schools, but I was able to make it according to my plans.

PGATOUR.COM: There are tough adjustments for American-born players who reach this level. For a foreign player who has yet to master the language, I would imagine that would be 10-fold.

YANG: Language was difficult, learning new courses and having to adjust to new greens gave me the putting woes. The tournaments I played before in Japan and Asia mainly were Bentgrass greens, but here in the U.S., you have Bermuda greens and other different types of greens to adjust to. That was the hardest adjustment I had to make.

PGATOUR.COM: You didn't put together the season you probably expected, but you must take away some positives about your rookie season.

YANG: The positives I take from this year is that I was able to find a new swing. My golf swing before and my swing now is different. Earlier this year when I started out playing on the PGA TOUR, I didn't have much success, missing seven cuts in a row, because I was playing with a swing not suited to playing out here.

My swing plane was flat, ball flight was low, with not much spin. But then I was introduced to my current coach, Brian Mogg, based out of Orlando. It was the first time in my golfing career that I had ever worked with a coach.

He didn't want to change too much, as I was in a middle of a tournament, but pointed out a few things where I was doing wrong. From that point on, I practiced on my own for 3-4 months.

It has gotten a lot better, and I'm still working on it but I feel like it will help me with my career in the long run. Although I may not have secured my card just yet, I have new-born confidence in my swing and feel I can play better now.

PGATOUR.COM: If I followed you for four rounds, what would I see from you game?

YANG: I'm a very aggressive player and I like to be challenged. When I'm good, I'm good. That means when I'm on a roll, I can really get it going. But unfortunately, [the] most part of this year, you wouldn't have noticed that about me from watching me play because I couldn't really get anything going.

I feel like my talents were hidden this year because there weren't many times I played well. But lately, I feel like I'm on the right track and for example, like last week at Fry's.com Open, I had couple good rounds where I went really low. That's what I am talking about when I say I can get it going.

PGATOUR.COM: And off the course, say when you're not on the range or practice green, what does Y.E. Yang like to do?

YANG: I'm really a laid-back type of a guy, like to spending time with my family, watching TV with my kids, going fishing, hanging out with good people, you know normal things like that.

PGATOUR.COM: In learning the language, did any of your playing partners -- pros or amateurs in pro-ams -- teach you any new colorful adjectives and nouns?

YANG: I didn't play in a lot of pro-ams this year, but what I noticed about living in the U.S. was that you can easily start up conversations, even amongst strangers. In Korea, people don't really say hi to people they don't know, but here I was surprised to see that people say hi to strangers all the time and say thank you all the time.

For instance, I was in an elevator once and two strangers just started to talk as if they were good friends. In Korea, people are more introverted and just go about doing their business.

PGATOUR.COM: From the looks of things, it appears that your TOUR card isn't in the cards for next year just yet. What's next for Y.E. Yang?

YANG: My plan is to go to q-school, and if that fails, I still have playing status in Japan, Europe and Korea so I would go play tournaments there.

In order for me to get to the next level in my game, I need to first get comfortable with my new swing, correct the bad parts about my swing, be mentally stronger in order to survive the tough competitive level out on the PGA TOUR.

I also need to improve on my 30-70 yard approach shots to give myself a chance to score and make easier putts.

PGATOUR.COM: What lessons -- from a mental standpoint -- will you consider the most important?

YANG: The biggest difference on the TOUR is probably the competition level. In the U.S., the best players around the world come together to play, so the competitive level is a lot deeper. If I make even the smallest mistakes, I have to work harder to make up for it, so the competition is really tight. In Asia, although it is competitive, not as much as on the PGA TOUR, so I don't feel as much pressure as I do out here.

PGATOUR.COM: Are there golfers from your childhood that you've tried to emulate?

YANG: I used to watch Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus videos. I remember thinking to myself, "I wanted to have their swings."