Yang redefines his career with big Honda victory

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After clinching his breakthrough victory, Y.E. Yang celebrated by high-fiving with the gallery.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- There are worse ways to be known as than "the guy who once beat Tiger Woods in a tournament."

But Y.E. Yang further defined himself Sunday when he won The Honda Classic at PGA National by a shot over John Rollins, thus becoming just the second South Korean golfer to lift a trophy on the PGA TOUR.

You wonder how much it meant to Yang? No translation needed: He couldn't get off the green before he was overcome by emotions as he hugged caddie A.J. Montecinos and his agent, Michael Yim.

Then Yang did a Hale Irwin -- running to the gallery to start high-fiving the fans around the 18th green.

"This is the biggest thing I've done in my career," a more subdued Yang said about an hour later. "This surpasses beating Tiger. The reason I started clapping hands was I was so relieved to finally win and I wanted to thank them for supporting me."

Yang joins K.J. Choi as the only South Koreans to win on the PGA TOUR (Choi has seven wins). Sunday's win earns Yang a two-year exemption -- a nice perk for a 37-year-old who's been forced to go to q-school the last two years to keep his playing privileges -- as well as 500 FedExCup points and a spot in a little tournament next month in Augusta, Ga., for the second time in his career.

Yang entered The Honda Classic ranked 460th in the world, but that number doesn't do justice to his career. This is his eighth career win as a pro, none more important than when he beat Woods by two shots at the HSBC Champions in China in late 2006.

That victory vaulted Yang into the No. 33 spot in the world rankings, earning him a two-year exemption onto the European Tour and, more importantly, a spot in the 2007 Masters.

Yang finished a more-than-respectable 30th at Augusta National. But instead of that performance inspiring him, it had the opposite effect. He was like: OK, what do I do now?

"After that, I guess I sort of lost a sense of a goal, a purpose," Yang said. "And my golf has not been the same since then. But I'm a different golfer now. To be able to play in the Masters again this year, I think it will take my golf to another level, and I'll be able to pursue another dream."

While South Koreans have dominated women's golf the last five years on the LPGA Tour, the men have lagged behind. Besides Choi, there are only two other South Koreans on the PGA TOUR: Charlie Wi (who finished tied for ninth place Sunday) and Kevin Na.

Yang believes the reason why the Korean women have enjoyed far more success in golf than the men is simple: Their culture.

"First of all, Korean men have to serve (in the) military for two years," said Yang, who was a gun-toting naval guard for 18 months, starting when he was 19. "So at the prime of your golfing career ... to be taken away to military and not playing golf for two years, I think it takes you out of the routine, the feel that you had about the game. Definitely that's the biggest issue."

Another factor is the Korean men have not had a role model to emulate for as long as the women. When Se Ri Pak won the 1998 U.S. Women's Open, it spawned a generation of South Korean girls playing golf that includes recent major winners such as Inbee Park, Ji-Yai Shin and Grace Park. Choi's first PGA TOUR win came less than seven years ago.

That explains why Yang didn't even pick up the game until he was 19, not long before his military call, when a friend suggested they spend some time at a driving range.

So Yang was spotting Woods only about 17 years of golf development.

Yang said he didn't know for several years there was such a thing as a touring pro. But he was so committed to becoming a better player, he practically lived in a broom closet at the range. Of course, Yang was fortunate to find a range in Korea, with land being such a premium. Even now, Yang says, most courses in his homeland lack a driving range and most professional golfers are forced to practice by hitting off artificial mats.

Being a Korean in an American world has its complications, beyond the different grass, language and food choices. But his caddy, Montecinois, says the culture barrier is lessened inside the ropes.

"I actually do less for him" than he does for American players," Montecinois said. "I always give him yardages by saying "148 edgy" (to the edge of the green) and then the distance to the hole.

"What he does a lot when he's about to hit the shot, he'll look at me and say, 'What thinking?' I just love that."

Wi said Yang's win "will be huge" back in South Korea. "This is a great thing," Wi said.

It didn't come easy. Yang was four shots ahead after he birdied the 12th hole. But he played safe and made bogeys on the par-3 15th and 17th holes in the Bear Trap, and the lead was reduced to one when Rollins birdied the par-5 18th.

Yang continued to play safe by laying up with his second shot at the closing hole, but after his wedge landed 50 feet away, he was faced with a dicey two-putt par for the victory-clinching par.

"That was an intimidating putt," he said. But Yang looked cool, cozying his birdie try to within tap-in distance to complete a 2-under 68 that left him at 9-under 271. Yang admitted afterward he almost lost the mental battle.

"Those last four holes seemed longer than my career," he said.

And now, with this win, he once again can tee it up with Woods in this week's World Golf Championships-CA Championship at Doral Resort & Spa in Miami. Asked about that irony, he smiled.

"It's always an honor to play with Tiger in the field," Yang said.

Of course, that's what he was thinking.