As the pros descended on Palm Beach, the big question last week had nothing to do with Tiger. By middle of the tournament, most people were asking, “Who the hell is Y.E. Yang?” Indeed, the feisty Korean has been in and out of most golfer’s focus for over a decade, debuting on the U.S. Tour in 1996, but by the weekend, he had staked a considerable lead. How did he get there? He played the course, not letting it play him, and by hitting ‘em straight. Yang put on a ball-hitting clinic, but as the announcers said, with his 4-stroke lead, he still had the Bear Trap, designed by the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus, to traverse. All that was at stake was Yang’s 1st PGA win, his biggest paycheck of his career, a 2-year tour exemption, and the status of being only the 2nd Korean player to win on the Tour.
The highlight of the weekend for me was watching the Bear himself sitting in with Johnny Miller, talking about The Trap. During his 1990 redesign of PGA National, he described, how he tweaked here, and added there to create what has become one of his signature stretches on the many golf courses he has built.
Yang extracted himself from The Trap, giving up 3 strokes of his 4 stroke lead, playing 18 in par for a one stroke win. Next weekend, Tiger returns for a duel with Doral. Yang will be there, too, courtesy of this weekend’s win, but I suspect, El Tigre will garner much more press.
Weather’s getting good, ground is drying up, time to get out and chase the little white ball!