“I’m even happier to have finally beaten a legendary player.”
‘Son of the Wind’ Yang Yong-eun (52) defeated senior legend Bernhard Langer (67, Germany) in an extension to win his first US PGA Tour Champions title.
Yang Yong-eun reduced his score by 5 strokes with 1 eagle, 4 birdies, and 1 bogey in the final 3rd round of the Ascension Charity Classic held at the Norwood Hills Golf Course (par 71) in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on the 9th. Yang, who tied with Langer with a final total of 13-under 200, kissed the winner’s trophy by making a birdie on the first hole of the extension on the 18th hole (par 4) and beating Langer, who made par. The winner’s prize money is 315,000 dollars (approximately 420 million won). This is the second PGA Tour Champions win by a Korean player, following Choi K.-ju (54), who won the Pure Insurance Championship in September 2021 and The Senior Open in July this year.
Yang Yong-eun, who has been playing in the PGA Tour Champions since 2022 when he turned 50, has participated in 71 tournaments until last week, and has been runner-up twice and third three times, but has not been able to overcome the final hurdle. However, in this tournament, which was the 72nd tournament, he shook off the persistent pursuit of the legendary star Langer and reported a pleasant first win. Langer holds the record for the most wins (46 wins) and the oldest winner (65 years, 10 months, and 5 days) in the PGA Tour Champions.
In 2009, while playing on the PGA Tour, Yang Yong-eun won the PGA Championship, a major tournament, by coming from behind to defeat ‘Emperor of Golf’ Tiger Woods (49, USA), becoming the first Asian player to win the PGA Championship. With this win, Yang reaffirmed his reputation as a ‘legend killer’.
Yang Yong-eun said, “I played a few rounds with Langer since coming to the Senior Tour, but this was my first time playing with him in the Champions Group, so I was nervous,” and added, “Watching Langer shoot 7-under par at the age of 67, I thought, ‘He’s not a legend for nothing. ’ He didn’t play for about two months due to an Achilles injury at the beginning of this season, but his skills were still good.” He said, “Langer played so well from the beginning that I thought winning was out of the question, but I quickly pulled myself together and focused on my play,” and expressed his joy, saying, “This is the best day I’ve had in the three years I’ve been playing on the PGA Tour Champions.”
As Yang Yong-eun said, the road to victory that day was not easy. Yang Yong-eun, who started the final round with Stewart Cink (51, USA) at 8-under par, made consecutive birdies on the 1st hole (par 4) and 2nd hole (par 5). Although he lost a stroke on the 7th hole (par 3), he immediately made an eagle on the 8th hole (par 5) to maintain the lead. Yang Yong-eun added two birdies in the latter half to finish the game with 13-under par as the sole leader, but Langer reduced his strokes by 7 strokes to tie the score. After Langer missed a 3-meter birdie putt on the first hole of the extension, Yang Yong-eun made a 2-meter birdie putt to end the long match.
At the press conference for the victory that day, there was talk that it was similar to when he beat Woods 15 years ago. Yang Yong-eun responded, “It feels different to beat a legend after such a long time. Above all, I’m happy to have beaten the player who has won the most on the Champions Tour.”
Yang Yong-eun, who weighed 90 kg when he played on the PGA Tour, now maintains his weight at 82-83 kg through diet and physical training. He also does not eat fried foods or carbonated drinks. Yang Yong-eun said with a laugh, “Langer is called the embodiment of self-management. I want to play until I’m 60 while maintaining my body like Langer. But I’m not sure if I can play like Langer at 67.”
Reporter Lee Heon-jae [email protected]
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2024-09-11 05:06:29