My Say: So much for the alleged intimidation factor that Tiger has. LOLOL. And so much for that so-called win streak. However, the media will still say he has one because this wasn't an official PGA tour event. The media and Tiger fanatics will cling to any little thread to make excuses for him. And skipping the Tour Championship did such great things for Tiger's game for the 2007 season - Not. However, I'm sure his appearance on the Tonight Show during his break went a long way to honing his game. It's hard to call Tiger the #1 player in the world when he's lost to David Howell last year, lost to Yang Young-eun this year, sucked at the Ryder Cup - proves that the World Ranking Points system needs overhauled.
From: European PGA Tour Website
Korean Yang Young-eun upstaged the biggest names in world golf to win the HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in China, standing firm on athrilling final day against the combined challenges from Major Champions Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell.
A final round of three under par 69 gave Yang a winning 14 under par total of 274, two ahead of World Number One Woods, who battled bravely with a five under par 67 in his attempt to win a seventh successive strokeplay event but simply had too much ground to make up.
Campbell, in stark contrast to his third round 77, equalled the course record of 64 with some stunning golf to share third place but, like Woods, the 2005 US Open Champion had left himself with too much to do.
Overnight leader Goosen looked to have the title within his grasp when he birdied the second and third to pull two strokes clear but the Korean edged ahead with three birdies from the sixth and when Goosen bogeyed both the tenth and 11th holes, the Korean turned the screw with a birdie two on the 12th to move four strokes ahead. With winning line in sight, Yang could allow himself the luxury to two late bogeys and still claim the €655,883 first prize.
“This is such a big thing that's happening to me right now, such a big moment in my life right now, that it's really hard for me to explain in words how I feel right now,” said Yang.
“At the start of this week, I noticed that this tournament has a great field and if I were to win it, it would have been worth a lot of World Ranking points. So now that I've won, I expect to play a lot of tournaments. I want to play a lot of tournaments overseas, both Europe and the United States and Japan. I just want to be able to compete with the best players in the word, and I think this win has given me that chance.”
Woods got his challenge going with a burst of three birdies before the turn but his momentum faltered with a bogey on the 11th. Although he birdied three more coming home it was not enough.
“I had my chances,” said Woods. “Yesterday was the day, if I could have hung in there, I could have been a challenge for tournament today but I was too far back and Yang just went on and played some great holes. He just went off and it was basically out of reach, and I was just trying to get as many birdies as I can and maybe get second.”
Goosen’s challenge faltered over the back nine as he ran up four bogeys coming in to come home in 39 for a round of 73.
“On the back nine, I hit a couple of bad shots off the tee and didn't really give myself any birdie chances,” said the World Number Six. “I struggled with my swing out there so I didn't hit it as good as I would have liked to have hit it. Yang played very well, consistent. He made those good run of birdies there on. I hit a lot of good putts, just didn't make things.”
After the disappointment of a third round 77, Campbell roared back to life with stunning eight under par 64 to claim a share of third place, giving the New Zealander plenty of confidence going into his next run of three events.
“I basically said to myself just think positive,” he said. “That’s it really. Simple stuff. Yesterday I was unlucky on a lot of occasions with wind swirling around and gusting and blowing my putts off line, bad lies. I hope I have had all my bad luck for the year in one day.
“Today was completely different. Everything was great. Missed two fairways all day and hit it close. I believe if you fill your mind with positives thoughts it will help you perform well.”
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Marc Warren of Scotland claimed fifth place with a one under par 71 to finish on ten under par while Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and Paul Casey, three of the main protagonists during the 2006 season, also made strong starts to their 2007 campaigns in sharing sixth place on eight under par 280.
But it was Yang’s week and as a result Europe has a new Number One golfer with Yang immediately taking up the opportunity of European Tour Membership and going straight to the top of The 2007 European Tour Order of Merit.
No comments:
Post a Comment