CHASKA, Minn. — Tiger Woods missed eight putts that our old pal Garth Collings would have made blindfolded in the Manitoba Amateur. As a result, Y.E. Yang won the 91st PGA Championship yesterday.
Yang played tremendous golf yesterday, fired a two-under par 70 and beat Woods by five — head-to-head, no less — to claim his first major championship and the second PGA Tour win of his career. Woods, who putted like it was Senior Two-Ball night at the local nine-hole muni, was spectacular from tee-to-green but absolutely horrendous with the flat stick. It was one of the worst putting performances in his career.
Woods was 14-for-14 in majors when leading after 54 holes. Now he’s 14-for-15 because he took a shocking 33 putts. As David Feherty has often said, “You drive for dough and putt for more dough,” and on this day, Tiger hit it like a god and putted it like an old man with the shakes. He was remarkably un-Tiger-like on the greens.
Yang, meanwhile, was terrific on one of the toughest golf courses I’ve ever seen. He hit his drives long and straight and his irons right on the nose. 70 was the low score yesterday, but as good as Tiger hit it, if you can’t putt it at Hazeltine National Golf Club, you can’t tame it.
Y.E. Yang, 2009 PGA Champion. Who’d have thought?
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