Korean-Americans on LI take pride in Yang's victory
Photo credit: AP | Y.E. Yang, of South Korea, celebrates after winning the 91st PGA Championship at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009. Behind his Tiger Woods. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
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Photos: 2009 PGA Championship
As Kae Kang watched the final holes of the PGA Championship with her daughter Sunday, she felt it wasn't only Y.E. Yang who became the first Asian-born player to win a major - it was her daughter's victory, too.
"She was talking as if I was there, as if I was in Y.E.'s shoes and I was the one playing," said Kelly Shon, 17, a Korean-American golfer about to enter her senior year at Schreiber High School in Port Washington. "It was more special for my mom. She was really getting into it."
Shon, who had a top finish at an American Junior Golf Association event in Georgia in April, practiced at Eisenhower Golf Course on Sunday before going home and watching the finale of Yang's three-stroke win over Tiger Woods. Woods had never relinquished a 54-hole lead in 14 previous majors.
It was a special moment for Shon, who, like her parents, was born in South Korea. But the way golf has exploded all over Asia, she said, an Asian man winning a major "was bound to happen.''
"That was awesome," she said. "I thought for sure, actually, that Tiger was going to win, and I was hoping for a fight from Yang, that he'd put on some kind of a show. I'm thrilled that it was Y.E. If anyone had to guess that there was going to be a South Korean holding the trophy, everyone was going to say K.J. Choi."
Annie Park, 14, of Levittown, another Korean-American golfer who played in AJGA and USGA events this summer, caught the last three holes at her sister's apartment.
"After [Yang] made his birdie putt [on the 18th hole], I was just jumping up and down," she said. "Every person can do it, it's just who can do it the best. It gives me more confidence."
The scene at Middle Island Country Club may have been wilder. Course general manager Ed Jeung, whose father owns the course, and the head pro are Korean-American, as were about 20 percent of the 200 golfers on the course Sunday, in Jeung's estimation.
As players made the turn, many popped in and asked how Yang was doing. A group gathered around a flat-screen TV in the shop, near a framed picture of Woods on the wall.
"We were very excited; every time [Yang] missed a shot, we were cringing, because it's always nerve-wracking playing with Tiger," said Jeung, 23, a former varsity golfer at Tappan Zee High School in Rockland County. "But looking back at it, it just seemed like Tiger wasn't taking the risks. Yang was really going for it, trying to rip it off the tee."
Jeung said he expects Yang's win to bring even more attention to golf in South Korea. And in the pro shop, it won't be forgotten soon.
"Any Korean that steps in here will mention it," he said. "Or even non-Korean people; they'll say, 'Oh, congratulations.' "
