Yang plays underdog role perfectly at Hazeltine

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Y.E. Yang celebrates after defeating Tiger Woods to win the PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

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Everybody knew it had to happen sooner or later. And there was a suspicion that the person to do it wouldn't be one of the marquee names, that a relative unknown with few, if any, expectations might be better armed to pull it off.

Tiger Woods had been 14-0 in major championships holding the 54-hole lead and he led the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National in August by two shots with 18 holes remaining. Game, set, match. Right?

This time, wrong. Y.E. Yang rewrote the script. At the 91st PGA Championship, the 37-year-old Korean became the first Asian-born winner of a major championship and became the man -- that unknown golfer -- to take down Woods.

Certainly, Yang knew what was at stake but he also knew the level of expectations that awaited his Sunday pairing in the final group with Woods. "Nobody's going to be really disappointed that I lose," Yang said Saturday night.

Not even Yang. It reminded me of a quote from the 1991 U.S. Senior Open when Chi Chi Rodriguez and Jack Nicklaus engaged in an 18-hole playoff. "I'm a little mouse," Rodriguez said. "What chance do I have against a big bear?" And the Bear won the playoff on that occasion.

This time, Yang played the role of underdog perfectly. He hung around long enough to send Woods a clear message that this time it might very well be different for the world's best player and, in the end, Yang pulled off the improbable.

Two shots -- two images -- told the story of Yang's victory better than words ever could.

The first came at the 301-yard 14th hole, a reachable par 4. Yang ran in a 50-foot chip shot for eagle to go 1 up with four holes to play. That's what Woods has always done in these situations. The unexpected. And he did it with stunning regularity and impeccable timing. Woods saved the best, the most dramatic, for exactly the moment that it would have the greatest impact.

At Hazeltine, though, Yang turned the tables. He put Woods on the defensive with his own shot-making wizardry.

The next stunning display from Yang came at the long, par-4 18th hole. Woods drove perfectly down the right side of the fairway for an ideal look at the flagstick located on the left side of the green. Yang drove into the fairway but left, behind a large tree. Yang had 210 yards to the hole and carved a soaring hybrid around the tree, and momentarily out of sight. When the ball reappeared, it was homing in on the pin and stopping 10 feet from the hole.

Another shot for the ages from Yang, who earlier in the year won The Honda Classic.

Before Yang could putt out on the 72nd hole for birdie, a closing 70 and 8-under-par 280 winning total, Woods had a chip shot for birdie from the right side of the green.

"I've seen highlights (of) Tiger making some miraculous shots," Yang said through an interpreter. "I was sort of praying it wouldn't go in."

Not this time. The winning shots at Hazeltine National belonged to Yang.

Vartan Kupelian, a PGATOUR.COM columnist, is the president of the Golf Writers Association of America.