South Korea celebrates Yang victory

SEOUL, S. Korea – Celebrations erupted Monday for Yang Yong-eun, the little-known golfer who defeated Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship Sunday, as residents of his home island of Jeju hailed the first South Korean to claim one of golf’s major prizes.

Yang, 37, known in the United States as Y.E. Yang, grew up in a poor family on Jeju Island, a resort on the southern tip of South Korea. “We are setting up arches to decorate the island and making banners saying ‘Congratulations Yang Yong-eun on winning the PGA Championship,’” said Park Yong-nam, director for operations at Ora Country Club, where Yang played and coached in the 1990s.

Yang discovered golf when a family friend allowed him to work at a driving range. He taught himself how to play after picking up a club at the range.

Across golf-mad South Korea, his victory seemed likely to inspire national honors for Yang and even greater devotion to a game that became popular here only in the late 1980s.

On Jeju Island, the celebrating began with members of his family.

“I am ecstatic, and the feeling is indescribable,” said Yang’s brother, Yang Yong-hyuk. “All my parents could do was to shout and cheer. We are not tired at all after having spent all night watching television.

“I knew that my brother would win from Tiger Woods’s facial expression, because he had the sour face as if things were not working,” Yang Yong-hyuk said. “I know his winning face, and this time he did not have it.”

“My brother deserves the win because he worked so hard and on his own. He practiced and practiced until he got the shot right. He could not afford lessons, and all he could do was to teach by himself and practice until his shirt collars wore off,” he said.  (AP)