Oh my!  Those two words became the phrase of the day, first uttered after Tiger Woods missed a six foot birdie putt on the first hole of the final round of the PGA Championship.  I had just said, "here he goes" after the second shot on the first hole.  No way he misses that putt.  Miss he did.  I repeated myself after the miss on number two; Oh my!  Y.E Yang pretended not to notice.  I bet he was as surprised as the rest of us, even saying a few oh my’s to himself.  I kept wondering when the real Tiger Woods would stand up and begin thrashing the one hundred and tenth ranked player in the world. When will Mr. Yang begin playing like the one hundred tenth ranked player in the world is supposed to play in the final group in the final round of the years final major?  Neither happened.  I kept muttering "Oh my". 

Mr. Woods missed every putt of import, save one birdie on the 14th hole, appearing surprised and befuddled by some of the breaks hidden on the greens. All together he had seven misses inside ten feet for birdie and a couple for par.  I don’t remember ever seeing him gesture so many times after a miss that the ball should have gone the other direction.  He almost appeared, dare I say, human on the greens, because of his bafflement.  Those reactions are replayed on courses all over the world every day by golfers of all statures.  They are new one’s in the game of the best player in the world. 

Mr. Yang is one of the few to play in the final group with Mr. Woods with the "deer in the headlights" look frozen on his face.  He never appeared to be out of sorts, breathing normally and smiling frequently.  Well, except for the 17th green, where he left his first putt woefully short.  His reaction seemed to say "what the heck was that?" complete with wry smile.  The second putt was even worse, and it became conceivable that the wheels would finally come of the bus.  I have been so conditioned to that result over the years of Mr. Woods’ dominance that for a player to pull things back together always surprises me.  Think Bob May and Rocco Mediate, two other guys who gave Mr. Woods all he could handle for more than seventy two holes. 

With the chip in eagle on the 14th hole, Mr. Yang laid the pressure squarely on top of Mr. Woods broad shoulders.  Something to which the normal Woodsian response is to hit an iron shot impossible close to the hole.  I thought he had done so on the 17th hole but his tee shot was just a fraction long, taking a hard bounce forward off the green into the deep rough behind the flag.  On greens that did not give up a hard bounce all day, that one seemed particularly cruel.  After a flubbed chip and another missed putt led to bogey,  Mr. Yang began his three putt adventure to a matching bogey. The 18th hole brought a highlight reel shot from Mr. Yang.  A 3 hybrid from 206 yards, hooked around a tree that stopped eight feet from the hole.  When the ball hit the green it sounded like a hammer driving the final nail home.  Mr. Woods still had a shot at making up the single stroke between them, but his iron into the green was less than a yard wide in the long rough pin high.  Needing to chip in to put the pressure on Mr. Yang, his chip shot missed the hole and ran past to the left. The eight foot birdie putt that rolled into the center of the hole gave Mr. Yang to victory and a couple of firsts.  First Asian born player to win a Major Championship; first player to come from behind in the final round of a major and beat Mr. Woods.  And the first winner to press his entire golf bag over his head after winning a major.  Very very cool stuff. 

Here’s the quote of the week: “This might be my last win as a golfer,” Yang said. “But it sure is a great day.”  Amen to that.  Congratulations to Mr.Yang.  He deserves this victory and the adoration of his nation.  It truly was a great day!

On another note, I feel terrible for Padraig Harrington.  To take a second 8 in two weeks on the same kind of blown pitch shot is disheartening.  I just have to shake my head.  Stupid game.  It does this kind of hoo haa to all of us at one time or another.  Even those who have won three majors.  Sigh.

Now it will start, all the talking heads, chat rooms, water cooler discussions, and 19th hole discourses about the end of Tiger Woods domination of golf.  The guy is losing it at the age of 33.  All those putts that fell all those years as an amatuer and professional will start missing the hole.  Watch and listen.  He’s fourteen months removed from major knee surgery.  He’s only won five times this year including two of the last three weeks.  He missed his second (that be number 2, two) cut in a major in his career.  The other three majors he was in contention but didn’t putt very well and yet he could have won them all.  Oh that sounds just about the end of the line to me,  perhaps he should just hang it up and take up wine making.  Give me a break.  Give him eight months more on that recovery thing, and eight months more to practice, which I believe is something he’ll probably do, and next year he could just as easily win only four events, but all four of them would be majors. Listen and wait.  It’s what I’ll do, and by March I’ll be anxious to watch and see what happens.