The Yin and the Yang: Woods Choked

CHASKA, Minn. -- His Sunday shirt is red, of course, as in the blood he usually extracts from his rivals. But this time, the blood sprayed all over Tiger Woods, staining him in ways we'd never observed in the final round of a major championship. He missed makeable putts. He hit tee shots into bunkers, off trees, into galleries. He cursed and talked to the golf ball and, in a revealing snapshot, leaned over and placed his hands on his knees, looking as desperate and exasperated as we've seen him.

"I did everything I was supposed to do,'' he said, "except get the golf ball in the hole.''

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It was the moment that couldn't happen, the day Woods relinquished a 54-hole lead in a major, the one place in time when the greatest golfer of his generation -- prepare yourself for what I'm about to drop here -- CHOKED AWAY the 91st PGA Championship and let a hungrier, more focused, more composed golfer kick the stuffing out of him. His failure led to an epic milestone in the sport's history, the rise of Yong-Eun Yang as the first Asian-born player to win a major, with his native South Korea quivering in euphoric pride upon learning that their self-described "Average Joe,'' in an all-white outfit that smacked of a '70s disco king, outdueled the great Woods at Hazeltine National.

I'm not sure which was more shocking: the sight of Woods fumbling his 15th major title, which still leaves him four behind Jack Nicklaus as his 34th birthday nears, or the way Yang rolled in a chip from 20 yards short of the green on No. 14, pumped his fist repeatedly as Tiger would, took a one-stroke lead and never let it go as thousands of Minnesotans roared in disbelief. "I tried to do my best Tiger imitation there, but then I quickly tried to catch my emotions,'' Yang said through an interpreter. This may not have carried the social significance of the Miracle on Ice, but as sports upsets go, this was Buster Douglas whipping Mike Tyson, Appalachian State beating Michigan, Villanova beating Georgetown, the Giants beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl two years ago, Joe Willie Namath and the Jets beating the Colts in the Super Bowl 40 years ago. We've waited for someone, anyone, to hijack a major from Woods' grasp, watching the veteran likes of Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els and younger players such as Sergio Garcia try and flop miserably. Who knew that upstart would be the 37-year-old Yang, ranked 110th in the world, winner of one PGA Tour event to Woods' 70, a man who didn't take up golf until he was 19 and served in the Korean Army before plunging seriously into the game? Who knew he would survive when even Padraig Harrington, the would-be challenger for Tiger, collapsed with a quintuple-bogey on No. 8?


The Yin and the Yang of it is that the blueprint for slaying Woods in a major now has been written. If someone can come out of nowhere to do it, imagine the hope it provides dozens of golfers who'd given up on the possibility. While we'd be foolish to suggest Tiger now will struggle to beat Nicklaus' record, what became clear Sunday is that it stands to be a more difficult task than we thought. He will have to fight through a rebuilt knee. He'll have to tackle other health issues, such as his back, in his golfing mid-life. And now, in a first, he might have to deal with self-doubt, which could creep in after shooting an ugly 75 and letting an inferior player leapfrog him and beat him by three strokes. Once, when he was in his indomitable prime and not struggling with facets of his game after reconstructive knee surgery, he'd grab a fourth-round lead and choke it to death.

This time, he just choked.

"I made absolutely nothing,'' said Woods, minutes after watching Yang nail his winning birdie putt on No. 18 and letting a smirk cross his face. "It was a terrible day on the greens, and I had it at the wrong time. I either misread the putt or had bad putts. I had plenty of looks. All the other 14 major championships I've won, I've putted well for the entire week. I didn't today. I mean, I was in control of the tournament. So it was just a bad day at the wrong time. I didn't execute, and he certainly did.''

Indeed, it was surreal to watch Yang make the shots we expect from Woods. He made a big putt on No. 13 and pumped his fist. He executed the killer eagle chip on No. 14, a defining moment for the sport. He kept his one-shot lead on No. 15, flashed a smile and threw his ball into the stands, showing he wasn't feeling pressure. At No. 17, when Yang cracked a wee bit with a bogey, Woods missed a 10-foot par putt and mumbled as he stared at the ground. The only question was whether Yang had a Jean Van de Velde-type meltdown in him on the final hole.

While Woods was all over the map, as usual, Yang answered by hitting an approach within 12 feet, then needing only one putt to clinch when he had the cushion of two.

Next thing you knew, Y.E. Yang, all 5-9 and 185 pounds of him, was power-lifting his golf bag over his head. For a day, he was the champion of the world. "You never know in life. This might be my last win as a golfer,'' he said. "But it was a great day. I tried to master the art of controlling my emotions throughout the small wins I've had in my career. I think it turned out quite well today. It hasn't really sunk in, but I do know the significance of it.''

Nor was it a foreign thought. "I sort of visualized it a few times, playing the best player in the history of golf in the final round of a major championship,'' Yang said. "It's been a dream of mine. I've seen a lot of players have folded in that situation, and when I thought about it back at my club [in Seoul], I usually tried to bring up a mock strategy of how to win if we played together. When the chance came, I thought, 'Hey, I could always play a good round of golf. Tiger's good, but he always could have a bad day.' Today was one of those days.''

To see Woods break down was staggering, like an action hero dying in the final scene of the movie. It left enough of a disturbing impression that some will ask if he's still capable of winning five more majors and passing Nicklaus. Please -- he'll pass him. But the invincibility with a majors lead is gone, adding intrigue to what once was an inevitable exercise. Two days earlier, he had scolded a writer for asking Woods if had ever, in his opinion, choked away a tournament.

No one inquired about the c-word Sunday evening, though someone did mention that Tiger has been finishing second in recent years when winning-or-nothing used to be the sole mission.

"That's certainly one of the reasons why I changed my game with [swing coach] Hank Haney, to be more consistent in the big events. My career has certainly been much more consistent over the last five years. I've finished higher in major championships, if I don't win,'' Woods argued. "And I give myself a lot more chances. That's the only way you're going to win major championships over the long haul is give yourself as many chances as you possibly can. Nobody in the history of the game has done better than Jack, who finished second 19 times. You have to give yourself enough chances to win them and I've done that.

And I'm very proud of the changes I've made to get to this point. But unfortunately today, I just didn't get it done.''

Woods lost a duel once before at Hazeltine, to Rich Beem at the 2002 PGA Championship. But Tiger was far behind that day and birdied the last four holes, almost catching Beem. This time, he gave back shots, something we've rarely seen and might make us break out in hives. His problems began Saturday, when he played too conservatively and didn't attack. "When you've got 640-yard par-5s, I really can't get there,'' he countered. "I don't know how aggressive I can play. The only hole that I really laid up on was today on No. 7. Other than that, I couldn't get there or I just played the hole how you're supposed to play it.''

The shock of it all is that we thought he was bulletproof, assuming a man who was 14-for-14 in majors when holding the 54-hole lead was the surest bet in sports. When Tiger Woods loses the way he did Sunday, it reminds us that nothing is certain in life. The year's major titles were defined not by who won but who lost -- Kenny Perry, Mickelson and Woods at the Masters; a grief-striken Mickelson at the U.S. Open; 59-year-old Tom Watson at the British Open and, now, Woods at the PGA.

He'll spend the offseason working harder on his game and surely stewing about his 2009 failures. As for Yang, don't call him about any made-for-TV rematches against Tiger, even if the CBS ratings were magnificent all weekend.

"A rematch? Never again,'' he said, smiling. "I would like to stay as the guy who won over Tiger at the PGA Championship. That's about it. No re-dos.''

Don't be so sure that Woods wants one, either.