Yang powers through to win Kolon Korea Open
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Y.E. Yang, Asia's first Major winner, won his second OneAsia title of the year after shooting a closing five-under-par 66 for a surprise two-stroke victory in the 53rd Kolon Korea Open. |
Bae Sang-moon's hat-trick bid ended with a 73 as he shared seventh at one-over with fellow OneAsia winner Kim Dae-hyun (71), New Zealander Danny Lee (68) and Australian Ryan Haller (71).
Yang, 38, was surprised and relieved after storming up the leaderboard to reclaim the title he won at the same venue in 2006 and lift his second trophy of the year, following his victory in the Volvo China Open in April.
"To come back from the brink of worrying about missing the cut and win is just great," said the Texas-based PGA Tour star, who achieved global fame after winning the 2009 PGA Championship.
"For me, this tournament has been defined by patience, perseverance and a lot of luck. It has given me back a lot of confidence after the last few months, as I've been struggling a bit with my timing."
The father of three, who shot earlier rounds of 74, 71 and 69, also had some consoling words for Noh, who is half his age.
"It will be disappointing for him and one of his worst rounds, but he should not view it as a failure but as a lesson, something to learn from," Yang said.
"He has so much ahead of him. To have that swing and that game at 19 is amazing. He's so far ahead of where I was at that age. His talent is incredible."
Yang, playing three flights in front of Noh, shot into contention after a birdie at one, an eagle at the par-five fifth and birdies at six, eight, nine and 10 put him six-under and one behind Noh.
Yang made up for a bogey at 12 with a birdie at 14, which gave him the lead for the first time after a struggling Noh suffered a double-bogey at 12. The teenager fell further back with bogeys on the next two holes, followed by two more at 17 and 18.
Yang then started to struggle and dropped back to four-under after bogeying both the par-three 16th and the 488-yard par-four 17th following wayward tee-shots. On 17, his drive left his ball next to a tree and in thick, knee-high rough, but the powerful Korean did brilliantly to blast out of trouble and minimise the damage.
"I was almost OB and I couldn't even see the ball when I was standing over it. Taking an unplayable and going back 30 or so yards wasn't much better because the trees were still in the way," he said.
"I figured that if I could somehow play it out, I could try to get a par or a bogey, and it came out quite well."
Yang's back-to-back bogeys brought Kim Bi-o into play, as the 20-year-old found himself as a co-leader.
However, it was then Kim's turn to get the leader's jitters as he missed a three-foot par putt on 16 and also bogeyed 17. A par at the last sealed a share of second place and Kim's best finish on OneAsia, having tied for fifth at the Luxehills Chengdu Open in March.
The Kolon Korea Open was the seventh tournament on this year's OneAsia schedule and is followed by this week's Midea China Classic in Shunde from October 14-17.
The Kolon Korea Open was showcased on OneAsia's television platform with live coverage for four hours a day across all four tournament days and broadcast to over 260 million homes in more than 40 countries.
Full coverage of the event was available domestically on SBS Golf Channel and internationally on ESPN Star Sports, Jupiter Golf Network, Fox International, Network Ten, Sky Sports NZ, ESPN3 and America One in the USA, and ViaSat and Bloomberg Television among others in Europe.
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