The Day Tiger Was Tamed

First and foremost, this will not be another blog dictating how the 2009 PGA Championship will "change the world of golf as we know it", or how Y.E. Yang became a giant-killer with his heroic and impressive win of the season's final major over the face of an entire sport, Tiger Woods.

When all is said and done, after all of the questions have been asked and the smoke surrounding this weekend's tournament has cleared, one thing will be certain: Tiger Woods lost the PGA Championship to no one other than himself.

The man had every odd stacked in his favor coming to the first tee on Sunday. We have all read the various statistics revolving around what he has accomplished with a 54-hole lead, and even more so what he has done with a similar scenario in the majors. It would be silly to assume that Tiger would, for the rest of his career, remain perfect in the majors with the lead going into Sunday. Someone would eventually break that streak, even if the only person that could do it was Tiger himself.

The chances were there, let us not overlook that fact. He had the opportunity to shoot anywhere between 66 and 71 if only a few of his misread/mis-struck putts would have fallen. Doing so would mean not only a major title, but a 71st PGA Tour win... and possibly by a landslide. After all, Yang only shot 2-under on Sunday, which would have put him in a position to force a playoff with Tiger had the world's #1 shot even par. Instead, Tiger would sign a scorecard that read 75 and Yang causally walked away with the title.

This is not to take anything away from what Yang accomplished today, and especially on the 18th hole with a (can you believe it?) 3-hybrid. Looking even further, Yang should be proud to know that he will forever be known as the first Asian-born PGA major winner ever.

However, it is only fitting to know that Tiger can only be beaten by Tiger.