FINAL-ROUND LEADERBOARD:
-8 YE Yang (Kor) -5 T Woods (US) -3 L Westwood (Eng), R McIlroy (NIre) -2 L Glover (US) **Selected others: -1 ** E Els (SA) Level G McDowell (NIre), P Harrington (Ire) +2 I Poulter (Eng), O Wilson (Eng), R Fisher (Eng) +12 P Mickelson (US)
**South Korea’s Yang Yong-Eun became the first Asian winner of a major championship when he beat Tiger Woods to clinch the USPGA title at Hazeltine.**The 37-year-old was two shots adrift of leader Woods overnight and remained in touch where others fell away.
Yang, who won his maiden PGA Tour event earlier this year, carded 70 to Woods’s 75 to win by three on the final green.
Yang’s victory ends Woods’s run of winning all 14 of his major titles when leading going into the final round.
England’s Lee Westwood and Northern Irish 20-year-old Rory McIlroy tied for third, five strokes adrift on three under after rounds of 70, with US Open champion Lucas Glover (74) a shot further back.
Woods was chasing a 15th major title and a record-equalling fifth USPGA title but unlike in previous majors he failed to hole putts when they really mattered and was unable to pull clear.
The American led by two strokes at eight under from playing partner Yang and defending champion Padraig Harrington at the start of the day, but the Irishman collapsed after taking an eight after twice finding the water on the short 8th and the pair were tied at six under in a virtual two-horse race out in front going into the back nine.
The world number one pulled ahead again with a birdie on the 11th, only to drop back to join Yang at six under again after 12.
But Yang, known as “YE”, charged into the lead when he chipped in from short of the green for an eagle two on the 14th.
Woods’s birdie at the same hole restricted the deficit to one stroke but changed the complexion of the round and the American was unable to get back in front.
Still one ahead going up the 18th, Yang fired to six feet while woods found the thick fringe grass and took three to get down. Yang stroked in his putt for birdie to clinch the giant Wanamaker Trophy.
“It will be a crazy party tonight for my friends,” said Yang, speaking through a translator. “I knew the odds were against me. I tried to be the least nervous I have ever been and went for broke.”
The previous best performance by a South Korean in a major was KJ Choi’s third in the 2004 Masters tournament.
The previous best Asian performances in a major were Taiwan’s Huan Lu-Liang, who finished runner-up in the 1971 Open, Japan’s Isao Aoki, who placed second in the 1980 US Open and Taiwan’s Chen Tze-Chung who also tied for second at the 1985 US Open.
Woods, who has won 70 career titles to Yang’s one, said: “He played beautifully. He did everything he needed to do. You have to make putts I didn’t do that.”
Woods was seeking his first major win of the season after missing the cut in the Open at Turnberry. This is the first year he has not won at least one major since 2004. He did not play in last year’s PGA because he was recovering from reconstructive knee surgery.