Y. E. Yang hopes to land the Ballantine’s Championship title to become first Korean to win the event
Korea’s best golfer of the recent times, Y. E Yang is eager to land the Ballantine’s Championship this week at his home course, the Blackstone Golf Club and become the first Korean to win the title.
Yang already has the accolade of being the first Asian to win a major title of the sport but despite of his brilliant career in the sport, he has never won the Ballantine’s Championship, played at just the stone’s throw away from his home in Seoul.
He said, “I desperately want to win this tournament. I believe that if a Korean player wins or gets good results at this Ballantine's Championship, it will be a great start to the season, and I know that all the Korean players here this week will give it
our best to win”.
Yang won the 2009 PGA Championship in a famous showdown with the raging Tiger Woods and became the first Asian to achieve the milestone in the sport’s history.
Yang is fully aware of the strong line up at this week’s event which includes the likes of Open Champion Darren Clarke, Spaniard Miguel Angel Jiménez, Englishman Ian Poulter and Paul Casey and many others.
He added, “The field is very strong again this year and it would be great to be the first Korean winner of the event. I feel as if I have been playing well this year in some big events, but to win on home soil would be special”.
Yang missed the halfway cut in last year’s event and lamented the fact that he has been lurking in shadows for quite a while.
He hasn’t won a title since his last victory at the Volvo China Open in April 2010 where he defeated Welshmen Rhys Davies and Stephen Dodd by two strokes.
Yang was able to make the halfway cut at this year’s Masters but went over to post another disappointing finish, a joint 57th over the weekend.
The 40-year-old Korean turned professional in the year 1996 and has 11 professional victories on his belt.
He plays on both PGA Tour and the European Tour and has won five times on the Japan Golf Tour.
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