KOHLER Wisconsin (Reuters) - Twelve months after he produced one of the biggest upsets in golf to win the U.S. PGA Championship, the life of South Korea's Yang Yong-eun has finally turned full circle.
Yang was virtually unknown when he arrived at Hazeltine National last year but when he left a week later, he had the PGA trophy in his arms and the golfing world at his feet.
Not only did he become the first Asian man to win one of golf's four majors, he did it in the most dramatic fashion, achieving the once unimaginable feat of coming from behind to beat Tiger Woods in a head to head duel on the last day.
The reaction in his homeland was swift and he became an instant superstar and needed six bodyguards to protect him from the swarms of autograph hunters every time he walked around the streets near his home on Jeju Island.
But a year later, the attention, at least in the U.S., has died down somewhat and only a handful of reporters turned up to his news conference on the eve of his title defence.
"It's been a year since my PGA win, so maybe I'm kind of out of the spotlight a little bit," he said through a translator.
"For the past year, I haven't been doing that great and maybe people think that I may not win this one again. So in that respect maybe that's why I kind of am flying under the radar."
Despite his low key arrival at Whistling Straits, Yang will be back in the focus for the next two days at least when he reunites with Woods and Vijay Singh after they were grouped together.
� Continued...
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Yang was virtually unknown when he arrived at Hazeltine National last year but when he left a week later, he had the PGA trophy in his arms and the golfing world at his feet.
Not only did he become the first Asian man to win one of golf's four majors, he did it in the most dramatic fashion, achieving the once unimaginable feat of coming from behind to beat Tiger Woods in a head to head duel on the last day.
The reaction in his homeland was swift and he became an instant superstar and needed six bodyguards to protect him from the swarms of autograph hunters every time he walked around the streets near his home on Jeju Island.
But a year later, the attention, at least in the U.S., has died down somewhat and only a handful of reporters turned up to his news conference on the eve of his title defence.
"It's been a year since my PGA win, so maybe I'm kind of out of the spotlight a little bit," he said through a translator.
"For the past year, I haven't been doing that great and maybe people think that I may not win this one again. So in that respect maybe that's why I kind of am flying under the radar."
Despite his low key arrival at Whistling Straits, Yang will be back in the focus for the next two days at least when he reunites with Woods and Vijay Singh after they were grouped together.
� Continued...
The relations between First Quantum and the Democratic Republic of Congo have gone from bad to worse in recent months, after the country expropriated the miner’s $765 million Kolwezi copper tailings project in September. � Blog�
When some of the most influential figures in emerging markets finance spoke to a group of Reuters editors, they were asked about top picks for growth beyond the so-called BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China.� Blog�
The giggles started when the seventh journalist in a row said that his question was for Egypt’s water and irrigation minister, Mohamed Nasreddin Allam.� Blog�
It has debt levels to die for and huge amounts of oil, but economically it’s lagging and political concerns remain. Speakers at a Libyan trade and investment forum this week saw the North African country as a mixed bag.� Blog�
If Guinea can pull off free and fair elections this weekend, it will lay the foundations for what could be one of Africa’s most unexpected and significant good news stories.� Blog�
Africa is providing a lot of fine material for the London theatre these days.� Blog�
Watch Fashion Online
