Move Over Ed Fiori

Ed Fiori, a journey-man PGA Tour player, used to be the only man to ever beat Tiger Woods when he held the outright 54 hole lead. And this was 13 years ago when Tiger Woods had his first ever 54 hole lead. Since then, he's never lost when holding the lead. He's only lost 2 times when tied for the lead.

I say "was", because today, at the 91st PGA Championship, another player tracked down and passed Tiger for the win. Who is this player? Maybe Phil Mickelson or Padraig Harrington? No, it is South Korea's Y.E. Yang, the 110th ranked player in the world. Yang shot a final round 70 (-2) to pass Tiger who shot a 75 (+3). Yang was 2 shots back going into the day, and ended up winning by 3.

In the long run, I think this is good for both Tiger and the PGA Tour. Tiger needed to get beat. His strategy this weekend was awful. He got the lead on Thursday, extended it to 4 on Friday, and then got really conservative in his play. Basically, he played like he believed the other players would just fold based on his presence. He shot 71-75 on the weekend, which won't get it done. He should get stronger from this...he now knows what it's like to "blow it", and I figure he won't like the feeling.

This is also good for the PGA Tour, because players now see that Tiger can be caught. It is very rare, but he's not unbeatable...only mostly unbeatable. Maybe now the bigger name players like Mickelson, Harrington, and others will see that he is human and play better when paired with Tiger.

No matter what happens, this was a historic day of golf. Y.E. Yang became the first Asian-born man to win a major. Eleven years ago Se Ri Pak became the first South Korean to win a women's major, and it spawned an entire generation of South Korean girls who wanted to become golfers. South Korean women now dominate the LPGA Tour. I'm not saying this will happen to the PGA Tour, but this will ultimately lead to a bigger Asian presence in men's golf, which is a good thing.