Yang’s win inspires Asian golfers around the world
posted in PGA championship, Yang, asian golf, korea golf, 亚洲高尔夫, 梁容银, 韩国高尔夫 |
Y.E. Yang wins the PGA Championship
LOS ANGELES — The morning after Y.E. Yang became the first Asian golfer to win a major championship, Peter Cho was too excited to go to work.
So he grabbed his teenage son, Alex, and headed for the driving range.
The Chos were hitting balls Monday morning at Majestic Golf Land, a three-story golf center near the city’s Koreatown neighborhood.
For South Koreans, Yang’s stunning win — over Tiger Woods, no less — in the PGA Championship was inspiring, even though many are Tiger fans.
“When Tiger wins, Korea’s happy. When a Korean wins, Korea’s happier,” Cho said. “It couldn’t be any better for us.”
The golf world was still abuzz Monday after Yang’s astonishing victory. The South Korean who grew up on a root-vegetable farm and had frustrated ambitions of being a body builder beat the world’s best golfer.
And did he ever do it in style — fending off Tiger with a couple of seriously ice-cold shots. First there was that 60-foot chip for eagle after Woods threatened to make birdie on No. 14.
And on the last hole, clinging to a one-shot lead against the man who had never before lost when he started the final round of a major atop the leaderboard, Yang hit the shot of his life. His 3-iron hybrid cleared a bunker and settled 12 feet away.
Yang finished off the birdie for a championship he — and new fans all over the world — won’t forget.
At the urban island of Majestic, rising green above a busy city center, most of the patrons are Korean. Signs are written in both Korean and English, and the newspaper boxes at the entrance carry the local Korean dailies.
Some of the golfers said they called home to Korea and heard about celebrations — not unlike the commotion in 1998 when South Korea’s Se Ri Pak won the U.S. Women’s Open.
Myung Kim, a South Korean-born golf pro at the range, said he knew that someday, someone would beat Woods.
“He’s not a god,” said Kim, 44. “I’m happy the Korean guy beat him.”
Not everyone at the range shared in the glee.
“I felt bad for Tiger — he returned to humanity,” said Bob Ingram, 56, of Los Angeles.
Sisters Penny and Peggy Kritaya were taking the loss hard. Penny furrowed her brow and paced the range’s deck as she recapped Woods’ round Sunday.
“I just don’t understand why!” she said, throwing up her hands in exasperation like a frustrated coach.
Hailing from Thailand themselves, the sisters said Woods’ Thai heritage got their attention in the mid-1990s.
Now, they come to the range three or four times per week and call themselves “big, huge Tiger fans.”
“He changed us,” Penny said. “He got us into the golf game.”
While Woods, whose mother is Thai, is celebrated across Asia, the region now has a homegrown men’s champion, too.
“It’s a great, great day for Asian golf,” Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han told The Associated Press. “Probably our biggest day. It’s always been our hope that we will see an Asian player win a major, and that day is here.”
Suh Gee-young, who woke up early in Seoul to watch the tournament and take a few practice swings before work, called Yang an inspiration to other Asian-born players.
“I think Yang’s victory will give young Asian players a confidence that they can beat the odds in any situation,” he said in Seoul.
Max Garske, chief executive of the PGA of Australia, said Yang’s win will help nurture the sport in the region. He said Japan, with 17-year-old star Ryo Ishikawa, has some 15 million golfers and South Korea 3 million to 3.5 million, most playing only at driving ranges.
He said Yang’s win will also help in China, where the Australian PGA is in the second year of a program with the China Golf Association to train between 5,000 to 10,000 local Chinese coaches.
In New York, Yang’s victory dominated the clubhouse chatter Monday morning at Clearview Golf Course, a busy Queens layout.
“He’s strong in heart,” Han Chondson said before her round.
She was one of the many Koreans at the Bayside course that serves kimchi, the spicy pickled cabbage that is a Korean favorite.
“I’ve played golf all my life and it’s really surprising to me that he won a major,” 52-year-old Johnny Park said. “But he had experience beating Tiger in China and really had nothing to lose. I was really happy for him, but surprised Tiger lost.”
Park was giving some thought to watching Yang play in person next week at The Barclays, the FedEx Cup opener at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J.
“Before his win, I never even thought about going,” Park said.
At Alley Pond Golf Center in Douglaston, N.Y., teaching pro Michael Jang pointed out Yang’s poise playing alongside Woods.
“I don’t think he was afraid of Tiger,” Jang said. “He had nothing to lose and that’s the best kind of mindset, to just play and enjoy the round with Tiger.
“Most of the older pros in Korea, like Yang and K.J. Choi, never had money growing up or parents who knew about golf. They had to do it all by themselves and had to work really hard to make it. That’s what makes them so strong.”
The 38-year-old Jang will long remember Yang’s breakthrough victory.
“I became a U.S. citizen, but I got Korean blood in my heart,” Jang said.
中文
梁容银在PGA赛场上的夺冠将给正在蓬勃发展的亚洲高尔夫事业注入全新活力，这个亚洲地区的首个大满贯比赛冠军的意义非同小可，不能用金钱衡量的。高尔夫近来喜事连连，继入选2016年奥运会比赛项目后，韩国球员37岁的梁容银打败世界第一老虎-伍兹夺冠的事迹将为亚洲球员不断努力、进入国际赛场上争夺名次和高尔夫在亚洲普通民众中发展起到前所未有的巨大推动。
在全球赞助商、转播商的配合下，7位韩国女球员夺下了11个大满贯比赛冠军，使得亚洲的高尔夫球员和球迷们有机会去往世界最新最奢华的球场观赛。但是梁容银周日后来居上、出人意料的打败在过去的14场大满贯比赛以领先位置进入最后一轮的比赛中都无悬念夺冠的世界第一伍兹，赢得冠军的壮举起到的作用不仅仅是让这项运动在广阔的亚洲大地上发扬光大。
“这对亚洲的高球事业而言真是相当伟大的一天。”在接受美联社采访时，亚巡赛主席奇拉汉说，“这一天对我们来说举足轻重。我们一直期望有一天，亚洲球员能赢得一场大满贯比赛，现在美梦成真了！”
“这个胜利有很大的激励作用。我们的球员在大满贯比赛中虽然能够闯进前十但从未有过如此上佳的表现。现在我们不仅仅拥有了一位冠军，并且他还打败了老虎-伍兹。他当时的比赛压力可想而知。”
奇拉汉还说到，有一大批来自泰国、韩国、印度还有其他几个亚洲国家的20几岁的球员可能比那些岁数大的球员在技术上更稳定。这些球员通常会在经历一个漫长的成熟期后在快30岁的时候到达巅峰。梁容银的胜利将让本来势头强劲的他们在心理上更加亢奋。“我看到亚洲高尔夫的未来无比灿烂。”
这些年轻球员之一、最近亚巡赛上的新秀穆罕默德是参加亚巡赛的第一个孟加拉国球员。“能看到亚洲球员赢得了大满贯比赛真叫人兴奋。这对亚巡赛的球员来说绝对是个利好消息，他是我们的骄傲！”他说。
首尔TBS电台主持人谢恩贤在报道中将这次夺冠称为历史性的胜利。“这对于亚洲高尔夫球发展和迅速增长的高尔夫球市场来说意义重大。真是不可思议，他打败了世界第一的老虎-伍兹！是夺得大满贯比赛冠军的第一个亚洲人！”
韩国职业高尔夫球员协会官员朴三求说，“梁容银的胜利给予了我们会员和年轻球员不限鼓舞，让他们知道自己是能够做到的。” 值得一提的是，梁容银和崔京周同时还是PGA赛场上仅有的两个去美国参赛前只在韩国学球的球员。
亚洲球员正一步步迈进国际赛场，在这次PGA锦标赛中获得并列第67名的米哈辛是印度第一个参加大师杯并且获得美国公开赛参赛资格的球员。
澳洲PGA总监马克思-卡斯特一直致力于通过大赛拉近韩国和亚洲的高球来往，并在最近创建了澳巡赛，他说，“梁容银的胜利能够帮助促进地区的高球发展。亚洲男球员经过长时间的艰苦努力终于收获了胜利的果实，这对他们来说是不小的鼓励，自信心大增。我们需要更多的亚洲英雄。”
卡斯特还认为37岁的梁容银的夺冠绝对会使亚洲打高尔夫球的普通人越来越多。尽管日本拥有高球明星17岁的石川辽，有大约的1500万高尔夫人群，韩国有300-350万的高尔夫人群，但是他们中大多数都仅仅是在练习场上打打球而已。日本大约有3500个高尔夫球场，打18洞的价格高达500美元，韩国有200个高品质球场。虽然澳大利亚只有120万高尔夫人群，但是他们每年至少会下场打4次球。
卡斯特同时认为中国的高尔夫发展空间巨大，澳大利亚PGA在与中高协合作培养5000-10，000名中国高尔夫裁判的计划进入第二年运作。
“中国有近110万高尔夫球俱乐部会员，拥有350座球场，这个数字正在以每年40%的速度增长，并且十分重视顶级球员的培养。梁容银的胜利也将影响到每个地方。”
“韩国球员们已经展示出亚洲高尔夫的活力，他们的表现告诉世人亚洲人的确很适合高尔夫这项运动。” 中国国家体育总局小球运动管理中心四部部长杨杰说。“梁容银给中国球员树立了一个很好的榜样，付出就会有回报。” 虽然还未有中国球员进入到PGA巡回赛中，但中国拥有吴阿顺、梁文冲和张连伟这样的优秀男球员。
亚洲又将迎来另一个高尔夫盛事，汇丰高尔夫锦标赛将于11月5-8日在上海举行，届时伍兹也会前来参赛。
“高尔夫在亚洲发展平缓，所以亚洲球员能够在比赛中打败老虎对于这个地区而言意义不凡。我们在美国时根本没想到这层意义。”来自澳大利亚的奥格维说。
美国PGA总监乔-斯特兰卡说，“这周早些时候，我说进入奥运会是促进这项运动的最好推动，现在我要说，现在亚洲国家有了新的动力，他们在想‘现在该怎样为我们的球员在国际舞台上出色表演做准备。’”
彼特-海林格今年初曾在北京举办的中高协与澳大利亚PGA合作的教练培养计划中担任讲师，他十分赞同高尔夫进入2016年的奥运会将大力推动中国高球的发展。“他们在寻找向上攀登的阶梯，中国最难的问题已经解决了，现在它能成为奥运项目之一是个绝佳的机会，高尔夫能借机有进一步的发展。”海林格说，梁容银的壮举将会立马产生翻天覆地的变化，“每个亚洲人都在关注崔京周的比赛，虽然他一次大满贯冠军都没有。我认为梁容银的夺冠会让关注人群大幅增长。”
