Tiger’s loss was PGA Tour’s gain on Sunday

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/08/2009 (6197 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Around this time last year your humble agent was taking a break from covering the Usain Bolts and Michael Phelps of the world to take a stroll on this large man-made fence the locals call The Great Wall of China.

Like the vast number of landmarks in the People’s Republic, the Wall was ancient, awe-inspiring and humbling. It only served as a reminder that cultures and entire populations can be out of sight and out of mind in our own day-to-day bubbles.

Which is a roundabout way of saying what unfolded on a Minnesota golf course on Sunday may end up doing as much or more for golf than anything the Great Wall of Tiger has done so far in his magnificent career.

It’s not just that South Korean Y.E. Yang won the PGA Championship at Hazeltine, it’s that the 37-year-old unknown beat Woods, a victory which will take on mythical proportions over time. So that Yang will become a legend for being the first Asian-born player in history to win one of golf’s prestigious majors is a given.

Yet that compelling storyline didn’t really crystallize, in terms of CBS coverage, until the final few holes Sunday. After all, as with most PGA coverage, the media focus was squarely on Woods, their meal ticket, and his attempt to capture his 15th major.

Fair enough. Tiger in contention means more eyeballs on TV sets. Up to 50 per cent more, in some cases. And, besides, everyone seemed to accept the unspoken premise that the Korean dude ranked 110th in the world was going to implode eventually, so, hey, let’s keep our eyes on the prize.

In fact, it was only after Yang stubbornly refused to follow the anticipated script that commentator Ian Baker-Finch first mentioned, late in the round, that a Yang victory would help revolutionize golf in southeast Asia, where the sport, although relatively new to that part of the globe, is a growth industry.

Now we’re not sure what PGA tall foreheads might have been thinking down the stretch, but they all should have been waving “Go Yang” banners as fast as their flesh white arms could wave them.

Backbone

Because, remember, professional golf in North America is getting hammered by the U.S. recession. Hey, when the financial backbone of your business is corporate sponsorships from the staggering automobile and financial industries, you’ve got issues.

So it’s somewhat ironic that the man who taught himself golf at age 19 was widely considered to have “spoiled” the ideal ending for Woods — and, by extension, the ideal ending for the PGA. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Tiger is going to win more majors. He’ll still continue to transcend the sport not only in North America, but around the world. But despite his multicultural background — an African American father and Thai mother — Tiger is not one of “them.” Yang is not only that, but his storybook rise to that moment on No. 18 on Sunday is the stuff of commercial fantasy.

Funny, but there was a lot of talk this year about endings spoiled at the majors; Kenny Perry didn’t become the oldest player, at 48, to win the Masters (or any major, for that matter); Phil Mickelson, whose wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, couldn’t close the U.S. Open; and Tom Watson, bless his 59-year-old heart, stumbled down the stretch of the British Open.

Now Tiger getting stalled on 14 majors, blanked for the entire season.

Maybe it wasn’t the ending the networks wanted. But that’s only because they couldn’t see the forest for the Woods.

There’s a big world out there. There’s stone walls built centuries ago that you can see from space. There are billions and billions of human beings with money to spend and televisions to watch.

On Sunday, one of their own won a major. The rest, for the PGA Tour will be the future, not just history.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca