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Yang: 20 years until an Asian becomes No 1
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-03 13:12

SINGAPORE: Despite becoming Asia's first major winner, South Korea's Yang Yong-eun believes it will be another 20 years before a player from the region becomes world No 1.

Yang: 20 years until an Asian becomes No 1
Yang Yong-eun of South Korea poses with the Wanamaker trophy after winning the 2009 PGA Championship golf tournament at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota August 16, 2009. [Agencies] 

The 37-year-old posted one of the biggest upsets in golf history when he defeated Tiger Woods by three strokes to win the US PGA last month.

His victory was seen as a huge breakthrough for Asian golf, but Yang is not getting carried away.

"There's still a long time before a male Asian player will top the golf world," he told the Straits Times.

"We're probably two decades away from the time that Asian players will have as much of a foothold as their female counterparts have."

Asian women are well represented in the upper echelons of the sport, with nine of the current world's top 20 from the region.

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In contrast, there are only three Asian men in the top 50 - Yang at 33, India's Jeev Milkha Singh at 43 and Japan's Shingo Katayama at 49.

Yang said Asian men had come close to clinching majors before and put his breakthrough down to good fortune.

"There have been lots of attempts at the majors," he said.

"From Isao Aoki (runner-up at the US Open in 1980) to Shigeki Maruyama to KJ Choi to SK Ho, with a few who have been on the brink of winning.

"It doesn't mean I'm any different from my peers in Asia. The thing is, good fortune came my way."

Asian fans have the chance to watch Yang go up against Woods once again at the HSBC Championships in Shanghai in November, an event the South Korean won three years ago by beating the American world No 1.

AFP