Yang Upsets Woods for PGA Title

For years, Asian countries could only boast about growth and potential in men's golf. Success was measured by a half-dozen players who had cracked the top 50 in the world rankings over the last decade. It took Y.E. Yang and his stunning victory over Tiger Woods to make them a major part of the conversation.

"We've been waiting for quite a number of years for this," said Peter Dawson, chief executive of the hallowed Royal & Ancient Golf Club in Scotland. "Perhaps the PGA Championship was not the one we were expecting. But it's great for golf. It's great for Korea. It's great for Asia. And it's very timely for getting back into the Olympics. It's a fantastic day for golf."

While the bonfire from the greatest upset of the Woods era will burn for some time — as it should, in fitting celebration of Y.E. Yang's Goliath slaying at Hazeltine National — from those ashes will emerge a better Tiger Woods.

Leaving his prodigious talent aside altogether, if he were a man of less courage or resolution, losing the PGA might cause long-term damage, as a similar failure did to an undisciplined bully like Mike Tyson. But Woods' success has been built on a strong foundation — he prides himself as much on his work ethic and discipline as he does on his talent — and that's not about to crumble.

He's still only 33 with a rebuilt knee and as much as a decade of good years left to shatter all the records that matter to him. Sunday's loss will burn for a while, make no mistake. A Tiger confidant told me that Woods won't pick up the phone for a week, not that anyone would brave calling. But once he returns to the fairways, probably at the Deutsche Bank event in Boston in two weeks, expect him to still be the best golfer in the field, that he'll still be the only man with five wins this year and that he'll go on to wrap up the FedEx Cup and win Player of the Year.