The Honda Classic: Final-round notebook
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Y.E. Yang posted a 2-under 68 on Sunday to finish 9-under 271, capturing the 2009 Honda Classic by one stroke over John Rollins (67). The victory is the first of Yang's career on the PGA TOUR and comes in his 47th start. His previous best finish was a tie for ninth at the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
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• The victory for Yang is worth 500 points and moves him to No. 9 in the FedExCup standings with 579 points. By moving inside the top 10 on the FedExCup points list, he earns a spot in next week's World Golf Championships-CA Championship. Rollins also gained entry into next week's event as a result of his runner-up finish on Sunday, propelling him from No. 22 to No. 8 in the standings. Geoff Ogilvy leads the list with 1,176 points.
• Yang is just the second South Korean-born player to capture a PGA TOUR event, joining seven-time winner K.J. Choi. Yang, Choi and Charlie Wi are also the only South Korean players to win on the European Tour.
• What a difference a year makes. Yang teed off first in the final round of the 2008 Honda Classic as a single, going on to a final-round 1-over 71 and a tie for 72nd finish. He played that round in one hour and 53 minutes, teeing off at 8:03 a.m. and holing his last putt at 9:56 a.m. On Sunday, he was in the final group as he went on to win his first TOUR event.
• Entering this week, Yang ranked No. 169 in driving distance, tied for 151st in driving accuracy and 136th in greens in regulation. But for the week he ranked 13th, 47th and T3 in the field, respectively, in each of the categories.
• Robert Allenby wore a pink shirt on Sunday in memory of his mother, Sylvia, who passed away a month ago. Allenby has now posted three consecutive top-5 finishes at The Honda Classic (tied for fifth in 2007, tied for fourth in 2008, tied for fifth in 2009). He also finished tied for fourth at the 2004 Honda Classic.
• The Honda Classic has produced a single-digit under-par winning score all three years since it moved to PGA National in 2007. Mark Wilson won with a 5-under tally in 2007, followed by Ernie Els' 6-under total in 2008 and Yang's 9-under score this season.
• Yang's 9-under winning score is the highest in relation to par on the PGA TOUR since Ryan Palmer won the 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic at 7 under.
• Eleven players have now earned their maiden TOUR victory at The Honda Classic: Leonard Thompson (1974), Larry Nelson (1979), Kenny Knox (1986), John Huston (1990), Tim Herron (1996), Stuart Appleby (1997), Matt Kuchar (2002), Todd Hamilton (2004), Padraig Harrington (2005), Wilson (2007) and Yang (2009).
• The runner-up finish is the seventh of Rollins' career (2009 Honda Classic and Buick Invitational; 2008 Legends Reno-Tahoe Open; 2007 FBR Open and Bob Hope Chrysler Classic; 2005 B.C. Open; 2003 Buick Classic).
• Rollins was the only player in the field to record all four rounds in the 60s this week. He is the first to do so at The Honda Classic since the 2003 season.
• Robert Allenby (tied for fifth) tied Tiger Woods for the TOUR lead this week with his 30th consecutive made cut.
• Davis Love III, who has never missed a cut at The Honda Classic, finished T13 in his 15th appearance here.
• Shaun Micheel, making his first TOUR start since having left shoulder surgery after missing the cut last year in Memphis, finished tied for 52nd this week. The winner of the 2003 PGA Championship has 13 events to earn $694,924, which coupled with 2008 earnings of $157,828, would equal No. 125 from the 2008 money list and earn a Major Medical Extension status for the remainder of the 2009 season.
• Thanks to a final-round 4-under 66, Els finished tied for 22nd this week in his title defense. Jack Nicklaus remains the only player to win The Honda Classic in back-to-back years (1976-78).
• Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy posted his second consecutive top-15 finish, following a tie for fifth at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship with a tie for 13th this week.
• Mark Calcavecchia made his 499th career cut this week, finishing tied for 22nd in his 705th career start. A two-time winner of The Honda Classic (1987, 1998), Calcavecchia has six top-10 finishes here, including a tie for fourth in 2008.
• Scott Piercy (tied for fifth) and D.A. Points (tied for ninth) posted the round of the day with matching 5-under 65s.
• Jeff Klauk, a two-time winner on the Nationwide Tour, finished fourth in his eighth career PGA TOUR event and seventh this year. He has made the cut in all seven of his starts in 2009, with his previous best effort a tie for 11th at the Buick Invitational. His father, Fred, served several years as the superintendent at the TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship, before retiring in 2008.
• Past champions of The Honda Classic and their finishes this week: Els (tied for 22nd), Wilson (missed cut), Hamilton (tied for 39th), Leonard (tied for 52nd), Kuchar (tied for 39th), Dudley Hart (withdrew), Calcavecchia (tied for 22nd), Appleby (missed cut), Herron (tied for 32nd) and Huston (missed cut).
• The third-round leader/co-leader has won seven of eight events so far this season, including Pat Perez at the 90-hole 50th Bob Hope Classic presented by Arnold Palmer. Because of a final-round wash-out at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Dustin Johnson emerged victorious as the 54-hole leader.
• Klauk (fourth) and Michael Letzig (tied for 64th) each made their TOUR-leading seventh consecutive cut of the season. Neither player has missed a cut in 2009, with Klauk sitting at No. 19 on the FedExCup points list, while Letzig is at No. 90. Both players are products of the Nationwide Tour, with Klauk graduating a year ago and Letzig in 2007.
• The season-long Kodak Challenge, where players must play at least 18 of the 30 Kodak Challenge holes throughout the year to be eligible for a $1 million prize, included this week's 434-yard, par-4 16th hole at PGA National. Through the first seven events of the Challenge, J.B. Holmes (thru six holes) and Chris DiMarco (thru five holes) are tied at 5 under. The next Kodak Challenge hole is the par-5 eighth at next week's WGC-CA Championship.
• Robert Garrigus led the field in driving distance this week with an average of 311.9 yards, while Ernie Els and Justin Leonard led the field in driving accuracy by hitting 43 of 56 fairways (76.79%). Sergio Garcia led in hitting greens in regulation at 76.39% (55 of 72), while Jeff Klauk led in putts per round with an average of 26 per round.
• D.A. Points (65) and Scott Verplank (66) managed the only bogey-free rounds on Sunday.
• The par-70 PGA National played to a total scoring average of 71.389 on the week. It averaged 72.378 on Thursday, 71.694 on Friday, 71.534 on Saturday and 71.389 on Sunday. The par-5 third hole played the easiest this week with a 4.786 average, while the par-3 No. 17 was the hardest at 3.395.
• Yang also owns seven international victories, including the 2002 SBS Championship (Korea), the 2004 Sun Chlorella Classic (Japan) and Asahi Ryokuken Yomiuri Asoloizuka (Japan), the 2005 Coca-Cola Tokai Classic (Japan), the 2006 Suntory Open (Japan) and Kolon Korea Open (Korea) and 2007 HSBC Champions (European).
• Yang is now exempt on the PGA TOUR through the end of the 2011 season. For 2009, he has secured a position into the Masters Tournament, CA Championship and THE PLAYERS Championship, as well as the winners-only 2010 Mercedes-Benz Championship.
• At 37 years, 1 month and 21 days, Yang became the oldest Honda Classic winner since Hamilton in 2004 at age 38 years, 4 months, 24 days. Yang is the fourth international player to win this event in the last five years, joining Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Els. Yang is also the 11th player to claim his first PGA TOUR title at this event.
• Yang was 8 under par on the front nine and 1 under par on the back nine this week. He was 2 over on the three most difficult holes (Nos. 17, 6 and 15) and 4 under par on the three easiest holes (Nos. 3, 18 and 4)
• This was Yang's fourth made cut in as many starts in 2009. His best previous finish was a tie for 20th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. His overall best previous effort on the PGA TOUR was a tie for ninth at the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
• Yang has now posted 11 consecutive par/better rounds. He is the sixth player (Geoff Ogilvy won twice) in his 30s to win on TOUR this year out of 10 winners.
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