Tiger Woods failed to extend his streak of consecutive years with at least one major victory after losing to a virtually unknown underdog today at the PGA Championship. Korean Yong-Eun Yang became the first Asian man to ever win a major and did so in dramatic fashion. I’ll let Yahoo! Sports’ Martin Rogers get to the details:

The gallery started to believe on 14, when Yang chipped in with a miraculous eagle to wrest the outright lead. But the inner confidence had lain within well before that, ever since the final-round pairings fated these two men toward a Sunday tandem.

“I had thought recently about playing with Tiger and I was surprised it came about so soon,” Yang said through an interpreter. “But I wanted this, I wanted this challenge. At times it could be intimidating because of what Tiger is capable of but I wanted to live it.”

A previous PGA Tour victory at the Honda Classic this year showed his mettle, but was no real preparation for rigors such as these. There were precious few signs of nerves, though.

The 17th was a blip, a poorly struck putt resulting in bogey as Woods uncharacteristically faltered alongside him. Coming down 18, though, it was Yang who looked stronger, rifling in a superb approach to effectively wrap up the title.

The golfing gods didn’t smile on their favorite son this day, instead deferring to a player ranked 110th in the world yet with the strength of a champion.

The celebration after his winning birdie putt on 18 was a joy to behold, as Yang seized his golf bag and hoisted it aloft like a weightlifter. A few minutes later he struck a similar pose again, this time with the Wanamaker Trophy.

“This might be my last win as a golfer,” Yang said. “But it sure is a great day. It means the world to me; it hasn’t sunk in yet but I know the significance of it.”

Does Yang’s victory today announce the start of a new torrent of Asian (or at least Korean) men’s golfing champions? Probably not. But it does certainly seem to be part of a growing trend of Asian countries’ (particularly the East Asian countries of South Korea, China, and Japan) ever-rising relevance in America’s most popular sports.

In any case, now isn’t the time to reflect on the long-term implications of Yang’s victory, but (well, at least for Koreans around the world) it’s an important day for just the one win. Yong-Eun Yang will be a household name starting Monday morning (which as of the writing of this post, it already is in Seoul) and for today at least in America, he’s the man that brought down Tiger.

To the surprise of very few, Tiger Woods is favored to win this year’s PGA Championship, which starts today and runs through the weekend. The PGA Championship is the fourth and final major of the year.

Woods is currently a 3/2 favorite to win and although he’s coming off a victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Tiger has yet to win a major in 2009. In fact, the best he’s done so far was a sixth place finish at the Masters and a sixth place finish at the U.S. Open. (He missed the cut entirely at the British Open.)

Tiger missed last year’s PGA Championship, but did win the event in 2006 and 2007. He also has some momentum heading into Hazeltine National, winning the two last consecutive tournaments (Bridgestone and the Buick Open) that he has played in, which give him a total of five wins on the year.

Tiger’s main competition this weekend, at least based on the odds, appears to be Padraig Harrington (20/1), Phil Mickelson (22/1), Lee Westwood (28/1) and Hunter Mahan (30/1).

Here’s a TV schedule for this year’s PGA Championship:

Thursday, August 13: 2PM – 8PM on TNT
Friday, August 14: 2PM – 8PM on TNT
Saturday, August 15: 11AM – 2PM on TNT
Sunday, August 16: 11AM – 2PM ET on TNT
Sunday, August 16: 2PM – 7PM on CBS

To check the 2009 PGA Championship leaderboard, click here.

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Many believe that Anthony Kim has the attitude and game to compete with Tiger Woods this season. Camilo Villegas was a star in waiting during his first two years on the tour and blossomed during the 2008 FedEx Cup playoffs with two tournament victories. Both players have become the poster boys for the youth movement on the tour, but their success will be measured by tournament wins, especially capturing multiple major titles.

Defending FedEx Cup champion Vijay Singh did compete in the first tournament of the season, but will sit out the remainder of the West Coast swing. He will have knee surgery to repair a torn cartilage and is expected to miss five weeks of action. Sergio Garcia still remains the best player on the tour not to have won a major title. He tied for second place in the PGA Championship last year and has finished with a top-five finish in three of the last four British Opens. Unfortunately for Garcia, no trophies are given to the runner-up. And then there is the dilemma of Phil Mickelson.

Lefty had won a major tournament in three consecutive years before losing the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot with a double bogey on the 18th hole. Since then, Mickelson has not won a major and more importantly his round play has been inconsistent. Lefty in his last 10 major appearances has missed the cut twice and finished a combined 80 shots out of the lead. Drastic times call for drastic measures, and golf swing guru Butch Harmon has been brought in to assist Mickelson in regaining his stroke for the coming season.

What would a PGA tour preview be without a Tiger update? Well, he began hitting balls at a driving range in December and declared himself better than ever. Though he told Craig Sager at the Orlando/Boston game last night that his game just isn’t there yet. No one in the Woods camp will confirm his exact return date, but the official statement is that Tiger is ahead of his rehabilitation schedule after reconstructive knee surgery in June. It is safe to assume that Woods will compete in tournaments prior to the start of the Masters in April. But one thing is for certain, once Tiger returns, he will be ready to win.

Harrington shot a 32 on the back nine, just as he did at Royal Birkdale last month, and he came up with three big putts down the stretch. He made a 12-foot par on the 16th to catch Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis, took the lead with an 8-foot birdie on the par-3 17th, then closed out the Spaniard with an 18-foot par for a two-shot victory.

“I think I was willing them into the hole at that stage,” Harrington said. “You have to get focused and give it a go.”
The Irishman ended Europe’s 78-year drought in the PGA Championship, and he joined Tiger Woods, Nick Price and Walter Hagen as the only players to win the final two majors in the same year. Woods did it twice, in 2000 and 2006.

What a two years for Harrington. He won the 2007 U.S. Open, the 2008 U.S. Open and now the 2008 PGA Championship. Garcia was one of the early favorites to win the PGA Championship this year, but Harrington stuck around long enough and played well down the stretch to pick up his fifth career tour win.

Now if only Joey Harrington could play football as well as his cousin plays golf. Then the sports world would be taking about the Harrington’s instead of the Manning, Bonds and Andretti families. Or not…

Player Most Likely to Show up in a stupid outfit: Ian Poulter

Player’s name you don’t want to pronounce: Louis Oosthuizen

Player Most Likely to Keel Over and Die from overall unhealthiness: John Daly

Most Likely to pull a Van De Velde: Phil Mickelson

Most likely to Blame the Crowd when he hits a bad shot: Colin Montgomerie

Guy everybody is pulling for: Rocco Mediate

Over/Under: Mentioning Tiger’s Injury on Air: 776

Most Notable Name who doesn’t deserve a spot: Paul Azinger

Player most in need of a cheeseburger: Charles Howell III

Player that will take over the Golf World in Tiger’s Absence: Anthony Kim

I’ll take the over 776 on the mention of Tiger’s injury on air.