Yang breaks through at Honda Classic

3/9/2009

Y.E. Yang was first to finish at last year's Honda Classic

This time, he finished first.

Alone in front throughout, Yang shot a final round of 2-under 68 Sunday to finish one shot ahead of John Rollins and pick up his first PGA Tour victory.

The Korean took command with three straight birdies on the front side and wouldn't fold, picking up a two-year exemption and a check for $1,008,000.

With the win, he qualified for next week's CA Championship at Doral, plus earned an invitation to next month's Masters.

Yang played last year's final round at PGA National by himself, going off first and needing only 1 hour, 53 minutes to finish.

Rollins (67) was alone in second and he, like Yang, qualified for the CA Championship by moving into the top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings. Ben Crane (68) was third after finishing 6 under and Jeff Klauk (71, with 17 pars and one bogey) was alone in fourth, another shot back.

There were 25 players who started the final round within six shots of Yang's lead, and some made early charges.

Robert Allenby started with two birdies in his first three holes and eventually got to 7 under, but never got going on the back side and finished 4 under,
tied for fifth with Will MacKenzie (70),Fredrik Jacobson (70) and Scott Piercy (65).

Mark Calcavecchia was seeking an oddity: Winning the Honda for the third time, on what could be described as an every-11-year plan. He won the event in 1987 and 1998. But the string wouldn't continue in 2009.

Leaderboard – Final:

1.  Y.E. Yang                         KOR  68 65 70 68 271 - 9
2.  John Rollins                      USA  69 68 68 67 272 - 8
3.  Ben Crane                        USA  70 65 71 68 274 - 6
4.  Jeff Klauk                         USA  69 68 67 71 275 - 5
5.  Scott Percy                        USA  72 66 73 65 276 - 4
     Robert Allenby                  AUS  66 68 72 70 276 - 4
     Will MacKenzie                  USA  67 67 72 70 276 - 4
     Fredrik Jacobson               SWE  72 67 67 70 276 - 4
9.  D.A. Points                        USA  69 69 74 65 277 - 3
     Jason Dufner                     USA  72 66 68 71 277 - 3
     Jeff Overton                      USA  67 67 70 73 277 - 3
     Charlie Wi                        KOR  67 73 65 72 277 - 3

13. Alex Čejka                       GER  71 66 70 71 278 - 2

Source: AP, PGA Tour