Yang birdies all par 3s by using hybrid irons
Korea’s Y.E. Yang is one of golf’s few elite players who carries four hybrid clubs. In the opening round of the Open on Thursday, he put them to good use, making birdies at all four par-3 holes at the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club on his way to a 3-under-par 68.
At the difficult 10th hole, Yang used a 5-hybrid, then drained a 14-foot putt, the same length as his birdie on No. 13. At No. 2, which measured 217 yards on Thursday, Yang used a 3-hybrid, then rolled in a 15-footer.
In the golf world, hybrids have come into vogue in the last decade. They are especially popular with older amateurs who have lost swing speed and the ability to hit long irons. As a result, Yang has come to be called “Grandpa.”
The signature shot of Yang’s win in the 2009 PGA over Tiger Woods was struck with a hybrid 3 to within eight feet on the 18th hole at Hazeltine.
No. 10 is tough way to start
There was plenty of talk about Congressional Country Club’s daunting 10th hole over water — a tough place for half of the players in the field to start.
Phil Mickelson came up short and wet on the 199-yard par 3. The huge pond and shallow green had players guessing. Many took Lefty’s advice from Tuesday: Hit it long to take the water out of play.
Y.E. Yang and Stewart Cink snagged birdies after opening their rounds on the hole. However, they had help from their playing partners.
“Heath Slocum hit a nice shot, and it came up in the water,” Cink said. “I added a few yards to what I was playing and hit it in close.”
Yang had Ryo Ishikawa and Anthony Kim to thank.
“I didn’t really think about it as being intimidating until we went up on the tee and the two players in front of me both dropped it in the water,” Yang said. “That’s when it really hit me that, oh, this hole is really tough.”
Defending champ Graeme McDowell ended up in one of the bunkers off the back, though he scrambled to save par.
“I think it’s the only slightly unfair golf hole out here,” he said. “I felt for the guys having to play that as their first hole early on. That would have been a tough way to start a U.S. Open.”
Americans come up short
There’s little red, white and blue on the leader board after the first round of the Open. Ryan Palmer is the lone player from the United States among the nine who broke 70.
It’s an international group that includes players from six continents.
British golfer Ian Poulter stoked the argument last year with comments in London’s Guardian, saying the era of U.S. dominance was over. That was followed by a European win in the Ryder Cup.
Since Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open in 2008, only three American golfers have won a major title of the 11 played — Lucas Glover (2009 U.S. Open), Stewart Cink (2009 British Open) and Phil Mickelson (2010 Masters).
