On Sunday, the player who defeated Tiger Woods with a hybrid on the 72nd hole of the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club had a little déjà vu in St. Louis
Yang defeated the best of the PGA Tour Champions in just 55 holes at the Ascension Charity Classic, with Bernhard Langer coming up short on the first playoff hole.
"I'm thrilled with how I played and fought," Langer remarked. "Made a clutch birdie on 18 there
had an excellent up and down after I had mud on the ball in the middle of the fairway on 17,
which is a miracle how you can get mud on the ball this late in the day, but it happened, so anyway, great up and down.
Yang's win was his first on the senior tour. Langer's runner-up finish was his 42nd as a professional and his best performance in 2024,
which has been restricted by an Achilles tear sustained on February 1 while playing pickleball.
Langer fought hard to recover from surgery and made his return at the Insperity Invitational in early May.
Despite the fact that the injury is more than seven months behind him, the all-time leader in PGA Tour Champions wins (46) is still far from fully recovered.