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Wednesday August 26, 2009

South Korean to renew rivalry with world number one in China

BEIJING: PGA Championship winner Yang Yong-eun will renew his rivalry with Tiger Woods on Asian soil in November after confirming his participation at the US$7mil HSBC Champions on Monday.

The 37-year-old South Korean, who became the first Asian man to win a major by out-duelling world number one Woods in Minnesota this month, will return to Shanghai for the Nov 5-8 tournament, now a World Golf Championship (WGC) event.

Yong-eun is a former champion at the Sheshan International Golf Club, having stormed up the leaderboard in the final round of the tournament in 2006 to beat Woods by two strokes.

“Winning the tournament set the foundation for bigger things to come,” he said in a statement released by organisers. “It gave me the courage to achieve bigger goals.”

Spain’s 2008 champion Sergio Garcia and world number two Phil Mickelson, who won the 2007 version, will also return to the course outside China’s economic capital.

“After the Open Championship, it’s hard to think of a bigger or better tournament held outside the US,” said Mickelson.

With Britain’s Paul Casey, regular China visitor Henrik Stenson of Sweden, Australian Geoff Ogilvy and American Stewart Cink all signed up, the tournament will boast seven of the current top 10 players in the world. — Reuters

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