Yang Yong-Eun never suspected when he fell in love with golf at age 19 that he would become a sporting pioneer for billions of Asians and outclass the world's top player in a man-to-man battle.

But that's exactly what has happened for the 37-year-old South Korean, who won the PGA Championship on Sunday by three strokes over World No 1 Tiger Woods and became the first Asian man to win a major golf championship.