WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - Y.E. Yang, the famous "Tiger Killer" of the 2009 PGA Championship, fought his way back to the Greenbrier Classic with a victory in the Monday qualifier at Glade Springs.
Yang led the field at the Cobb Course, firing a 3-under-par 68. That's a score that often doesn't make the four spots at the Classic, but the course was firmer and faster than usual.
"I thought 4- or 5-under was the minimum," Yang said. "I thought 3 or 4 would have a chance. But it was very difficult."
Yang was one of two notable late additions to the Classic field. Curtis Luck, winner of the 2016 U.S. Amateur, qualified by virtue of finishing in the top 10 at last week's Quicken Loans Classic. Top-10 finishers move on to the next event, regardless of status.
Yang, the 45-year-old South Korean, rallied to defeat Tiger Woods in the 2009 PGA and remains the only Asian man win a major tournament. Woods was denied a 15th major victory and still remains at 14.
Yang plays mostly on the European Tour, most recently finishing sixth at the China Open. But he has played three PGA Tour events this season, last making the cut in January at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He has 11 wins worldwide.
Luck's addition gives the Classic the current top-ranked amateur in the world, the former top-ranked amateur and the college golfer of the year.
The 20-year-old Australian finished tied for fifth last week at Potomac, Maryland, giving him a spot at the Greenbrier regardless of status. He led the tournament briefly Sunday, but lost it with bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes.
The 20-year-old Luck played the Quicken Loans on a sponsor exemption for his 2016 Amateur championship, and is trying to gain PGA Tour privileges via the "Jordan Spieth route" - in other words, by bypassing the "Q School" process.
Luck is trying to gain Special Temporary Member status on the Tour, which would allow him unlimited sponsor exemptions and events. As a non-member, Luck is allowed seven sponsor exemptions and can play 12 tournaments total.
Luck played in the Masters, and then declared he would turn pro. He qualified for the Masters in two ways - as the U.S. Amateur champion and the champion of the Asia-Pacific Amateur. When he arrived at Augusta, he did so as the world's top-ranked amateur.
That honor now falls to Chile's Joaquin Niemann, with University of Mississippi star Braden Thornberry No. 3. Thornberry is the latest winner of the Haskins Award, often called golf's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Luck finished 46th at the Masters, and has made the cut in four of six PGA Tour events since. He has 112 FedExCup points, and is looking to reach 319, or the level to reach what finished 150th in the points race last season. A second-place finish this week, maybe a solo third, will get the job done.
If he can fight his way into the top 125 of the current points race, he wins full privileges for 2017-18. A tournament win comes with full membership and a two-year exemption.
Even if he falls short, he should finish in the top 200 and be eligible for the Web.com Tour Finals, in which 75 (give or take) PGA Tour pros battle the top Web.com members for 25 big-tour cards.
Back at the Monday qualifier, Ryan Zylstra, Clayton Portz and Daniel Obremski joined Yang in moving on to the Old White TPC. Zylstra and Portz shot a 69; Obremski shot a 70 and survived a six-man playoff for one spot. That lasted three holes, before Obremski birdied the par-5 18th.
For Zylstra and Obremski this will their second Classic and PGA Tour event. Both went to the 2013 Classic via the Monday qualifier, missing the cut.
Obremski competes on the Adams Pro Tour, a circuit with stops in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and other states. Zylstra is not touring anymore, working as a club pro at the Federal Club near Richmond, Virginia, and awaiting his first child.
Portz is a 22-year-old from Springfield, Ohio, and turned pro last year. He played on the eGolf (now SwingThought) Tour, but has concentrated for Monday qualifiers since moving to Ohio.
It will be his first PGA Tour start. He has played two Web.com Tour events this year, missing the cut in both.