Commentary Scope

American golfer JB Holmes pulled out of the U.S. PGA Championship due to a hand injury while the second round went going on Friday.

Holmes, who had opened with a four-over-par 76 at Hazeltine National, was three over for the day after four holes, when he cited an injury of his left hand to pull out.

Before Holmes, injured British world No. 3 Paul Casey, Swede Robert Karlsson and South African Trevor Immelman had skipped it, leaving now the year’s final major with 96 players from the world’s top 100 in the 154-strong field.

South Korean Yang Yong-eun took the first Asian victory in men’s golf majors Sunday as he pushed aside 14-time major winner Tiger Woods in the U.S. PGA Championship.

Yang, ranked 110th in the world, fired a two-under-par 70 in the last round to finish first at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota with an eight-under 280.

Yang came from behind to snatch the lead for the first time in the par-four 14th before he upset the overwhelming favorite Woods who had to settle for the second with a total of 283.

American Woods, 33, failed to seize his 15th major title after he missed four birdie putts from 12 feet or less to card an erratic 75 featuring five bogeys and two birdies.

Yang Yong-eun of South Korea poses with the Wanamaker trophy after winning the 2009 PGA Championship golf tournament at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota August 16, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

South Korean Yang Yong-eun took the first Asian victory in men’s golf majors Sunday as he pushed aside 14-time major winner Tiger Woods in the U.S. PGA Championship.

Yang, ranked 110th in the world, fired a two-under-par 70 in the last round to finish first at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota with an eight-under 280.

Yang came from behind to snatch the lead for the first time in the par-four 14th before he upset the overwhelming favorite Woods who had to settle for the second with a total of 283.

American Woods, 33, failed to seize his 15th major title after he missed four birdie putts from 12 feet or less to card an erratic 75 featuring five bogeys and two birdies.

Britons Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy signed off with matching 70s to share third place at three-under 285.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia bagged the Cincinnati Open victory after stunning world number one Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday.

Former world number one Jankovic took the second title of the year with more ease in the final after scraping to win the semifinals against Russian Elena Dementieva in two hours and 46 minutes.

Jankovic did not give Safina much of a chance when she rushed to take the first set and surged to lead at 3-0 in the second.

Top seed Safina hit back to trail just 3-2 but Jankovic then reeled off the next three games to clinch the victory.

South Korea’s Yang Young-eun’s win at the 91st PGA Championship has once again underlined the growing strength of the game in Asia with the Asian Tour playing a big role in the development of the game in the continent.

Voted Korean PGA Tour rookie of the year in 1999, Yang honed his game in Asia where he played regularly from 1999 to 2003 before moving on to Japan where he won five titles.

The South Korean’s big break on the Asian Tour came in 2006 when he won his maiden title at the Kolon Hana Bank Korea Open.

The year was made even more memorable when he won the HSBC Champions in Shanghai by beating Tiger Woods in an elite field that included 10 of the world’s top-20 players.

Yang followed the footsteps of compatriot and Asian Tour’ s honorary member, K.J Choi by moving to the U.S. PGA Tour after earning his Tour card from Qualifying School in 2007.

Asia has been yearning for a Major champion since Lu Liang-huan of Chinese Taipei came close with a runner-up finish to Lee Trevino at Royal Birkdale in 1971 and Yang has now inked his place in history following his three-shot victory over Woods at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota on Sunday.

Whenever YE Yang was in a tournament with Tiger Woods, he would sit in the clubhouse and think about playing against one of the world’s most famous athletes.

He’d visualize different scenarios, come up with strategies.

Deep down, he had a secret that he shared with no one: Yang would imagine beating Woods.

“The good players, the great names that you’ve mentioned, when they tee off with Tiger, their competitive juices sort of flow out and they go head to head and try to win,” Yang said through an interpreter. “For me, I don’t consider myself as a great golfer. I’m still more of the lower-than-average PGA Tour player.”

Not anymore. In a matter of four hours on Sunday, Yang’s life – and that of aspiring golfers around the world – changed forever.

Not only did the 37-year-old South Korean become the first Asian player to win one of golf’s majors – the PGA Championship – he beat none other than the sport’s No 1 player to do it. Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia – they all tried and failed.

Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters, who has just come back after a two-year break from the game, has applied for a wildcard at the China Open, which will be held from Oct 2-11in Beijing, the event’s organizers said on Tuesday.

The former world No 1, who took the hiatus to start a family, made a stunning return to the WTA Tour last week in Cincinnati, reaching the quarterfinals.

She is continuing her comeback at the current Rogers Cup in Toronto where, on Tuesday, she beat British qualifier Elena Baltacha in the first round. The 26-year-old former US Open champion will meet China’s Zheng Jie, who ousted Russia’s Elena Vesnina, in the next round.

Having been absent from the sport for two years, Clijsters would struggle to qualify for the China Open in time, so she applied for a wildcard.

Her application received a warm welcome from the organizers.

“We are very glad that Clijsters has applied for a wildcard into the China Open. It’s a good news for Chinese tennis fans,” said Zhang Junhui, managing director of the China Open. “We will be sure to leave one wildcard for her.

“According to her current situation, she may reach the top 50 in time. Then, there is no need for a wildcard.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled its veteran leader Jaswant Singh from the primary leadership of the party Wednesday, two days after the release of his controversial book in praise of Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The decision to expel the 71-year-old leader, who has held the portfolios of finance, defence and external affairs in BJP-led governments, was taken by the party’s parliamentary board, said BJP president Rajnath Singh.

He has also been stripped of all party posts.

“He is now not a member of any forum of the party. I tried to inform him yesterday on the phone but he had left for Shimla,” the BJP chief said about the leader who arrived in Shimla Tuesday afternoon for the three-day ‘chintan baithak’ (introspection session) of the party.

Jaswant Singh, he added, had been informed in the morning that he should not attend the chintan baithak that took the decision to expel him during its first sitting at the historic Peterhoff complex.

On Tuesday, Rajnath Singh said the BJP had dissociated itself from the Jaswant Singh’s views on Jinnah.

After the undemocratic way in which the BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party) has behaved over the Jaswant Singh expulsion, there was more embarrassment left in store for the party when Sudheendra Kulkarni quit the party. Kulkarni, who is regarded to be a close aide to prime party honchos like senior BJP leader L. K. Advani and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has cited “ideological differences” for distancing himself from the party.

The 52 year old Kulkarni, who was the former speech writer of Advani, stated that he was bringing an end to his “active association” with the party not in an opposition against the ousting of party member Jaswant Singh, related to Singh’s newly published book on Pakistan founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah titled “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence. His sole aim for taking up this course of action is in an effort to guarantee the “freedom of speech” for himself. Kulkarni has told the PTI, “I have, after 13 years of being a full time activist of BJP, decided to end my active association with the party. I continue, however, to be its well wisher.”

The announcement was made today. According to sources, Kulkarni is supposed to have told a news channel, “From now on I will be totally independent. I will work with like minded members of other parties..”

Sudheendra Kulkarni, a key aide of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani and previously of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has ended his association with the party over “ideological differences”.

He, however, maintained that his decision had nothing to do with the expulsion of Jaswant Singh over his book “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence”.

“I decided to end my association with the BJP several weeks back. My decision has nothing to do with the unfortunate incident of Jaswant Singh-ji,” Kulkarni told Times Now.

He said he would continue to be a well-wisher of the party and added: “I have the highest regard for Advani-ji and Atal Bihari Vajpayee-ji, whom I have worked with for 13 years.”

Kulkarni, who began his political activism as a Communist, worked in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) during Vajpayee’s time and served as his speech writer, media adviser and political aide.