Bookmakers pop the champagne

[dave nz]

Bookmakers are popping the champagne corks after another big-priced underdog won a golf major championship. Korea's Y.E. Yang became the first Asian to win a major today, coming from two shots behind unbackable favouirte Tiger Woods. Yang was matched at the maximum 999/1 (£168 matched) with Betfair while TAB Sportsbet went 250/1 pre-tournament. And the Korean was as much as 24/1 on Betfair before the final round. The TAB laid one bet of $1,800 at 16/1 on Yang. Woods traded as low as 1.16 when holding a four-shot lead in the third round and it was the first time he has relinguished a 54-hole lead in a major.

It is worth noting that the 37 year-old Yang had defeated Woods previously in a head-to-head battle at the HSBC Champions in China in 2006. Meanwhile, Irish bookie Paddy Power were made to pay for one of their famous PR moves, after they paid out Woods backers after two rounds.