FanHouse K.j.Choi

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you may have missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Yang Holds on in Florida -- Before Sunday, Y.E. Yang was a name most golf fans probably had never heard of. A star on the Japan Tour, Yang is known by American golf fans as the guy who beat Tiger Woods in the 2006 HSBC Championship in China.

It might be time to remember him for more than that.

If you had only watched the PGA Tour on Thursday and Saturday this week, you'd probably be wondering how many tournaments Phil Mickelson has won this year.

The answer, of course, is zero, as Lefty has struggled the entire year leading up to the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles where he won last season. The first round was a bogey free 63 where Mickelson needed only 22 putts.

A lot of "experts" talk about Camilo Villegas like he is still one of the next big stars. The thing is, the extremely good looking, muscular, Colombian hero who probably lands more women than a Gynecology waiting room doesn't really ever win. Honestly, he's probably best known for the maneuver he's doing in the picture that is supposed to help him reads putts better (?).

On Tuesday, Villegas fans can take solace in his victory at a skins game event, where he took home the gold with a chip-off against Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Stewart Cink and Notah Begay III.

The rising Colombian star won a chipoff Tuesday against Singh, Weir, Cink, and Begay III to walk away with top money at the inaugural Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge at Turning Stone Resort's Atunyote Golf Club.

Villegas' winning pitch on the extra hole of the skins game competition boosted his earnings for the day to $220,000. Singh won two holes to finish with $180,000, and Cink finished with one skin worth $100,000 from the total purse of $500,000.

Now I know what you're probably asking yourself, so let me answer all the fuzziness for you. Yes, a chip-off is the lamest thing possible to decide the victor. The only thing worse than that is tossing a tee in the air and seeing who it points to. Yes, like you I was about a month away from totally forgetting who Notah Begay was. Yes, there could be a more random five-some on the PGA Tour, but not by much (I'm picturing a little K.J. Choi, Ian Poulter and Fuzzy Zoeller).

I guess the budding star that is Villegas will have this to hang his hat on. Sure, he's been on tour for three seasons without a victory, but the next time he is in that situation, I'm sure this chip-off victory will be that experience he's needed to finally pull through.

After the news broke that Tiger Woods was done for the rest of the season, golf fans sat, jaw open, wondering what was going to happen to their beloved sport.

From a story that nobody could realistically write, 53-year-old Greg Norman has hovered over the links at Royal Birkdale in a fashion that makes you think it's 1993, not 2008, leading after 54 holes at the British Open.

A round of two-over 72 today, with a chip on the last that nearly disappeared for a closing birdie, has to be one of the most impressive rounds of his illustrious career in winds that were knocking golf balls around like a golfer tossing up blades of grass.

"I put it in the top three toughest rounds I've ever played," Norman said after the round. "My play has been reflective of my mindset which is good. I'm enjoying it and as long as I keep enjoying what I'm doing, a happy mind brings a lot of happiness."

Norman bounced back from a double-bogey on the 10th hole with birdies on the 14th and 17th, closing his last nine at even par while everyone else struggled.

He hasn't won a PGA Tour event since 1997 and he hasn't led a major since the infamous collapse at Augusta in 1996, but Norman has that rare chance to completely rewrite his legacy. In 18 simple, links golf holes Norman could go from notorious choke artist to living legend, Jack Nicklaus at the Masters in 1986 be damned.

The Shark has defending champion Padraig Harrington, steady K.J. Choi and young gun Anthony Kim biting at his heels, but it hasn't seemed to bother him thus far.

If you're not excited about the possibility of this story unfolding tomorrow, you just don't love sports. Greg Norman is slowly making this Open Championship the most exciting we've seen in years.

Say what you want about the current leaderboard, but K.J. Choi should never surprise anyone.

A lengthy birdie putt on the 18th disappeared and suddenly Greg Norman wasn't the leader anymore. Choi's three-under 67 has him the only player in red figures at the Open Championship, one below par as he heads to the weekend.

A seven time winner on the PGA Tour, Choi was in contention at last year's British Open before finishing in a tie for 8th, his only top-10 in the Open ever.

After the round, Choi (painfully) spoke to TNT's Jim Huber.

"After number three (where i made birdie) my swing was working and I felt comfortable and confidence on every hole."

Choi continued to speak during the interview about hitting the ball in the middle of the green and just trying to keep the ball out of trouble, which was on display today with only one bogey, on the first hole.

No Asian player has ever won the Open Championship, so Choi has a chance to make history in more ways than one if he continues to hit the ball like this. Another continent with no British winners? Antarctica, surprisingly.

Still on the course is David Duval, who is two-under on his round and just two shots back of Choi. Duval is the only player in the top-20 that is still on the course, with just three holes to go, but is currently making a mess of the 16th hole.

Greg Norman would not have been your first prediction for British Open leader, two days in (he'll still be there, assuming K.J. Choi or Ian Poulter don't close out two under). However, you might have at least wagered on him at somewhere between 300 and 500:1, considering that he is a fairly popular name in the history of golf.

Darren Rovell points out that he if he actually holds on and wins this thing, he might go down as the most well backed huge underdog in the history of golf.

Many U.S. books, including those in Vegas, didn't even have Norman on the board. But the active shops in Europe had Norman as high as 300-to-1. It wasn't a bad read by the bookmakers. The guy hasn't played in a major since the British three years ago at St. Andrews. Those odds, for the most part, were slashed in half after Round 1, as the bookmakers don't believe Norman, who was wearing no logos aside from the familiar "Shark" logo on his hat, can keep up this pace.

Rovell picked up the tip from a few friends at sportsbooks and also points out that there have been bigger longshots, although most of them probably didn't carry a ton of money. (John Daly, Ben Curtis, Rich Beem, Todd Hamilton are all names that [don't] stand out in terms of having people bet on them before they won their first major.)

There's still plenty of weekend golf left, and there are still plenty of big, dangerous names lurking around the shark. Besides, he'd only dropped to 50:1 at BoDog before the second round, so if you don't believe, you're not the only one.

About a year ago, fans in the greater Washington, DC area busted out the golf clap because not only had Tiger Woods saved the PGA's presence in the area, his tournament would replace the event formerly known as the Booz Allen, and before that, the Kemper Open.

In the first ever AT&T National, Woods finished sixth, seven shots behind winner K.J. Choi. This year, a week after having his second knee surgery in three months, doctors have advised Tiger to stay away from the event altogether. Which could mean we won't even see him golf-carting it around the property like he's Bobby Jones at the Masters.

Still, Woods seemed less concerned about taking it easy than the guys responsible for reconstructing his left leg:

"But who knows," said Woods, speaking in a conference call from his home in Orlando. "I don't listen to my doctors too well." ... "I'm in a straight leg brace," he said. "I'm letting everything calm down for three weeks post-op. Then I can start some weight bearing and gradually start putting weight on the knee and flexing it. I will be on crutches for those three weeks."

That said, Eldrick did admit that flying aggravates the injury, and the chance he shows up are pretty much nonexistent. Woods also discussed how he tried to mitigate the pain associated with the torn ACL, an injury he says occurred a year ago while jogging: