Hend, Yang look to join Wentworth’s surprise winners

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3:09 PM ET

The BMW PGA Championship knows how to throw out an unexpected champion or two.

For every Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Colin Montgomerie, there’s an Andrew Oldcorn, an Ignacio Garrido, a Simon Khan.

And, of course, last year’s champion Byeong Hun An, the then-world No.132 who carded a final-round 65 to win by six — not only the biggest winning margin since Bernhard Langer in 1993, but also a 21-under-par 267 that beat the tournament record by a full two shots.

For 2016’s ones to watch on the potential surprise list, read first-round leaders Scott Hend and Y.E. Yang.

With a combined age of 86, Australian Hend, 42, and Korean Yang, 44, took advantage of glorious conditions in Surrey to card 7-under-par rounds of 65 and top the leaderboard from around 1:30pm. They were never replaced.

While inside the top 100 at world No.85, Australian Hend is a journeyman golfer on the Asian Tour for much of his career with a handful of wins — including the Thailand Classic in March.

And who can forget Yang becoming the first player to come from behind to beat Tiger Woods at a major when he claimed the 2009 PGA Championship? It all went downhill from there, though. After reaching a career-high world No.19 …

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