Another Woods streak ends as Yang holds on

Tiger Woods’ streak is over.

Woods failed to win a 72-hole tournament for the first time since July 9, finishing two shots behind South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun in the HSBC Champions on Sunday in Shanghai.

Yang, a regular on the Japanese tour who has played infrequently outside Asia, closed with a three-under 69 Sunday for a 14-under 274 and a two stroke victory over Woods at the HSBC Champions tournament.

The loss ended his streak of stroke-play victories, dating to his runner-up finish to Trevor Immelman on July 9 in the Western Open.

The only streak that remains for Woods is his six straight victories on the PGA Tour. The HSBC Champions is sanctioned by the European, Asian, Australasian and South African tours, and was the first official tournament of the 2007 European tour season.

Woods’ overall winning streak ended at the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in September when he was eliminated in the first round.

“I wasn’t quite good enough,” Woods said after shooting a 73 Saturday that put him five shots behind Yang. “Yesterday just killed me. I was so far back and Yang just played a great stretch of holes and just put it out of reach for all of us that were six or seven under trying to make a run at him.”

Third-round leader Retief Goosen tied for third at 11 under with Michael Campbell, who matched the course record with a 64.

*

Lorena Ochoa wrapped up the LPGA Tour’s player of the year award with a record-setting finish in the Tournament of Champions.

Ochoa shot a seven-under 65 for a 10-stroke victory and a tournament-record 21-under 267 total. She ran her winning streak to three with her sixth victory of the year and earned $150,000 to push her season total to $2.49 million.

Ochoa closed with a 13-foot par putt to break the previous tournament record of 20 under set by Se Ri Pak in 2002.

Ochoa won the player of the year for the first time, ending Annika Sorenstam’s five-year reign.

Paula Creamer and Juli Inkster tied for second at 11 under.

*

Craig Kanada played his way onto the PGA Tour, holing dramatic chips on the final two holes for a one-stroke victory in the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship in Richmond, Texas. Kanada, 10 positions out of a PGA Tour spot at the start of the week, closed with a 66 to finish at 13-under 275. Matt Kuchar (73) and Andrew Buckle (69) tied for second.

Kanada earned $135,000 for the victory that boosted him to 11th on the money list with $297,744, the largest comeback in the history of the Nationwide Tour Championship.