Yes! Noh Wins Zurich Classic


Seung-Yul Noh closed with a 1-under 71 to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The 22-year-old posted four birdies and three bogeys Sunday at TPC Louisiana for a 72-hole total of 19-under 269.

Remarkably, Noh's bogeys were his first of the tournament. He went 54 holes without a dropped shot until he bogeyed the par-4 first.

Noh, already with a victory on the European Tour and two on the Asian Tour, earned his first title in America. His win in the $6.8 million PGA Tour event was worth $1.224 million, 500 FedEx Cup points and an automatic two-year Tour exemption.

Noh said the victory could prove uplifting for his home country of South Korea, which suffered the tragedy of a ferry sinking that left 300 people dead or missing and has caused much national consternation. On Sunday, the Korea's prime minister, Chung Hong-won, resigned over the government's handling of the incident.

Noh was home when the accident occurred. When asked during a greenside television interview for his thoughts at the time, he said in halting English, "Very quiet; disappointed 10 days ago."

But upon returning to competition in the States, he said he tried "to give in to happy energy."

That mindset worked, as Noh entered Sunday with a two-stroke lead over 2011 PGA champion Keegan Bradley and held serve throughout the day, finishing two shots clear of Andrew Svoboda (69) and Robert Streb (70).

Alone in fourth at 16-under was Jeff Overton (70), while another two strokes back were Robert Garrigus (64), Erik Compton (68) and Charley Hoffman (71). The 8-under outing by Garrigus was the low final round.

Reigning U.S. Open champion Justin Rose had a 68 to share eighth at 13-under with Tommy Gainey (71) and Bradley, who had three birdies, three bogeys and a damaging triple on the par-4 sixth hole for a 75.

Tied for 11th at 12-under 276 were Sweden's Peter Hanson (71), England's Paul Casey (73) and Americans J.B. Holmes and Bud Cauley, who each closed with 71s.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.