• Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Noh refuses to wilt and earns first PGA Tour win

Seung-yul Noh celebrated his win with Y.E. Yang © Getty Images

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Seung-yul Noh overcame windy conditions and his nerves, shooting a one-under 71 on Sunday to win the Zurich Classic by two shots for his first PGA Tour victory.

While Noh, the leader through three rounds, never fell out of first, he did make his first three bogeys of the tournament and briefly fell into a tie with Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA Championship winner who had the gallery behind him.

But Bradley did himself in with a bogey on the fifth hole and a triple-bogey on the sixth, while Noh remained steady enough to hold off remaining challengers.

The 22-year-old South Korean player, the youngest winner this season, wore yellow and black ribbons on his hat to honour the more than 300 dead or missing in a ferry accident in waters off his home country.

After taking the third-round lead and becoming the first to play 54 holes at TPC Louisiana without a bogey, he said he hoped he could string together one more bogey-free round and come through with a victory to lift the spirits of his nation.

He accomplished the second part, and he'll take it. His best finish in 77 previous PGA Tour starts was a tie for fourth at the 2012 AT&T National.

The seventh first-time PGA Tour winner in the last 10 years in the event, Noh finished at 19-under 269 and earned $1,224,000.

Andrew Svoboda and Robert Streb tied for second. Svoboda had a 69, and Streb shot 70.

Jeff Overton, who briefly pulled within a stroke of Noh on the back nine, had a 70 to finish fourth at 16 under.

Bradley would up with a 75 to tie for eighth at 13 under.

On Saturday, Bradley worked his way into the final group, two strokes behind Noh, with a 65.

Bradley was within a stroke after the first hole on Sunday, which saw Noh hit his drive into mulch right of the fairway en route to his first bogey of the tournament. Bradley then birdied the par-five second hole to tie Noh, to the delight of the gallery.

But just a couple of holes later, Bradley missed a par putt from less than two feet, and followed that up by hitting his drive into the water on No.6. Because of where his ball crossed the line of the elongated hazard, he had to take his drop 280 yards from the pin. Then, he three-putted to complete a pivotal two-hole stretch in which he dropped four strokes.

While Bradley never recovered from his front-nine falter, Noh still had to ward off a challenge from Overton, who was as close as one stroke when he made a 20-foot birdie putt on 10.

Overton, however, bogeyed 11 when he hit his drive into a bunker left of the fairway and his second shot over the fairway and right of the cart path. He never got closer than two strokes again.

Robert Garrigus, who narrowly made the cut on Friday, had the best score on Sunday with a 64. The round included a 374-yard drive with a tail wind on 18, which he birdied to finish at 14 under.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans leaderboard

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