AVONDALE, La. (AP) - Seung-Yul Noh overcame windy conditions and his nerves, shooting a 1-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.
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 honor 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 wound up with a 75 to tie for eighth at 13 under.
SWINGING SKIRTS LPGA CLASSIC
DALY CITY, Calif. (AP) - Lydia Ko birdied the final hole for her third LPGA Tour victory and first as a professional, holding off Stacy Lewis and Jenny Shin in the inaugural Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.
It went down to the final shots, and the teen made a 6-foot birdie putt moments before Lewis knocked in a 4-footer of her own to finish one stroke back.
After beginning the day a stroke behind Lewis, Ko birdied three of her final four holes on the front nine on the way to a 3-under 69 and 12-under 276 total at Lake Merced.
Ko earned $270,000, celebrating on the 18th green three days after celebrating her 17th birthday at the first tee box with the gallery singing “Happy Birthday.”
Ko will move up two spots to No. 2 in the next world ranking.
She won the Canadian Women’s Open as an amateur the last two years and took the Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters in December in Thailand in her second start as a professional. She has six victories in pro events, also winning in Australia and New Zealand.
Lewis closed with a 71. She has six runner-up finishes since winning the Women’s British Open in August.
Shin had a 68.
WNB GOLF CLASSIC
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) - Andrew Putnam won the WNB Golf Classic for his first Web.com Tour title when high wind wiped out the final round at Midland Country Club.
The 25-year-old Putnam completed seven holes and had an eight-stroke lead when play was stopped shortly after noon with sustained wind of 28 mph and gusts to 43 mph. The gusts reached 50 mph about an hour later.
Putnam, a former Pepperdine player from Tacoma, Wash., shot an 8-under 64 on Saturday to reach 20 under and open a seven-stroke advantage.
Putnam earned $108,000 to jump from sixth to second on the money list with $248,273, more than enough to earn a spot on the 2014-15 PGA Tour. His older brother, Michael, is on the PGA Tour this season and after winning the Web.com Tour money title last year.
Sweden’s Richard S. Johnson and Australia’s Rod Pamlping tied for second.
CHINA OPEN
SHENZHEN, China (AP) - France’s Alexander Levy won the China Open for his first European Tour title, beating England’s Tommy Fleetwood by four strokes.
The 23-year-old Levy closed with a 3-under 69 at Genzon Golf Club to finish at 19-under 269. Pplaying his second season on the tour, he had a career-best 10-under 62 in the second round.
Fleetwood shot a 68. Spain’s Alvaro Quiros was third at 13 under after a 72.
GUARDIAN RETIREMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) - Marissa Steen won the Guardian Retirement Championship for her first Symetra Tour title, beating China’s Yueer Cindy Feng with a short birdie putt on the fifth hole of a playoff.
The 24-year-old Steen birdied the final two holes of regulation at Sara Bay for a 3-under 69 to finish at 3-under 213 and got into the playoff when Feng closed with a par for a 73.
They matched pars on the par-5 18th on the first four playoff holes before Steen finally won.
Steen began the round four strokes behind the 18-year-old Feng, the winner of the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in March at Lake Wales.
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