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Once mong the most highly touted Asian prospects ever as a teenager, Korea’s Seung-Yul Noh took a major step towards fulfilling that promise by claiming his first PGA Tour victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.  The event’s seventh first-time winner in its last 10 playings, Noh wore yellow and black ribbons in memory of the victims of a recent maritme tragedy in his homeland and was right in the mix from the beginning, opening with rounds of 65-68 at the TPC of Louisiana.  A third-round 65 (keyed by three straight birdies at holes 14-16) then moved him two strokes ahead of the pack and required Noh to sleep on his first 54-hole PGA Tour lead – the pressure of which was seemingly felt when he opened Sunday’s final round with his first bogey of the tournament.  A 2nd-hole birdie by 2011 PGA Champion Keegan Bradley brought him into a tie with Noh but perhaps surprisingly, it was Major champion Bradley who wilted under the pressure, missing a two-footer for ar at the 5th, then driving into the water at the par-4 6th en route to a crippling triple bogey – and, eventually, a tie for 8th.  This left Noh free to play an up-and-down back nine, with his one-under-par 71 proving enough to beat Andrew Svoboda and Robert Streb by two, and Jeff Overton (who briefly moved within one before bogeying the 11th hole) by three...................Despite a few anxious moments on the final nine, 23-year-old Frenchman Alexander Levy broke through for his first victory on the European Tour, claiming a four-shot triumph over England's Tommy Fleetwood at the Volvo China Open.  After opening with a 68 in the tournament's maiden visit to the Genzon Golf Club, Levy surged to a four-stroke halfway lead via a near-perfect second round in which he recorded eight birdies and an eagle for a career-best 10-under-par 62.  After turning in 35 on Saturday, he appeared on the verge of a runaway after birdieing the 11th, 12th and 13th in succession, but late bogeys at the 14th and 16th saw him home in 70, good enough to close Saturday with a three-shot margin.  Having slept on his first solo 54-hole lead, Levy then began Sunday playing strong, methodical golf, carding three birdies over his first 13 holes to hold a seemingly commanding five-shot cushion.  But a sloppy double-bogey at the par-4 15th gave the field hope, and when Fleetwood birdied the par-5 17th moments later, the outcome for the first time began to seem in doubt.  But rather than simply hang on, Levy reached the 17th with a 3 iron second to card a birdie of his own, then clinched the title in style with a final birdie at the 456-yard finisher to win by four..................Forty-four-year-old Hiroyuki Fujita claimed his 16th career victory on the Japan Golf Tour at the Tsuruya Open, defeating Korea's hard-charging Sang-Hyun Park on the first hole of a sudden death playoff.  Fujita began Sunday's final round two shots behind 54-hole leader Atomu Shigenaga before carding a closing 67 that included late birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th, putting him in the clubhouse on 13-under-par 271.  Park, meanwhile, began the day five off the pace before turning in 31 to move himself into contention.  After carding two birdies and a bogey between holes 13-15, he then recorded a clutch eagle at the par-5 17th to also finish on 271.  Unfortunately, Fujita's considerable experience came to the fore in the playoff as he methodically parred the 415-yard 18th hole to raise the trophy..................Twenty-six-year-old Anirban Lahiri claimed his first Asian Tour victory oustide of his native India and his fourth overall, winning the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters in dramatic style in Jakarta.  Lahiri stood five shots off the 36-hole lead with opening rounds of 70-69 before vaulting himself up the board with a spectacular bogey-free 64 on Saturday, then opening with birdies at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes on a rain-interrupted Sunday.  Having pressed himself further into the heart of the action with a birdie at the 12th, Lahiri bounced back from a potentially disastrous double-bogey at the par-4 13th with another birdie at the 14th.  Meanwhile, Korea's Seuk-Hyun Baek had turned in 31 en route to the closing 65 which made him the leader in the clubhouse, leaving Lahiri in need of a birdie at the par-5 18th to force a playoff. - but Lahiri instead reached the green in two and coolly holed a 20-footer for eagle to steal the trophy.

Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 11:53AM by Registered CommenterDaniel | Comments Off