18 year-old Korean Noh Seung-yul beats fellow countryman K.J. Choi by one in Malaysia

Sunday, March 7, 2010 9:23 am (Eastern)

By SAL JOHNSON
Publisher, GOLFOBSERVER
E-mail me at: Golfersal@aol.com

18-year-old Seung-yu produced the unlikeliest of birdies at the final hole to shot a final round 68 for a 14-under-par 274 and a one shot victory.

Korean teen sensation Noh Seung-yul shot a final round 68 including a birdie on the final hole for a dramatic one-stroke victory over countryman K.J. Choi thus depriving Choi win winning the Malaysian double victory.

Photo: © Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images With the win Noh Seung-yul gets to play full time on the European Tour.

For the 18 year-old who won the 2008 Midea China Classic and was the Asian Tour's Rookie-of-the-Year, he was 2 back of Choi on the 16th tee but with a birdie at 16 and a Choi bogey at 17, both were tied going into the 634 yard final hole. After a poor drive, then a second shot in a awkward position, he had a tough pitch over a bunker and hit a great shot to within 18 inches for the win. Choi, who was in the group in front of Seung-yul had birdied the hole by making a tough 5-footer but it didn't matter.

Just by chance Choi and Seung-yul had played a practice round together and when Seung-yul told him that he hadn't won, Choi answered back, "isn't it about time you won?"

After his victory, Seung-Yul told the media:
"My plan right now is to gain more experience playing on the bigger stage. My biggest goal is to try and qualify for the US PGA Tour through Q-School. But with my victory, it changes some of my plans. If I split my time between Japan, Europe and Asia, I think it will be a good experience. My plan is to try and play as many major global tournaments as possible. I think playing worldwide will set a foundation for me in securing playing spots in the US PGA Tour. K.J. has been a role model for me. Obviously K.J grew up on an island in Korea and I also lived near the ocean for seven years. I have been looking up to K.J. as a junior. I sort of imagined what it would be to play against global stars like K.J. or Tiger Woods."

With the win it elevates the career of Seung-yul who automatically gets to play on the European Tour for the rest of the year. He has advanced quite a bit on the Asian Tour and his native of Korea so it's the next logical step in the develop of him, to see if he has the potential to be as good as some say he can be.

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