The stunning recovery shot on the 72nd hole which helped Noh Seung-yul win the Maybank Malaysian Open has been voted The European Tour Shot of the Month for March.
The South Korean teenager appeared to have put his chance of beating his golfing idol KJ Choi in jeopardy when his approach shot to the final hole at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club veered left and ended up on the edge of the practice putting green.
However Noh produced a miraculous escape, pitching his ball from a thin strip of grass over a pathway and a greenside bunker down a sloping green to within three feet of the hole to secure the birdie four that saw him beat Choi by a shot to become the youngest professional in history to win a European Tour event.
The shots which took second and third place in the March contest were both played on the final day of the Tropheé Hassan II in Morocco.
Runner-up honours went to the eventual champion, Rhys Davies of Wales, for the exquisite pitch he played from the rough to within four feet of the hole on the testing 425 yard 16th hole, while third place went to the man who finished third in the tournament – Finland’s Mikko Ilonen – for his superb fairway metal second shot on the 582 yard eighth hole, a shot which curved round the contours of the green before hitting the hole on his way to an eagle three.
Noh joins Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter of England who won the Shot of the Month Awards for January and February respectively. At the end of the season, the winning shot from each month will go forward to contest The European Tour Shot of the Year.
