Army duty hardly makes Korean golf hero seem rusty

Noh Seung-Yul wowed his home fans with a best-of-the-day 65 in testing conditions at the CJ Cup Friday and then revealed he hadn’t played for weeks because of impending military service.

The South Korean was without a caddie this week and had to ask his “quite useful” dad to carry his bag as he returned a card 14 strokes better than his opening 79 at Nine Bridges Golf Club on Jeju Island.

His seven-under par round was even more remarkable as the feared Jeju Island wind finally bared its teeth meaning the likes of first-round leader Justin Thomas struggled to a two-over par 74 after his opening nine-under 63.

“I only found out on Sunday that I had got into this event,” Noh, who won the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2014, told reporters.

“I start my military service in a month, so for a long time I hadn’t actually played any golf.”

The 25-year-old flew to Jeju on Monday having laid off his regular caddie that he uses in the US before joining the army for two years, a mandatory requirement for all South Korean young men.

“I needed a caddie and I remembered I had worked with my father at the Genesis Open and I found him to be quite useful so that’s how he has joined me here.”

The wind caused a logjam at the top of the leaderboard with the top 14 players within four strokes of each other.