NEW ORLEANS, April 26, 2014 (AFP) - The 22-year-old from Gangwon-do, ranked only 176th in the world, stood on 18-under 198 entering Sunday's final round, where he will tee off in the final pairing with Keegan Bradley, who also shot 65 to stand on 200.
"It will be fun playing in final group with Keegan," Noh said. "(I want to) keep going, playing like the first three days."
Noh, whose best US PGA finish was fourth at the National, said he was prouder of having no bogeys in the event than the 18 birdies he has fired over the first three days.
"Definitely zero bogeys," he said. "Last two days, ball striking (was) really good. A lot of chances to birdie."
Noh opened Saturday with a birdie, added two more at the fifth and eighth and chipped to seven feet to save a par at the par-3 ninth.
"A little bit I missed the green," Noh said. "Made a great chip at nine."
Noh began the back nine with a birdie, sinking a 36-foot putt, and ran off three more in a row starting with a 13-footer at the par-3 14th and followed with 10-foot birdie putts at 15 and 16.
Bradley birdied three of the first four holes and made another at eight before finding the water at the ninth and making his lone bogey of the day.
He birdied the par-5 11th from two feet, sank a 17-footer for birdie at 13 and added a four-foot birdie putt at the 15th before closing with a birdie from six feet to stay on Noh's heels.
"He's a really good player," Bradley said of Noh. "I don't know much about him but I know he has a really good swing."
- Casey wings it -
Bradley, whose first of three tour triumphs was a major at the 2011 PGA Championship, has confidence in his game. The nephew of LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley is ranked 21st in the world.
"It was a great day," Bradley said. "I've been feeling real good. I feel very in control of the golf ball and mentally I feel good out there as well."
American Robert Streb was third on 201 with countrymen Jeff Overton, Ben Martin and Andrew Svoboda sharing fourth on 202 and American Charley Hoffman and England's Paul Casey another stroke adrift sharing seventh.
Casey only arrived at the New Orleans layout on Wednesday evening after US green card application issues kept him in Los Angeles. That meant he never even had a chance to walk the tract before his early Thursday tee time. But he followed a 71 with a 68 Friday and a 64 Saturday.
"I've been very relaxed. It's from having poor preparation," Casey said. "I really had to just go out and wing it. It has gotten me this far so I'm not going to go out and change it now.
"I was leading in driving distance for the first two days and that's something I haven't done in years. When I'm hitting it long it's a good sign I'm playing well."
Scores after Saturday's third round of the $6.8 million US PGA Tour Zurich Classic (par 72, USA unless noted):
198 - Noh Seung-Yul (KOR) 65-68-65
200 - Keegan Bradley 69-66-65
201 - Robert Streb 67-66-68
202 - Jeff Overton 67-68-67, Ben Martin 62-67-73, Andrew Svoboda 64-68-70
203 - Paul Casey (ENG) 71-68-64, Charley Hoffman 68-67-68
204 - Tommy Gainey 71-66-67
205 - Tim Wilkinson (NZL) 70-70-65, Danny Lee (NZL) 71-69-65, Bud Cauley 71-68-66, Retief Goosen (RSA) 72-65-68, JB Holmes 71-65-69, Peter Hanson (SWE) 65-69-71
206 - Brooks Koepka 71-68-67, Daniel Summerhays 72-66-68, Kevin Kisner 69-68-69, Erik Compton 66-68-72
207 - Joe Durant 69-71-67, Freddie Jacobson (SWE) 72-69-66, Robert Allenby (AUS) 71-68-68, Justin Rose (ENG) 71-67-69, Mark Anderson 72-65-70, Fabian Gomez (ARG) 72-69-66, David Duval 68-69-70, Will Wilcox 68-68-71