Amateur golfer wins Vietnam pro tournament

On the last day of the tournament, Minh played 74 strokes, scoring two birdies and four bogeys. At the start, Minh was leading second placed Truong Chi Quan by two strokes. After seven holes, the lead remained unchanged. Then at the 11th hole, thanks to a birdie, Quan caught up to Minh. Both players had a score of +3 at the time.

However, things changed by the 12th hole when Quan hit a double bogey after hitting a water hazard with his second stroke, with Minh on par. This gave Minh the lead with two strokes.

At the 18th hole, both players had a chance to score a birdie. Quan went first but missed the hole, as did Minh. Overall, Minh won with a score of +3.

Quan finished second (+4), along with amateur player Le Khanh Hung.

“I’m really happy with this result. My father is my motivation in this tournament. I will train harder to achieve good results in the upcoming SEA Games,” Minh said.

In the women’s event, Nguyen Thao My finished first (+6), followed by Doan Xuan Khue Minh (+13).

According to the prize pool, Minh will get VND270 million ($11,800) while My pockets VND35 million. However, as an amateur, Minh will only get VND23 million as he’s not a pro golfer, according to the new regulation set by Vietnam Golf Association earlier this year.

2022 Lexus Challenge, hosted at Trang An Golf Course in the northern province of Ninh Binh from March 8 to 12, is the first tournament hosted by Vietnam Golf Association this year. It attracted 134 golf players from pro to amateur levels – a record number of participants for a golf tournament in Vietnam.