(28-09-2007)

HA NOI — A professional Asian golf tournament will be organised for the first time in Viet Nam, called the Hana Bank Viet Nam Masters, announced Nguyen Trong Hy, deputy minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, yesterday.

The event, sanctioned by the Asian Tour, a member of the International Federation of the PGA Tour, is to take place at the 54 Hole Phoenix Golf and Resort in Hoa Binh Province, southwest of Ha Noi.

DA LAT — Malaysian Nicholass Chee Yung Fung took the men’s title after a two-over-par 74 final round at the Viet Nam Amateur Open at Da Lat Palace Golf Club yesterday.

Fung,18, has been playing golf for six years. After four rounds he finished the first Viet Nam Amateur Open in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on 277 (-11).

Meanwhile Fung’s teammate Akhmal Nazari finished second with a four-over-par 76 in the final round and a total score of 285 (-3).

Viet Nam’s Tran Le Duy Nhat finished the final round with a 69 to come third overall.

Tran Le Duy Nhat is the first Vietnamese golfer to compete in a state professional league sanctioned by the US National Golf Federation after making it through the qualified round last Monday in California.

 Surpassing 140 contenders at Red Hawk golf course in Murrieta, Nhat – who turns 18 in two months – secures a spot to the California State Open Championship 2007, which lasts from September 25-29 at the same venue.