National top player Nguyen Anh Minh and teammates will compete in the Southeast Asian Amateur Golf Team Championships 2024 from July 9-12 in Singapore. - Vietnam News
HANOI: Some of the best young Vietnamese golfers will aim for high results in the South-East Asian Amateur Golf Team Championships (SEAAGTC) 2024 from July 9-12 in Singapore.
Supported by the R&A, a total of 10 countries have confirmed their participation. They are Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei and Hong Kong who will feature at the award-winning Seletar Country Club.
Vietnam will send a team of 16 and compete in four tournaments of the championships.
The Putra Cup, initiated in 1961 by Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, was designed to foster closer ties among Asean nations and elevate the regional standard of golf.
Complementing this legacy, Singapore introduced the Lion City Cup in 2004 to recognise the region’s best male golfers under 16 while Thailand started the Santi Cup in 2009 to feature the top women amateurs, followed by Indonesia with the Kartini Cup in 2013 to highlight junior girls under 16.
The 61st Putra Cup will open for male golfers of all ages. Vietnamese representatives are national No 1 Nguyen Anh Minh, Vietnam Amateur Open champion Doan Uy, SEA Games winner Le Khanh Hung, and reigning champion of the National Junior Championship Nguyen Duc Son.
The 13th Santi Cup, which is for women golfers of all ages, will see Vietnam Lady Amateur winner Doan Xuan Khue Minh, Vietnam Golf Association (VGA) Junior Tour series winner Nguyen Bao Chau, and Nguyen Vu Hoang Anh.
The 15th Lion City Cup is for the boys' U16 with three Vietnamese representatives Nguyen Trong Hoang, Nguyen Tuan Anh and Ho Anh Huy.
Meanwhile Arena Tran, Anna Le and Nguyen Viet Gia Han are three players of Vietnam at the ninth Kartini Cup for girls' U16 players.
Competitors will have a practice day on Monday (July 8) before competing in four rounds under stroke play format for both individual and team titles.
"This year, Vietnam take part in all four events with our best athletes, who have recently recorded high results in the national amateur championships, such as Anh Minh, Doan Uy, and Khue Minh," said Vu Nguyen, general secretary of the VGA.
"We set to win up to five medals including two golds from the 2024 SEAAGTC and all will focus on the prestigious Putra Cup."
The SEAAGTC is the most important event of Vietnam's golf team in 2024 when there is no international tournament.
With Anh Minh's Taiwan Amateur Championship trophy and Duc Son's Faldo Series Asia Grand Final title, Vietnam prove a strong threat at this year SEAAGTC edition.
Last season, Duc Son won individual gold of the Lion City Cup and Vietnam took silver of the Putra Cup's team category, a significant milestone that marked a turning point in the country’s golf history, coming on the heels of their first-ever gold medal in golf at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games. – Vietnam News/ANN
