23 June 2010: The award-winning Ocean Dunes Golf Club in Phan Thiet, designed by Sir Nick Faldo, will once again play host to some of the country’s most promising young golfers when the third edition of the Faldo Series Vietnam Championship tees off on August 7-8.
Located 200km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City on Vietnam’s south central coast, the Faldo Design layout at Ocean Dunes is often voted one of the country’s best golf courses. The 148-yard ninth hole on the links-style course has been ranked the ‘Best Par-3 Hole in Vietnam’ and one of the ‘Best 500 Holes in the World’.
Vietnam’s female star Ngo Bao Ngi will be hoping to repeat last year’s victory and book another trip to the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final at Mission Hills Golf Club in China. However the 17 year-old from Vungtau City will face a strong challenge not just from her compatriots but also from overseas as the Vietnam leg is one of eight tournaments on the 2010/2011 Faldo Series Asia schedule open to players from across the region.
The Vietnam Championship will give talented young golfers aged 12 to 21 the chance to benefit from 36 holes of top level competition under strict tournament conditions. The mixed field of boys and girls, who will also receive expert advice from a guest speaker off the course, will be divided into three age categories, two for boys (Under-21 and Under-16) and one for girls (Under-21). The winner of each category will qualify for the fifth Grand Final next March, an R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking event hosted by the six-time Major winner on the Faldo Course at Mission Hills.
Younger children from the local community will also gain access to golf at the Faldo Series Vietnam Championship as part of a grass-roots training programme launched by Ocean Dunes at the inaugural event in 2008. The programme’s success was evident 12 months later when some of those beginners who had attended the first free golf clinic and watched the competitors in action returned the following year as competitors themselves.
Underwritten by Faldo himself, the Faldo Series Asia is supported by major partners ISPS, Mission Hills and The R&A as well as official golf wear partner Alpine Creations. It is also endorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Federation (APGC).
Further to the success of the Faldo Series Europe, launched in 1996, the Faldo Series Asia was established in 2006 to help develop the region’s next generation of champions. Over 30 Faldo Series tournaments now take place in more than 25 countries across the UK, Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia and former winners include Tour champions Rory McIlroy, Nick Dougherty, Marc Warren, Melissa Reid, Florentyna Parker and Yani Tseng.
The Vietnam Championship will be the seventh event on the 2010/2011 Faldo Series Asia schedule which features a record 17 tournaments in 12 different countries including six in mainland China plus others in The Philippines, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Thailand.
The 2009/2010 Faldo Series Asia boys’ title was won by 14 year-old Masamichi Ito from Japan and the girls’ title by Thidapa Suwannapura, 17, of Thailand. Both will be invited to play in a professional tournament on the Asian Tour and Ladies European Tour respectively and both have earned exemptions into the Faldo Series Europe Grand Final, to be played over the Faldo Course at the Lough Erne Resort in Northern Ireland on September 21-23.
For details on entry into the Faldo Series Vietnam Championship on August 7-8, please email kurt.greve@vietnamgolfresorts.com.