HCM CITY — Malaysian Nicholas Fung won the final at the Mercedes-Benz Masters Vietnam on Saturday.
The 20-year-old from Sabah beat Thailand's Panuphol Pittayarat, aged 17, 4&3 at Song Be Golf Resort in Binh Duong Province.
| VN emerging tournament destination Martin Schulz, Mercedes-Benz's Director of Sales and Marketing talk about the prospect of Viet Nam tournaments. What do you think of the prospect of golf in Viet Nam? Viet Nam really has a tradition of golf, which saw the first golf course in Da Lat in the 1950s. The country is now emerging as a golf destination. Golf has been improving a lot. More and more Vietnamese golfers are engaging the game and for sure in few years of time more and more top players with world-ranking would come from Viet Nam. How does Mercedes-Benz contribute to developing golf? Mercedes-Benz has two kinds of golf tournaments. The amateur competition or MB Trophy, is the biggest amateur golf tournament in Viet Nam. The Masters was established in 2007, providing a platform to identify and nurse talented young golfers. This year golfers even had a chance to qualify some big international tournaments, for example, the best six players today qualify for the Singapore Barclay Open. — VNS |
"It's my first victory. I am so happy. People here are great and supported me in the tournament.
I was a little nervous on the first nine, but calmed down on the back. I kept my ball in play really well this week, which was the key. I had two really tough matches on the first day so it's hard to believe I am standing here now as winner," said Fung.
He moved into third position on the Mercedes-Benz Tour Order of Merit with $21,373 in winnings.
Panuphol won $8,000 for what is his fifth second place finish of the season. He was runner up in the Mercedes-Benz Masters Singapore in August and also finished second in three events in Thailand.
In the playoff for third and fourth place Wisut Artjanawat from Thailand beat Filipino Rey Pagunsan.
Viet Nam's top golfer Tran Le Duy Nhat reached the second round and received $1,250. Nhat also plans to compete in the Mercedes-Benz Masters Indonesia, which is the season-ending Tour Championship.
According to Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Chu, General Secretary of Viet Nam Golf Association, to develop the sport, the golf courses need to have incentive price policies to allow more children to approach the sport.
The authorities also need to develop more public golf courses, which would allow more people to practice golf as well as develop the competition systems for young people. — VNS
