The amateur couple leads the men's group Lexus Challenge
Amateur born in 2008 Le Khanh Hung occupied the top of the table with a score of -3 on The Bluffs par71 in Xuyen Moc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Next to Khanh Hung is T2 (-2) including the defending champion in the same category, 16-year-old Nguyen Anh Minh and two professional players - Nguyen Tuan Kiet, Truong Chi Quan. Right below T2 are three hands standing T5 (even par), including the first-generation Lexus Challenge cup owner Tran Le Duy Nhat.
Considering the scoring performance according to the actual battle area, Khanh Hung and Tuan Kiet only had one bogey, in which Khanh Hung was in the first half of the field, in contrast to Tuan Kiet. Chi Quan and Anh Minh are both bogeys. However, Chi Quan's two misses were on the back half of the course, while Anh Minh bogeyed on each half of the course designed by golf legend Greg Norman.
Regarding the number of birdies in the whole match, Khanh Hung scored four times like Chi Quan, Anh Minh and Tuan Kiet three times.
The opening day of the Lexus Challenge has some impressive technical details. Tran Le Duy Nhat scored 6 birdies, the most in the round, but his round score was only par, because of four bogeys and a double bogey on hole 8.
Tran Van Hoang is the only eagle owner, at hole 5 par5. This golfer also had two birdies, but finished at T35 (+7), due to five bogeys and two double bogeys.
In contrast to the performance, amateur Vu Tuong Huy stood at the bottom of the table with the highest positive score +35. Meanwhile, Do Thi Nhung, in the women's group, is the owner of the heaviest "crash tunnel" when hitting 12 strokes for the par3 4-hole.
Yesterday's opening round recorded the par4 18 hole as the most difficult hole. Here, the whole men's group only had five birdies, 40 pars, 39 bogeys and 25 double bogeys or worse, while the women's bracket scored best at par (twice), eight bogeys and seven double bogeys or worse. Lexus Challenge 2023 has 109 men, 17 women.
VGA Tour is established and managed by the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA), operating from March 2022, with five tournaments for the opening season, in which the Lexus Challenge is at the top of the calendar. This year, the event also holds the leading position in the program, then six tournaments, including the grand final of the Tour Championship in December. The tournaments on the VGA Tour are all four-round stroke play.
At the 2019 launch, the Lexus Challenge only had a male group, then postponed for two years because of Covid-19.
In the year of 2022 re-export, the tournament takes place on Champion par72 of Trang An Golf & Country Club, adding a women's group with a bonus fund of 100 million VND. At that time, Nguyen Thao My finished first at +6, Khanh Hung shared the runner-up with Chi Quan and Anh Minh at the age of 15 established a +3 victory. With that result, Anh Minh became the first and youngest amateur to own a cup in the history of professional golf in Vietnam.
Finished round 1 this year, Thao My took the first place at -1 point, two strokes away from Ngo Bao Nghi who was second. The total bonus budget for this period reached two billion dong, including 1.8 billion dong for the male branch and 200 million dong for the female branch.
