Vietnamese golf prodigy claims first-round Putra Cup co-lead at SEA Amateur Team C’ships
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Nguyen Anh Minh, 17, is set to play National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division 1 golf with Oregon State University from 2025.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE GOLF ASSOCIATION
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SINGAPORE – Nguyen Anh Minh used to play with second-hand equipment when he first picked up golf at the age of seven in 2014.
Golf was an expensive sport in Vietnam back then so he would borrow clubs, hats, gloves and balls from his uncle Toan, a scratch golfer, to hone his skills at a now-defunct public course in his hometown Hanoi.
The perseverance has paid off, as a decade later, Minh has emerged as one of his country’s brightest golf stars.
His rise to prominence followed a hat-trick of national titles at the age of 14. He has already bagged four titles in 2024, including the Vietnam Amateur Open in June.
At the South-east Asian Amateur Golf Team Championships in Singapore on July 9, the 17-year-old showed his golfing prowess by firing a four-under 68 to claim a share of the individual first-round lead in the men’s Putra Cup competition.
He is tied with the Philippines’ Enrique Dimayuga and one stroke ahead of another Filipino, Carl Jano Corpus, and Hong Kong’s Shen Wang Ngai. Singapore’s Ryan Ang is joint-fifth with Thai Thanawin Lee at two under at Seletar Country Club.
Minh, 83rd in the world amateur rankings, told The Straits Times: “Golf is a very expensive sport and the struggle back then was that there were very few (professional) golfers in Vietnam... but right now it’s growing. We have a lot of juniors so it’s looking good for us.”
In 2019, Forbes magazine named Vietnam as the world’s fastest-growing golf market.
As of 2020, there were 80 golf courses in the country but that number is expected to rise to 200 by 2025 to cater to about 300,000 golfers, including locals, expatriates and travellers.
While no Vietnamese golfer has ever played on the PGA Tour or qualified for a Major, the recent boom has seen more youths taking up the sport.
Minh is hoping to be a trailblazer for the next generation of golfers, as he is set to play National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division 1 golf with Oregon State University in 2025.
On turning pro, he said: “I really hope so. I just got to keep playing some good golf in college and see what happens in the US. If my game is in a good position then I’ll consider turning pro, if not I’ll just stay back a few years to work on my game until I feel ready.”
With Minh in their ranks, Vietnam are joint-second with Hong Kong in the Putra Cup team event with their three-best scores totalling four-under 212, four shots behind leaders the Philippines. The Singapore team are a further eight strokes back at four-over 220. The Republic’s top three scores came from Ang (70), Ryan Wong (75) and Bruce Kwong (75).
Dimayuga, who won the Singapore Open Amateur title on July 5, is happy with his score, despite mixing an eagle and five birdies with three bogeys in a topsy-turvy round that included a two-hour rain delay.
Said the 22-year-old : “I was just trying to stay patient and not get too ahead of myself. I enjoy the ups and downs of it and I was just trying to make sure I have good momentum going into tomorrow because it’s going to be a long week.”
The Philippines’ Enrique Dimayuga, 22, is hoping to make it back-to-back victories after clinching the July 2-5 Singapore Open Amateur Championship.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE GOLF ASSOCIATION
In the women’s Santi Cup competition, Singaporeans Aloysa Atienza and Inez Ng are among a four-way tie atop the individual leaderboard at two-under 70 with Malaysia’s 2023 SEA Games gold medallist Ng Jing Xuen and the Philippines’ Junia Louise Gabasa.
With their 140 total, the Singapore team have a two-stroke edge over Malaysia, with the Philippines a further shot back.
Atienza, who won May’s Kuala Lumpur Amateur Open, credits her performance to improvement in her mental game. She said: “In the past, I would just shoot myself out of the tournament just because I wasn’t hitting it well. I think in the last three to four months, my mental game has gotten a lot better. I’m staying a lot more patient when I hit shots and just trying to focus on my tempo.”
Singapore’s Aloysa Atienza shot two-under 70 and is in a four-way tie for the lead of the Santi Cup (women’s) individual standings.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE GOLF ASSOCIATION
Singapore are also ahead in the boys’ Under-16 Lion City Cup, with Brayden Lee (68) and Troy Storm (69) first and second, while the team are nine shots ahead of Malaysia and Vietnam.
Chen Xingtong, the Singapore Open Amateur winner, is in a three-way tie for the lead in the Kartini Cup (girls’ U-16) after shooting a one-over 73. She and Denise Ng (77) put the home team second, a shot behind Thailand (149).
