Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail venue to host Asian Tour event
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Oct. 24, 2008) – Vietnam Golf & Country Club, one of just seven sterling stops on the acclaimed Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail, has been awarded the Hana Bank Vietnam Masters, the only Asian Tour event scheduled for Vietnam this season.
A mainstay of the world’s most talked-about golfing itinerary, the 36-hole Vietnam Golf & Country Club landed the Hana Bank Vietnam Masters due to the championship caliber of its Lee Trevino-designed East Course, whose treacherous greens and tight fairways make it one of Vietnam’s most challenging layouts. The four-day tournament tees off Dec. 4.
“We took a relatively short course, by professional standards, and made it one that, we think, will play as difficult as any on tour,” said Blair Cornthwaite, the club’s general manager. “It will be fun to see how it tests some of the game’s best.”
Vietnam Golf & Country Club is no stranger to big events. Last year, it served as the site of the ASEAN Golf Tour’s Mercedes-Benz Vietnam Championship, won by Mars Pucay. The veteran Filipino managed to shoot just 5-under-par on the demanding course.
Among the golfers expected to compete for a portion of the Hana Bank Vietnam Masters’ USD$500,000 purse are 10 of Vietnam’s best as well as the top players on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, which is led by New Zealand’s Mark Brown and India’s Jeev Milkha Singh.
To ensure golf fans near and far get to watch the action, Vietnam’s VTV3, South Korea’s KBSN and global television leaders ESPN and STAR Sports will broadcast the event live.
“Golf is still relatively new to Vietnam but there’s no doubt that interest is growing,” said Brian Youn, CEO of Hong Kong-based BHTASIA Limited, the tournament’s founder and organizer. “We expect this event will not only draw a great number of Vietnamese to the course, but also golf-mad Koreans who live in Ho Chi Minh. And those who can’t make it, can tune in.”
Located just 20 minutes from downtown Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Golf & Country Club stands as the southern terminus of the Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail, a north-south suite of Vietnam’s finest golfing venues and most luxurious accommodations.
Since its launch in July 2007, the Trail has succeeded in generating news coverage in more than 100 different publications worldwide, including the New York Times, the Asian Wall Street Journal, Outside’s Go magazine and Golf.com.
Vietnam Golf & Country Club, opened in 1994, boasts 800 members and two of the nation’s most established and elite courses.
The original 18, the West Course, is carved from a cashew plantation and feels more old-fashioned, with its complement of graceful doglegs and perched greens. The East Course is longer, more open and modern, with 18 smaller, more flamboyantly contoured putting surfaces flanked by arrays of deep, sparkling white-sand bunkers.
Vietnam Golf & Country Club is a members club in the British tradition, meaning visitors are welcome (more so during the week), but everything else screams “private,” from the pristine playing conditions, to the expert caddie corps, to the inviting bar and restaurant where massive plate-glass windows provide panoramic views of the club grounds.
In addition to Vietnam Golf & Country Club, golfing stops along the Trail include:
• Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club, a dazzling collection of 27 holes outside Hanoi and recent host to the Asian PGA Tour’s Carlsberg Masters.
• Dalat Palace Golf Club, a mile-high gem, with bent-grass greens, laid out in the early 1930s for Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam.
• Dong Nai Golf Resort, a breathtaking, 27-hole track designed by American Ward Northrup, whose layout skirts the inlets and shores of a natural lake.
• King’s Island Country Club, Hanoi’s oldest club and home to two 18s that play over some of the finest, most diverse golfing ground in Southeast Asia.
• Ocean Dunes Golf Club, a windswept Nick Faldo design, a “tropical links” lapped by the warm waters of the South China Sea.
• Tam Dao Golf Resort, a stunning 18 in the cool highlands northeast of Hanoi, convenient to the airport but a world away.
The Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Novotel Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort in Phan Thiet, Sofitel Dalat Palace in Dalat and Emeraude in Halong Bay make up the singular collection of lodging links.
Vietnam Golf & Country Club - Vietnam Resorts
