Start of VGA Tour 2023
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 lead in the VGA Tour program, followed by six regular tournaments, including the grand final of the Tour Championship in December.
The 2019 Lexus Challenge was only available for men, then postponed for two years because of Covid-19.
The tournament started today with 17 women competing for the 200 million dong prize fund, and 106 men competing for the 1.8 billion dong fund. All stroke play through four rounds, cut after round 2 according to the principle of taking top or T50 for the men's bracket, top or T12 in the women's bracket. The match list recorded 38 amateur faces (amateur), including defending champion Nguyen Anh Minh.
In the previous period, Anh Minh at the age of 15 established a +3 victory when the tournament took place on Champion par72 of Trang An Golf & Country Club. With that result, Anh Minh became the first and youngest amateur to own a cup in the history of professional golf in Vietnam.
In the opening round of the Lexus Challenge 2023, Anh Minh was grouped with Tran Le Duy Nhat - the champion of the first period, in the afternoon bracket. Meanwhile, Anh Minh's teammate at the 31st SEA Games - Nguyen Quang Tri played in the light branch as the youngest professional player in the tournament, born in 2004, after leaving the amateur category.
With a bonus budget of two billion dong, the male champion will receive 324 million dong, the female champion will receive 60 million dong with a place at the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore next month. This tournament belongs to the LPGA Tour - the first-class women's golf arena in the US.
On average, the male bonus fund on the VGA Tour is determined to be equal to or better than the Asian second-class professional system - Asian Development Tour.
VGA is developing the VGA Tour according to the international model that determines the system-wide championship similar to the US PGA Tour with the FedEx Cup table and the grand final of the Tour Championship for the top 30 in East Lake, Atlanta. The DP World Tour (the new name of the European Tour) also applies the same way, through the rankings with the same title of the arena, but the closing tournament in Dubai opens to the top 50.
At the end of 2022, Australian Joel Troy became the "first generation VGA Tour king" when he finished first in the Tour Championship at point -5, on the par72 course of Thanh Lanh Valley Golf & Resort, Vinh Phuc.
