'The Open' trophy of the BRG Open Golf Championship-Đà Nẵng 2023 is introduced at a press conference in the central city on July 18. Photo courtesy of Trần Lê Lâm

ĐÀ NẴNG — Top Asian golfers will compete in the BRG Open Golf Championship-Đà Nẵng 2023 - the first tournament of the Asian Development Tour in Việt Nam – at the Nicklaus Đà Nẵng course of the BRG Đà Nẵng Golf resort system from August 29 to September 2.

Vice director of the city’s tourism department, Nguyễn Xuân Bình urged wide promotion and communication on the development of the sport among local residents and tourists at a press conference on the event.

Bình said the Asian golf tournament is part of a series of entertainment and cultural activities during the golf-tourism promotion, culture, shopping, and cuisine under the Đà Nẵng Golf-Tourism Festival that will see 144 golfers playing for total prizes of US$100,000.

He hoped this year's tournament would help boost the city’s tourism industry and become an attraction to regional golfers and travellers.

Division director of BRG Group Mark Reeves said BRG is very proud to be the title sponsor of the golf championship at the Nicklaus Course.

He said BRG, Đà Nẵng City’s leaders, the Asian Tour, and Vietnam Global Sports aim to repeat the great success of the 2022 tournament in 2023.

“This year’s Championship course is set up slightly differently with some new tees in play and measuring 7,388 yards, but retains the natural elements that will test to players, including coastal winds and the unique vertical bulkhead walls that define the water hazards - relieving the referees of any decision about ‘in or out of the water’.

The greens will putt fast and true so we hope to see a new course record this year,” Mark Reeves shared.

“The BRG International professional team in golf events and course conditioning are now working hard and preparing for the upcoming tournament,” he said.

“The unique Chu Đậu by BRG Group ceramic champions trophy pays homage to ‘The Open’ trophy (a golf tournament played for 151 years) fused with the 600-year cultural heritage of Việt Nam.”

Ken Kudo from the Asian Tour said: “We concluded the first event in 2022 with an exciting play-off between China’s Chen Guxin and the Philippines’ Lloyd Jefferson Go. With that victory, Chen went on to secure his 2023 Asian Tour card having finished top 5 on the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit.”

An overview of the Nicklaus Đà Nẵng course of the BRG Đà Nẵng Golf resort system. The site will host the BRG Open Golf Championship-Đà Nẵng 2023. Photo courtesy of Lê Lâm

“In May this year, Đà Nẵng Golf Resort became a member of Asian Tour Destinations – the Tour’s exclusive network of world-class golfing venues. And this year’s event will play a key role in promoting the city of Đà Nẵng as a tourist and golfing destination and act as a platform to inspire young Vietnamese golfers to pursue their dreams of becoming renowned professionals,” he said.

He said Asian professional golfers from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan, as well as from the UK, Australia, Sweden, Myanmar, India, China, and of course Việt Nam will be playing on the BRG Đà Nẵng Golf Resort - a course ranked among the Top 100 Best Golf Courses of 2022 by Golf Digest magazine

Vice director of Đà Nẵng’s tourism department Bình said the course in the central region has hosted 200,000 rounds in the first half of 2023.

Chairman of VGS Group, Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn said it has inked a strategic partnership with the European Tour Group in organising the Legends Tour – with the greatest golf masters and major winners at Ryder Cup including Michael Campell, Ian Woosnam, Thomas Bjorn, Paul McGinley, Sir Nick Faldo and Colin Mongomeries – in Việt Nam in December with a Prize Fund reaching to $1 million.

Tuấn said Việt Nam will map it as a rendezvous of the top golf tournaments – the DP World Tour, the Legends Tour, Asian Tour and Asian Development Tour – in 2024-25, Tuấn said.

Đà Nẵng City’s golf tourism, which earned $68 million in revenue, expects to increase the figure to $186 million in the near future.

According to the International Association of Golf Tour Operators, 169 golf tourism companies operating in Asia plan to expand into Việt Nam. VNS