Golf

Lê Đức Sơn (left) receives the trophy from Sir Nick Faldo, founder of the Faldo Series. Photos of VGA

HUẾ -- Nguyễn Đức Sơn won the overall title while his female teammate Lê Chúc An topped the women's U16 category of the 15th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final on April 26 in Thừa Thiên Huế.

Sơn was among three host golfers in the leading group of both overall ranking and boys' U21 category after the first day of competition. He continued the second day with outstanding performance at the Laguna Lăng Cô Golf Course. 

The 17-year-old took lead with two birdies in the No 1 and No 3 holes of the final round.

A bogey in the No 4 made Sơn dropped behind Wang Ngai Shen of Hong Kong. However, he came back with a birdies in No 9 and levelled the score with Wang.

In the back 9, Wang made series of mistakes and was ousted from the race to the trophy. At the same time, Sơn stayed strong on top with even par and only one bogey in the No 16.

Sơn wrapped up the tournament with 5-under 208, as well as Japanese Masato Sumiuchi.

The first hole of the playoff saw both sides' birdies. But it was Sơn's perfect tee off in the second one which helped him to have another birdie while Sumiuchi took an even par. Sơn won his first international tournament in career.

Đoàn Uy of Việt Nam placed third with 3-under 210.

It was the second year in a row that Vietnamese athlete secured the championship trophy. Last year, Nguyễn Anh Minh was the first golfer of Việt Nam winning the tournament for junior talents.

Lê Chúc An competes in the final round of the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final on April 26.

In the girls' U16, An dominated the category from the beginning. She took the top place with 2-under 211.

An was No 5 in the overall ranking but she said it was much better than her result last year. No 5 place was also better than her target of being in top 10.

Reina Todaka of Japan came second with 5-over 218. She was followed by Lê Nguyễn Minh Anh who jumped to top three in the final round, scoring 9-over 222.

Michelle Bang of Australia took the girls' U21 title while fellow Jamie Smith won the boys' U16 class.

The Faldo Series Asia Grand Final featured 50 players from 12 countries including Australia, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, and the hosts.

The competition expanded to Asia in 2006, recognising the huge potential on the Asian junior golf circuit. It helps to reach more juniors around the world by introducing them to the game through grassroots initiatives. VNS