Ruperto Zaragosa III won Vietnam Amateur Open Championship 2016 12:00, 27/06/2016

 The tournament, consisting two divisions: Vietnam Amateur Open and Vietnam professional Championship, was played over 72 holes in the format of stroke play and there was a cut after the 36 holes.  The difference on this year’s tournament is that not only Vietnamese amateur and professional golfers, but foreign golfers from overseas living or working in Vietnam also could participate in the game.

After four rounds of intense competition, Philippine golfer Ruperto Zaragosa III finally won the championship with a 10-over after consecutively leading final three rounds, marking a new record in his golf career. Finishing 72 holes with gross 298 points, the Champion asserted his competence and proved to have the game when defeating the two-year consecutive defending champion Truong Chi Quan of Vietnam with a big distance of 7 strokes from the new Champion. The Champion shared his thoughts “Vietnamese golfers have played very well and I should learn more from them. It’s maybe lucky me to win the championship, but this will be the target for me to try harder in next tournaments”.  

Truong Chi Quan is the famous name in Vietnam’s golf community. After four days of competition, with stable performance, he had always been the most expected to continue to be the Champion of VAO. Although closing at T2 in VAO 2016, he is still one of the most promising young golfer in Vietnam and absolutely worthy of exceptional ticket to attend Ho Tram Player Championship which will take place on April 2017 at the Bluff Ho Tram Strip. The four remaining tickets for Vietnamese golfers already belonged to Do Le Gia Dat (T4), Andy Chu (6), Do Duy Hien (7), and Nguyen Van Bang (T8).

At the Professional Division, the Vietnamese golfer coming from Australia, Andy Chu, finally won the champion with 19-over and also owned the farthest drive in the tournament. Following him is the golfer Nguyen Van Bang in Ha Noi finishing with 27-over after 18 holes.

During 4 days of the tournament, players also had great challenge to deal with severe weather in Da Lat when the rains poured down continuously in Sacom Tuyen Lam golf course turning the soggy green into deadly traps. However, golfer still played enthusiastically for the prestigious Cup of VAO 2016.

Sharing with Vietnam Golf Magazine, VAO Tournament Director Tran Duy Canh said that “Vietnam Amateur Open Golf Championship is one of great and prestigious tournament of Vietnam Golf Association (VGA). This year’s competition has been invested more professionally on technique, as well as website’s upgrading and lively broadcasting on the media. In the future, VGA will make effort to organize more qualified tournaments”.