SEA GAMES 31: Vietnam team sped up, improved scores after the 2nd round 08:30, 14/05/2022

With the home advantage, the young talents of Vietnamese golf have brought fans an extremely emotional round.

4 Vietnamese golfers fired under-par

*Nguyen Anh Minh continues to be the best golfer in the Vietnamese team. (Photo: Golfnews)*

The number 1 hope of Vietnam at SEA Games 31 – Nguyen Anh Minh, started the second day with a birdie on the first hole, but the subsequent lack of accuracy putts caused the 2022 National Champion to suffer 2 bogey on holes 4 and 8, thereby finished the front-nine with 1-over par.

Anh Minh's mistakes in the first 9 holes were completely rectified in the back-nine with his excellent iron approaches and precise putts. Three birdies at holes 13, 14 and 16 helped Nguyen Anh Minh finish the second day of competition with a record of 70 strokes. This result helps Vietnamese golfers rise to the T4 position in the leaderboard, only 1 stroke back from the top golfer above.

*Nguyen Dang Minh regretted finishing the 2nd round with a double bogey. (Photo: Golfnews)*

Besides the excellent performance of Nguyen Anh Minh, Le Khanh Hung and Nguyen Dang Minh also had a very impressive round with the same score -1.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Quang Tri also improved on the second day of competition when he finished the round with 75 strokes. The excellence of the four male golfers helped the Vietnamese team rise to third place in the rankings. If this position is maintained by the end of the last day of competition, the Vietnamese team will avoid facing Thailand in the quarter-finals in the team contest.

*Doan Xuan Khue Minh - 2022 National Champion, had an impressive performance in the 2nd round. (Photo: Golfnews)*

In the women's contest, after a rough start, Doan Xuan Khue Minh regained the bravery of the 2022 National Champion. The 19-year-old golfer started round 2 strongly with 2 birdies in a row at hole 10-11. However, 2 bogeys at holes 14 and 18 made Khue Minh finish the first 9 holes with an even-par. At the back-nine, the Vietnamese female golfer continued to impress with 3 birdies and 2 bogey points to complete the round with a record of 1-under par.

This result helps Doan Xuan Khue Minh become the first Vietnamese female golfer to hit a under-par in a round at the SEA Games. Although this achievement is unlikely to help Khue Minh compete for medals in individual contest, it will certainly help Vietnamese female golfers regain confidence to compete better in the upcoming competition days.

About the two remaining members of the Women's team, Le Thi Thanh Thuy scored 81 strokes and Pham Thi Yen Vi hit 79 strokes on day 2, ranked 15th and 18th on the leaderboard.

Before the 31st SEA Games, it was a very rare thing for a Vietnamese golfer to have an under-par round. In the previous 6 times, only athlete Nguyen Phuong Toan did this with a -3 stroke in the second round of the 29th SEA Games in Malaysia.

Weerawish Narkprachar to lose the upper hand

Weerawish Narkprachar - the leader in the previous round, thought he would defend the top position after scoring 3 birdies after the first 5 holes, but suddenly he got a bogey on hole 7, 9 and a double bogey on hole 10. Birdie in Hole 14 only helped the Thai golfer retain the even-par point in this round and dropped to 2nd place in the rankings with a total of -4 strokes.

*Ervin Chang excelled in round 2 to enter the top medal competition. (Photo: Golfnews)*

With Narkprachar's decline, Malaysian golfer Ervin Chang quickly accelerated to gain the upper hand. The most outstanding athlete of the Malaysian delegation at the 31st SEA Games had 5 birdies and only 1 bogey to close the day with -5 strokes. At many times, Ervin Chang even rose to the top of the leaderboard but could not maintain it when there was a strong rise from Arsit Areephun.

Arsit Areephun equals Heron Lake Golf Course’s record

At SEA Games 31, it is not the world number 6 golfer – Ratchanon Chantanuwat but Arsit Areephun that is the name that Coach Preecha Senaprom expects to bring home the gold medal in individual content for the Thai team. World No. 770 Golfer is the winner of the 31st SEA Games qualifiers and is considered by the coaching board to be Thailand's best golfer at the moment.

*Arsit Areephun has a breakthrough to rise to the top. (Photo: Golfnews)*

After an unsatisfactory first round with a 72-stroke result, Arsit Areephun showed his level on the second day of competition when he hit a 66-stroke bogey free (-6). Finished the first 9 holes with only 1 birdie in hole 6, but in the next 9 holes, the Thai golfer really exploded. The golfer born in 2003 scored 3 birdies in a row from hole 12-14 and 2 birdies in a row at hole 16-17, thereby monopolizing the leading position with a total score of -6.

This result not only helped Arsit Areephun rise to the top of the gold medal race, but he also equaled the 18-hole score record of Dam Vac field set by Nicklaus Chiam at the Putra Cup 2019.

With 1 day left for the individual contest to end, it is difficult to predict who the 3 medals will belong to, especially after unpredictable developments in the first 2 rounds. The Vietnam National Golf team did not run out of opportunities after the impressive performance of Nguyen Anh Minh, helping him rise to 4th place with a total of -3, only 3 strokes back from the leader. Meanwhile, Le Khanh Hung with 1-under also completely has a basis to break into the Top 3.