SEA Games 31: Singapore and Thailand won Individual’s Gold Medals 08:00, 15/05/2022

Nguyen Anh Minh missed the opportunity to win a medal

Nguyen Anh Minh made an impressive start with a birdie on the 3th hole par-3, and then continued to play extremely firmly with 4 consecutive par. At hole 8, a bad iron approach that dropped the ball into the bunker on the left side of the green cost Nguyen Anh Minh with a bogey, thereby ending the first 9 holes with an even-par.

Entering the back-nine, the scenario of the 2nd day was repeated when spectators could see a brilliant performance by Nguyen Anh Minh. The accurate approaches, and the perfect putts helped the 15-year-golf golfer to fire 3 birdies in a row on 11th, 12th, and 13th.

This result helped Nguyen Anh Minh lower his total score to -6 stroke, jumped to the top sport with Amadeus Susanto Christian (Indonesia), Weerawish Narkprachar (Thailand), Arsit Areephun (Thailand), and Ervin Chang (Malaysia).

The men’s individual final round was pushed to the climax when the birdie on the 14th hole of Ervin Chang and the 15th hole of Weerawish Narkprachar made Nguyen Anh Minh fall to 3rd place. On the 17th hole, while Anh Minh only got a par, Amadeus Susanto Christian had a perfect birdie stroke to push Anh Minh down to the 4th place.

By that, the 2022 National Champion must at least get a birdie on the 18th par-5 hole to have a chance to win a medal. However, Anh Minh finished the hole with an unfortunate double bogey. 

The 71-stroke on the final round only helped Nguyen Anh Minh to take 6th place overall, but this is also the best record of a Vietnamese golfer since attending the SEA Games golf tournament.

Anh Minh's results contributed to helping the Vietnamese male team to finish in T-4 on the team rankings, Vietnam will compete with the Singapore team in the first round of the team competition.

Results of the Vietnamese golfers in the individual competition:

- Le Khanh Hung tied for 10th place (Even Par)

- Nguyen Dang Minh tied for 18th (+8)

- Nguyen Quang Tri tied for 25th (+19)

- Doan Xuan Khue Minh ranked 11th (+6)

- Le Thi Thanh Thuy ranked 16th (+21)

- Pham Thi Yen Vi ranked 17th (+24)

Ervin Chang wins Men's Individual Gold Medal

Before the final round started, Arsit Areephun was the leader with a total of -6 and created a 2-stroke gap compared to the chasing group including Weerawish Narkprachar and Ervin Chang. But at the end of the first 9 holes, the advantage of the Thai golfer was gone.

After 13 holes, the top position of the leaderboard is shared by 6 golfers with the same total score of -6 including Arsit Areephun, Nguyen Anh Minh, Weerawish Narkprachar, Ratchanon Chantananuwat, Ervin Chang and Amadeus Susanto Christian. 

Ervin Chang was the first golfer to break through with a birdie on Hole 14 Index 1 of Heron Lake Golf Course to solo on the top position. However, on the next hole, Weerawish Narkprachar responded with a birdie after a perfect 10 feet putt. At the 17th hole, it was Amadeus Susanto Christian's turn to respond with an extremely classy birdie to rise to share the top with 2 golfers from Thailand and Malaysia.

At the deciding last hole, Indonesian golfer - Amadeus Susanto Christian, was the first to play and he completed the hole with a Par.

However, Weerawish Narkprachar made a mistake. Putting the ball on the green after the 4th shot and adding 2 more putts to complete the hole caused the Thai golfer a bogey on the last hole, thereby losing the opportunity to bring home the gold medal for the Thai team.

Meanwhile, with a par in the final hole, Ervin Chang finished the tournament with a total score of -7 to enter the playoffs with Amadeus Susanto Christian. In the first 2 playoff holes, which took place on hole 18, the confrontation between the two golfers was still inconclusive when both ended with par.

Thế nhưng khi loạt playoff được chuyển sang hố 10 thì tấm huy chương vàng nội dung đơn nam SEA Games 31 đã tìm được chủ nhân của nó. Cú approach bằng gậy sắt đầy mẫu mực đưa bóng ôm cờ đã giúp Ervin Chang có được điểm birdie. Trong khi đó, dù cũng chỉ mất 2 gậy để on green nhưng với việc mất thêm 2 putt để hoàn thành hố đấu thì Amadeus Susanto Christian chỉ có được điểm Par, qua đó đành chấp nhận tấm huy chương bạc và huy chương vàng thuộc về Ervin Chang.

But when the playoff round was moved to the 10th hole, the gold medal in men's individual at SEA Games 31 found its owner. The perfect iron approach that brought the ball to the pin helped Ervin Chang get a birdie point. 

Meanwhile, even though it only took 2 strokes to go on the green, but had to hit 2 more putts to complete the hole, Amadeus Susanto Christian only got Par, thereby accepting the silver, and gold medals belonging to Ervin Chang.

This is the first time a Malaysian golfer has won a gold medal in an individual contest at a SEA Games. Before that, they had 3 gold medals in the team competition in 1989, 1993 and 2001. Ervin Chang's gold medal also ended a successful day of competition for Malaysia when, before that, Jeneath Wong won the bronze medal in the women's event with a total score of -5.

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap wins Women's Individual Gold Medal

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap has almost no rival at the 31st SEA Games. After the first round, the 79th-ranked golfer in WAGR shared the lead with -5 strokes with another Thai golfer. However, after the second day of the match, there was not a single golfer who was able to keep up with Vongtaveelap's progress, she created a gap of 7 strokes and firmly held the gold medal.

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap has almost no rival at the 31st SEA Games. After the first round, the 79th-ranked golfer in WAGR shared the lead with -5 strokes with another Thai golfer. However, after the second day of the match, there was not a single golfer who was able to keep up with Vongtaveelap's progress, she created a gap of 7 strokes and firmly held the gold medal.

In the final round, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap opened the day with 3 birdies in the first 4 holes, before hooking a bogey on hole 14 (Vongtaveelap's 5th hole) to finish the first 9 holes with a score of -2. In the back-nine, Vongtaveelap scored 3 more birdies on holes 1, 2, 6 and 1 bogey on hole 5, finished the round with 4-under par and won the gold medal with a total of -14 strokes. after 3 days of competition.

The 2nd and 3rd positions on the leaderboard were continuously replaced by 3 names: Jeneath Wong of Malaysia, Eila Galitsky of Thailand, and Aloysa Mabutas Margiela Atienza of Singapore.

Round 1 co-leading golfer Eila Galitsky was the first to be eliminated from the race. Galitsky had even par after the first 13 holes, but 3 bogey in the last 5 holes caused the Thai golfer to drop to 5th place overall with a total even par score.

The silver and bronze medal competition now narrows to Jeneath Wong and Atienza. In particular, Atienza was the one who made the difference with a very strong breakthrough. Atienza, the Singaporean golfer, finished her first 12 holes with 2 birdies, before scoring 5 birdies in his last 7 holes, thereby breaking the Heron Lake Golf Course record with a 65-stroke bogey-free. From even par after 2 days of competition, Atienza rose to win the Silver Medal with a total of -7 strokes.

Aloysa Mabutas Margiela Atienza broke the record of points at Dam Vac Stadium, won the SEA Games Silver Medal.

The bronze medal then went to Jeneath Wong with a total of -5 strokes. The Malaysian golfer scored 1 bogey and 4 birdies and in this last round, there was an excellent birdie putt on the last hole.

Doan Xuan Khue Minh is the best Vietnamese female athlete in the women's individual contest. The 19-year-old golfer hit +1 in the final round, thereby finishing in 11th place with a total score of +6.