After a period of waiting, Lexus Challenge 2022 - the opening tournament for VGA Tour, was officially launched on March 8. 118 golfers (106 men and 12 women) had a difficult first day of competition with the challenges that Trang An Golf & Country Club in Ninh Binh brought. Only 2 golfers beat the club in the opening round of Lexus Challenge 2022 and surprisingly, amateur golfer Nguyen Anh Minh is on this list.
Although the start was not good with a double bogey right in the first hole, the rest witnessed Anh Minh being brave and extremely confident. The young golfer born in 2007 scored 5 Birdie, including 2 pairs of Birdie in holes 4-5 and 7-8. It was a bit of a pity that the 15-year-old golfer had 2 more bogey in Holes 9 and 17, so he ended the first round with a total score of -1. However, this achievement is enough for the golfer to lead the 31st SEA Games qualifying round to take the top spot in the Lexus Challenge 2022 after the first 18 holes.
However, Anh Minh is not the only amateur golfer to compete explosively in the opening round. Do Quang Khanh - golfer from G84 Club in Hanoi, also impressed when finishing 18 holes with a total score of +1. Notably, Quang Khanh is also the first golfer to score an eagle at Lexus Challenge 2022 at hole 12 of Trang An Golf & Country Club. After that, the golfer born in 1984 had 2 more Birdiedie in pits 7 and 14, but 5 bogey in pits 1, 3, 8, 13 helped him complete the round with 73 sticks. This achievement helps Quang Khanh currently ranked in T2 with Joel Troy, Brian Jung and champion of FLC Vietnam Masters 2020, Do Hong Giang.
Le Khanh Hung was also a phenomenon on the first day of competition of Lexus Challenge. The youngest golfer in the tournament once took the lead with 4 Birdie and 2 bogey after 14 holes. However, the lack of experience caused Khanh Hung to get triple bogey points in hole 6 and 2 more bogey points in holes 7 and 9. With a score of 75 strokes (+3), Khanh Hung finished round 1 in the T10 position on the rankings, along with Le Dai Duong.
Meanwhile, the candidates for the championship are still not "hot". Zhang Zhi Jun is highly appreciated but did not have the desired round. golfer born in 1998 scored 3 Birdiedie but had 1 triple bogey, 1 double bogey and 3 bogey, making the total score +5, ranking T16. Park Sang Ho - runner-up of FLC Vietnam Master 2019, also lost 74 sticks (+2) and ranked 5th along with Michael Lane, Kim Woo Jin, Brian Jung and Tran Van Hoang.
Meanwhile, in the women's group, Nguyen Thao My had a fairly stable round of competition, almost making no mistakes to finish with a total score of -1, taking the lead in the group. The next 3 positions all belong to amateur golfers: Doan Xuan Khue Minh has a total score of +2, Le Chuc An +9 and with a total score of+1, Pham Thi Kim Nguyen is tied for 4th place with professional athlete Pham Thi Van Anh.
On March 9, Lexus Challenge 2022 will have a qualifying cut after round 2, so golfers will have to compete at their best so as not to stop early.
