VietNamNet Bridge – The Hana Bank Vietnam Masters, an Asian Tour event scheduled for Vietnam this season, will kick off at the Vietnam Golf & Country Club on December 4.

The golfers will fight it out for a share of US$500,000 prizes for the four-day tournament at the 36-hole Vietnam Golf & Country Club, which is one of seven sterling stops on the Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail.

To ensure golf fans get to watch the action, Vietnam’s VTV3, South Korea’s KBSN and global television leaders ESPN and STAR Sports plan to broadcast the event live.

“Golf is still relatively new to Vietnam but there’s no doubt that interest is growing,” said Brian Youn, chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based BHTASIA Limited, the tournament’s founder and organizer.

Youn said it was hoped that the event would not only draw a great number of Vietnamese to the course, but also Koreans who live in HCMC, “and those who can’t make it, can tune in.”

The Vietnam Golf & Country Club landed the Hana Bank Vietnam Masters due to the championship caliber of its Lee Trevino-designed East Course, whose greens and tight fairways make it one of Vietnam’s most challenging layouts.

“We took a relatively short course, by professional standards, and made it one that we think will play as difficult as any on tour,” said Blair Cornthwaite, the club’s general manager. “It will be fun to see how it tests some of the game’s best.”

Opened in 1994, the club boasts 800 members and a member of the Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail.

The Trail was launched in July 2007 and now comprises of Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club, Dalat Palace Golf Club, Dong Nai Golf Resort, King’s Island Country Club, Ocean Dunes Golf Club and Tam Dao Golf Resort.

The Caravelle Hotel in HCMC, Novotel Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort in Phan Thiet, Sofitel Dalat Palace in Dalat and Emeraude in Hạ Long Bay make up the collection of lodging links.

(Source: SGT)