National Golf Championship - Gia Lai 2025: An important playground to select athletes for the 33rd SEA Games

Mr. Nguyen Thai Duong - Deputy General Secretary of Vietnam Golf Association (VGA), speaking at the press conference of the National Golf Championship - Gia Lai 2025. Photo: Referee.

The 2025 Gia Lai National Golf Championship will take place from August 18 to 23 at FLC Golf Links Quy Nhon, one of the most challenging courses in Vietnam designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus. This is not only the biggest tournament of the year for Vietnamese golf but also plays a key role in the National Golf Team's coaching board selecting the team to attend the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand later this year.

“We will finalize the list of the National Golf Team participating in the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand on September 1. Therefore, the National Golf Championship - Gia Lai 2025 is an important basis for the coaching staff to evaluate and select members,” said Mr. Nguyen Thai Duong - Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA).

This year's tournament brings together 150 professional and amateur golfers of Vietnamese nationality. For amateur golfers, a handicap index of no more than 5.0 for men and 10.0 for women is required. Golfers will compete in a 4-round, 18-hole stroke play format (72 holes in total). After the first 36 holes, the Organizing Committee will make the cut, selecting the 50 best male golfers and 12 best female golfers to advance to the final two rounds. The winner is the golfer with the lowest gross score after 4 rounds.

“Competing at the challenging FLC Golf Links Quy Nhon will be an important test of golfers’ ability and competitive spirit before entering the 33rd SEA Games arena,” Mr. Duong emphasized.

Fierce competition

In the first selection round through two National Amateur Championships including Vietnam Amateur Open (VAO) and Vietnam Ladies Amateur Open (VLAO) 2025, the first four names to win a place at the 33rd SEA Games were revealed: Nguyen Trong Hoang and Ho Anh Huy (VAO champion and runner-up) along with Le Chuc An and Anna Le (two Vietnamese female golfers with the best results in VLAO).

The 2025 Gia Lai National Golf Championship will decide the remaining spots in the team. This promises to create fierce competition when nearly 80% of the players in the National team are present, including prominent names: 2023 National Champion Nguyen Nhat Long, current champion Nguyen Duc Son, and rising young talents such as Nguyen Tuan Anh, Tran The Bao, or Nguyen Viet Gia Han or Doan Xuan Khue Minh in the women's group.

In particular, Le Chuc An, the National Champion for two consecutive years, is expected to continue to maintain his form and aim for the historic goal of winning the championship three times in a row.

At the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, Vietnamese golf had the most successful tournament in history when winning 3 medals: Gold Medal for Men's Individual (Le Khanh Hung), Bronze Medal for Men's Individual (Nguyen Anh Minh) and Silver Medal for Men's Team. This is the motivation for the team to aim for a higher goal in Thailand later this year.