Hai Phong, Vietnam: Vietnam’s history-making teenage Nomura Cup heroes will not rest on their laurels.
Nguyen Anh Minh, Le Khanh Hung and Ho Anh Huy stunned regional golfing powerhouses Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand by winning the 30th edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship.
But the triumphant Vietnam trio will not have much time to bask in their glory as they look to catch up on their school work in the coming weeks, swapping the golf course for the classroom.
Currently 16-year-old Khanh Hung is studying in the United States and 14-year-old Anh Huy in the United Kingdom. Both are due to return to their respective places of learning in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Anh Minh will continue his studies in Vietnam before heading to the United States next year, having committed to play collegiate golf at Oregon State University.
Although all have bright golfing futures ahead of them, completing their education is also on the agenda.
Belying their tender years, all three players handled the pressure and high expectations of their supporters with aplomb at Vinpearl Hai Phong last week where they proved to be a closely-knit unit, sharing a room and building a strong sense of togetherness.
There was also an impressive maturity in the way they applied themselves on and off the course, keeping their emotions in check and effortlessly conducting interviews in English and Vietnamese.
The 17-year-old Anh Minh became the first Vietnamese to win the Nomura Cup’s individual award, firing a 12-under-par 276 total. In tricky, windy conditions, he had just three bogeys over the course of the four days.
His control and accuracy off the tee and silky short game, coupled with outstanding course management, were keys to his success.
“I was just focusing on hitting fairways and greens,” said Anh Minh, who began the week in 84th place in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Among the many highlights for Anh Minh was a 70-foot downhill, left-to-right birdie putt at the par-three fourth hole in the final round. “I was just trying to two-putt. I thought I’d hit it too hard and the ball was going to run past. But it turned left and died in the hole,” said Anh Minh.
At 14, Anh Huy was the youngest of the 57 participants in the starting line-up.
With Khanh Hung suffering from flu symptons and struggling on the final day, attention was firmly focused on Anh Huy to step up to the plate in the event in which the two best daily scores in each three-man team are counted.
And he did not disappoint, holding his nerve to support anchorman Anh Minh with a closing three-under 69 that proved decisive.
Even-par through nine holes, Anh Huy knew what he had to do – and did it, thanks to some inspired putting.
He said: “On the back nine I started off a bit shaky and holed three eight to 10 footers for par. But I got into my rhythm with my wedges – they were really accurate. I made all five of my birdies from wedges from the fairway.
“The team manager was giving me an update of the situation every few holes. It didn’t really hit me that hard but towards the end I had to keep my game if we were going to beat Japan, who were really strong and capable of doing a lot of great things.”
Of his birdie at the 18th, Anh Huy said: “I kept my composure coming down the last – learned from my mistakes from the first round and didn’t rush when I was coming down the stretch. I was resilient and ended the round really well.
“I was very nervous because I hadn’t had great experiences with the 18th hole. I was striping my three-wood really well all day and I hit in the fairway on 18 and then my wedge went just left of the flag. With my putter I choked down a little bit on the grip on the back nine and it worked.”
