VietNamNet Bridge – The Ocean Dunes Golf Club (GC) in the central coastal city of Phan Thiet will host a leg of the first golf tournament series in Asia, named after the six-time major tournament winner Nick Faldo, in September this year.

The Ocean Dunes Golf Club will host the inaugural Faldo Series Asia Vietnam championship in September.

The inaugural Faldo Series Asia Vietnam Championship, scheduled on September 27 and 28, will provide talented young golfers aged 11 to 21 with a combination of tournament experience on the winning award course and expert advice off the course.

Younger children from the local community will be invited to watch the action and attend a free golf clinic as part of the tournament leg at the course, which was designed by Faldo and rated by Golf Digest (USA) as among the top two layouts in Vietnam.

Open to players from all Asian countries, the tournament will present new opportunities for young golfers not only in Vietnam, but also in neighboring nations such as Cambodia and Laos.

"All you have to do is look at the sheer number of people in this part of the world to see there is an extraordinary amount of possibility," said Faldo. "There may be dozens of potential superstars in this region, but we'll never know unless their talent is cultivated. I believe this event can be a stepping stone."

Commenting on the Faldo Series tournament, Jeff Puchalski, Ocean Dunes' general manager and director of golf, said just as Faldo was determined to win golf tournaments, he has a burning desire to create access to the sport.

"He displays it again by making another commitment to Vietnam, where interest in the game is growing but events targeting kids have yet to take root. This could be what spurs a youngster here to become a champion like Nick," Puchalski said.

Six players from the Vietnam Championship will qualify for the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, a world-level amateur golf ranking event to be hosted by Faldo in March 2009 on the Faldo Course at Mission Hills in China.

Sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the Faldo Series Asia title has been claimed in previous years by Thailand's Nakarin Ratanakul and India's Rashid Khan. Both earned invitations to the Faldo Series Grand Final in Europe and, courtesy of the Asian Tour, a start in the Volvo Masters Asia and a scholarship to stage one of Asian Tour Qualifying School.

Inspired by the decade-long success of the Faldo Series in Europe, Faldo launched the equivalent in Asia in 2006. The Vietnam Championship takes the 2008 schedule to 12 tournaments in nine different nations across the continent.

Opened in 1994, Ocean Dunes has garnered worldwide acclaim for Its windswept dunes and singular holes, including the par-3 9th hole which has been hailed by GOLF (USA) magazine as one of the best 500 holes in the world.

Interested players and spectators should contact the Ocean Dunes Golf Club on (84-62) 823366 or visit the website at www.vietnamgolfresorts.com to get more information about the Vietnam Championship.

(Source: SGT)