VietNamNet Bridge – There are only two professional golf players in Vietnam: Tran Le Duy Bac in the south and Nguyen Thai Duong in the north.
Bac and Duong are close friends and as Thai Duong says, his life with golf would be lonely without a friend of the same sense of purpose, like Bac.

The development of Vietnam’s golf is closely linked to Bac and Duong because they are the pioneers in professional golf sports in Vietnam and the source of inspiration for the next generation of golfers.

Duong became a professional golf player in 2009. Duong says that golf is not nice and peaceful as others see because professional golf is very harsh. He says that he has to practice very hard like athletes of other sports. Perhaps the hardship in training of golf is only behind rowing. Duong practices from the early morning until 6pm, alone, everyday, except for the day of abnormal weather.

Duong has played golf for 10 years, starting from the age of 15. He was an amateur player from 2002 to 2009. During this period, he participated in many golf tournaments for young players. He won the championship of the Southeast Asia Youth Golf Tournament 2005 in Malaysia, the Australian Youth Tournament 2007 and the National Golf Championship 2009.

After graduating from the University of Arizona, USA in 2009, Duong became a professional golf player.

Different from other sports, the matureness of golfers is at the age of 30-40. Golf is not a rapid-reaction sport. Golf requires clear thought, self understanding and the understanding of related-factors to a golf game like ball, course, golf club and weather.
Duong says that golf is the sport of experiment and high-concentration. Hard training plays extremely important role in the success of this sport. There is no famous golfer who has only talent. All of them had to experience a long process of hard practice. All graduated from famous universities before becoming professional golf players. Until they are successful, they can’t afford to hire excellent caddies.

So far, the 25-year-old golf player has pursued this career for three years. This job has changed his life a lot. His timetable is on weekly basis. He participates in two golf events abroad every month, totaling two weeks a month. He spends one week for practice. Thus, he has only one week for the life out of golf. Thai Duong has recently moved to the central city of Da Nang to facilitate his practice.

Duong says that the success of golf players does not depend highly on physical strength, so many Asian ranks highly at professional golf tournaments in the world. The opportunity for Vietnamese golfers, therefore, is open.

Duong and Nhat Thong are quietly practicing to enter the world of challenge of white balls and green grassplots.

PV