HA NOI — The Viet Nam Match Play Championship is set to kick off at the Montgomerie Links golf course in Quang Nam Province on December 22.

The tournament has lured more than 100 golfers from both local and foreign clubs over a period of two years.

Competitors will be divided into five divisions, dependent on handicap and age.

The final is scheduled for December 25.

“The number of participants shows the competitiveness of the event. I hope this year’s event will reveal some of our future local stars,” said Doan Manh Giao, chairman of the Viet Nam Golf Association.

“The national match play provides the opportunity for golfers to compete head to head in a different but equally challenging and exciting format making the match play tournament one of the most sought after trophies in Vietnamese golf,” said Jon Tomlinson, director of the tournament.

The event now in its third year, is the country’s second National Championship complimenting the Annual National Amateur Championship.

Match play is a golf scoring system by which a player or a team earns a point for each hole at which they have bested their opponents. This is opposed to stroke play by which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes.

Globally, only a small number of notable tournaments use the match play scoring system. — VNS