Hanoi, Feb 29  – Korea’s Chung Ye Na has made history by winning Vietnam’s first-ever professional ladies’ golf tournament, held at award-winning Sky Lake Resort & Golf Club near Hanoi.

The 28-year-old collected the winner’s trophy in the USD200,000 Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association event, part of the new KLPGA Winter Tour that will stage a second tournament in Vietnam – in Dalat – in March.

Sky Lake’s general manager, Tim Haddon, said it was a pleasure to host such an innovative event that put ladies professional golf on display for the first time in Vietnam.

“We were keen to see how the pros fared on our Lake Course, which was recently named Vietnam’s Best Championship course. We were delighted it lived up to its reputation as one of the most challenging courses in the country, with a two-round total of only three under par taking the trophy.”

He said it was also pleasing to see how professionally the players conducted themselves on and off the course and their interaction with fans.

“They were a credit to themselves and the KLPGA Tour,” he said.

The new KLPGA Winter Tour is staged by South Korean broadcasting company SBS Golf. It enables the country’s best players to play outside Korea during its bitter winter and expose new golfing destinations like Vietnam to women’s professional golf.

The tournament attracted 42 professionals who competed over two rounds for $USD200,000 prizemoney. It is expected the event will expand to more events in Vietnam next season.