Khanh Hung and Duc Son aim for a historic milestone at AAC 2025

TPO - In the absence of Nguyen Anh Minh, two young talents Le Khanh Hung (17 years old) and Nguyen Duc Son (18 years old) will represent Vietnam to attend the 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), taking place from October 23-26 in Dubai (UAE). This is an opportunity for Vietnamese golf to continue making history, as the AAC champion will win a place to attend two prestigious majors: The Masters and The Open 2026.

Báo Tiền Phong•24/09/2025

In Dubai, Le Khanh Hung - currently ranked 276th in the world (WAGR) - will carry with him the aspiration to become the first Vietnamese golfer to step onto the podium of glory at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), the most prestigious tournament in the region at the amateur level.

Although this is a big challenge, for Khanh Hung, writing history is no longer strange. In 2023, when he was only 15 years old, he made a big splash with the SEA Games gold medal, the first in the history of Vietnamese golf. A year later, Hung, along with Nguyen Anh Minh and Ho Anh Huy, continued to lead the Vietnamese golf team to the Nomura Cup championship, opening a new page in history for the country's golf.

Now, AAC is the biggest target, because the champion will receive a valuable ticket to The Masters and The Open 2026. “The victory will be very meaningful to me and the whole country. One day, there will definitely be a Vietnamese golfer crowned. I have great faith in the young generation and the rapid development of Vietnamese golf,” Khanh Hung shared.

Currently attending high school near Orlando (USA) and preparing to enroll at the University of Illinois, Khanh Hung sees AAC as both a challenge and an opportunity: “I just want to enjoy and become the best version of myself every day. Having the opportunity to compete in AAC and aim for the two biggest majors is a big boost for the whole region.”

Recalling his first memory of The Masters in 2019, when Tiger Woods won, Hung said: “I was young, golf was just a hobby, but I sat all Sunday night to watch with my dad. Tiger was emotional, everyone was emotional. That moment was so special.”

Previously, Khanh Hung played for the International Team at the 2024 Junior Presidents Cup in Canada, and the 2023 AAC at Royal Melbourne (Australia), where he finished 24th overall.

Accompanying Khanh Hung in Dubai is Nguyen Duc Son (18 years old), who is also participating in the AAC for the second time. Last year, Duc Son failed to pass the cut in Japan, but this time he is full of determination: "It is very special to represent Vietnam in such a prestigious tournament. If we win, it will be a historical milestone and an inspiration for the younger generation."

Having won the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final 2024 and the National Golf Championship 2024, Duc Son also revealed that his idol is Jordan Spieth: “I started practicing golf seriously in 2015, when Spieth won The Masters and The Open. I always told myself to practice hard to become like him. That is my dream.”

The best result of a Vietnamese golfer at AAC to date still belongs to Nguyen Anh Minh - tied for 7th place at Royal Melbourne 2023. However, the runner-up of the US Junior Championship 2025 will be absent this year due to his school schedule in the US.

Meanwhile, at the same time as the AAC takes place, golfers Ho Anh Huy, Nguyen Tuan Anh and Doan Uy will represent Vietnam at the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.