European Tour debuts in Russia at BMW Russian Open
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2003 BMW Russian Open | Preview | 14 Aug 2003
Last week it was Denmark this week Russia, when the European Tour further expands its horizons by staging an event in Russia for the very first time.
As was the case in Copenhagen last week, the Le Meridein Golf and Country Club has provided a venue for a Challenge Tour event in recent years but this will be the first time the full European Tour hits town. I say full, reservedly, as with so many of Europe’s leading lights in the US this week the field will be lacking the topline players. It is also being shared jointly with the Challenge Tour.
Andrew Coltart will be the favourite after some fine performances in recent weeks. He was third in Adam Scott’s Scandinvian Masters and 13th at the Nordic Open and has recorded five top tens this year. Others for consideration include the German Sven Struver, Marcus Fraser, a recent winner on the Challenge Tour and Stephen Scahill who has found consistency this year having made fourteen of nineteen cuts.
The course at the Le Meridien Golf and Country Club was the first ever built in Russia some fifteen years ago and was designed by Robert Trent Jones JR. It measures close to 7200 yards and will play its full length no doubt due to the significant amount of rain in recent times in Moscow.
Other Australasians lining up apart from Fraser and Scahill are Brad Kennedy, Adam Crawford, Steve Bowditch and New Zealand’s Gareth Paddison.
The event carries a purse of 400,000 euros which is small by European Tour standards, but for the Challenge Tour, it offers a great opportunity for a player to make a big leap on the money list.
