Knut Borsheim put his knowledge of Nurtau Golf Club to good use as the Norwegian moved into a share of the clubhouse lead midway through the opening round of the Kazakhstan Open, over a course upon which he claimed a runner-up finish two years ago.
The 26 year old was beaten to this title by Tommy Fleetwood in 2011, but only just, and he picked up from where he left off two years ago as he gained his first shot at the par five second hole.
Two more birdies either side of a bogey at the seventh meant he reached the turn in two under on the penal lay-out in Almaty, before he rolled in a 45-foot putt at the tenth for eagle.
The shot he gained at the par five 13th was unfortunately cancelled out by a bogey at the 15th but Borsheim was more than happy with his four under par 68 as he hopes to better his near miss the last time he visited Nurtau.
“It fits my game a bit more here,” said the Bergen native. “I can get it out of this rough so I can bomb it up from off the tee as much as I can. I didn’t hole too many putts today but the pins were really tough. I felt like it was all 20 footers or 15 footers with a lot of break so you were happy to just give them a good roll.
“I played really solid, hit a lot of greens and did well on the par fives apart from the 17th, where I unfortunately made a par.
“One of my bogeys was with a wedge in my hand in the middle of the fairway too so I played well in general.
“Maybe if I could get some of those putts to drop I would be doing well because I'm putting really well. There are so many breaks though, you can’t really expect to make many of those.
“I made a really long one at the 10th for eagle though, after a five wood down the middle and a nice five iron up, just at the front of the green, but rolled it in from way out so that was pretty nice.”
Borsheim was joined at the top on four under by a player who won his very own national tournament this year, 2013 Norwegian Challenge champion and playing partner Jens Fahrbring of Sweden, as well as Englishmen Adam Gee and Tyrrell Hatton.
