To mark the tenth anniversary of the Kazakhstan Open – the Challenge Tour’s most lucrative event – europeantour.com takes a look at the key role it has played in the make-up of the end of season Rankings over the years.
Since the inaugural event in 2005, the tournament has been played at two different courses based outside Almaty in the country’s south eastern corner – Nurtau Golf Club and Zhailjau Golf Resort, the host venue this week.
In that time nine different winners have hoisted aloft the impressive winner’s trophy, with every single victor having gone on to earn their European Tour card the same season.
That is quite a record, and one the players this week will be all too aware of, with the €64,000 Euro first prize sure to once again guarantee a place on The Race to Dubai in 2015.
Over the past ten years the prize fund at the Kazakhstan Open has been the biggest of any single sanctioned event on the schedule, and as such, even those who finish in the top five positions do their chances of graduation no harm at all.
In fact 33 of the 55 players – or 61 per cent – who have finished in the top quintet and ties over the previous nine years have gone on to earn their place on The European Tour.
That is some ratio, and proof of the positive effect a good showing in the central Asian country can have on a player’s season. Four of the nine players who have triumphed in Kazakhstan have in fact gone on to finish top of the Challenge Tour Rankings, namely Mark Pilkington (2006), Edoardo Molinari (2009), Alvaro Velasco (2010) and Tommy Fleetwood (2010).
As well as going a long way to ensuring top spot on the season long list, it can also turn around an otherwise average season. Stephen Browne won the inaugural event at Nurtau in 2005, which helped him to 19th place on the Rankings and saw him earn a place amongst Europe’s elite, even though he had only played eight events that year and recorded just one other top ten.
Even last year, the triumphant Johan Carlsson essentially assured himself of European Tour action having previously been on the fringes of qualification. Four top ten finishes until his victory had him in a decent position, but his win at Nurtau Golf Club pushed him into the top 15, and gave him sufficient confidence to post two further strong finishes before the end of the season en route to fifth place on the Rankings.
Sufficient proof, then, of the importance this event has on the composition of any Challenge Tour season, but over the years the players have faced many different tests, and if you are to succeed in Kazakhstan and reap the benefits of a top showing the records show you have to go low.
The average score of every winner across both venues is 16 under par, with both Nurtau and Zhailjau differing slightly, at 15 and 20 under respectively.
Birdies are very much the order of the day then, and last year Carlsson carded 22 en route to the title. Two years ago, the last time the event was at Zhailjau, Scott Henry carded 22 red numbers of his own, as well as consecutive eagles during his first round, and would eventually go on to triumph in a play-off over Austria’s HP Bacher.
So that’s all you need to know about how to succeed in Kazakhstan – you need to go low, very low indeed. The reward for doing just that will not only be a strong finish, but it will go a long way to ensuring European Tour status for 2015.
Win, and your place amongst Europe’s elite is almost assured.
