Espen Kofstad showed true mettle after the disappointment of dropping out of the Rolex Trophy as the Oslo man carded a five under par round of 67 to finish the opening day of the M2M Russian Challenge in tied second place, two shots behind his playing partner Marco Crespi.
Kofstad was forced to withdraw from one of the year’s biggest tournaments two weeks ago after suffering a recurrence of a back injury and admitted it was hugely disappointing.
But with a bogey-free round at the tough Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club, outside Moscow, the 25 year old bounced back in impressive fashion and is feeling confident of challenging for the title on the stunning Jack Nicklaus-designed parkland this week.
“It’s absolutely beautiful out there,” said Kofstad. “I enjoyed every single second of it. Obviously, I played in a great group today where we didn’t make many mistakes between us.
“I just played off Marco’s little birdie stretch there and it’s easy when you play with a guy who makes everything look easy. He made the course look silly easy today and when one guy does it you feel like you can do it and it’s much better than being in the trees looking for balls or watching a guy hit out of the traps.
“Obviously travelling East isn’t the easiest with time difference and everything but it’s just beautiful here with the practice facilities and the course so I'm just enjoying it.
“It’s a very American design which suits my game. I hit it very high and tend to launch it so I feel comfortable.
“I had to pull out of Rolex before the third round. It was going good and then I woke up on Friday and it felt terrible. I was playing alright but I was playing with one of the main guys from Rolex so it wasn’t the best time to pull out but I couldn’t swing through.
“If I can keep my head on like I did today and just worry about hitting the golf ball I think I can do well this week.”
