EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR

First round report from the Kazakhstan Open


From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
A stunning back nine of 31, capped by a birdie-eagle finish, saw Frenchman Christophe Brazillier surge to the top of the leaderboard on the opening day of the money-spinning Kazakhstan Open.
Brazillier, currently languishing in 100th place in the Rankings and with a highest finish of tied sixth at the 2007 Credit Suisse Challenge, outshone the Challenge Tour’s leading lights by compiling a stunning eight under par round of 64.
That saw the Frenchman finish day one of the €400,000 event with a one stroke lead over Sweden’s Magnus A Carlsson – who came home in 29 – and in-form Australian Daniel Gaunt.
After covering the first four holes in level par at Zhailjau Golf Resort in Almaty, Kazakhstan, there was little sign of the pyrotechnics Brazillier would produce. But six birdies in his next 13 holes, followed by a ten-foot eagle putt on the final green, saw Brazillier shoot his lowest ever round to par.
He said: “It was a great way to finish, with a putt on the last hole for an eagle. It’s probably been quite a long time since I finished with three threes! I putted very well today, and my irons were also very good. I hit 17 greens out of 18 today so I gave myself lots of chances, and luckily I managed to take quite a few of them.”
Carlsson’s campaign has been an equally mixed affair, with two top ten finishes offset by five missed cuts. The Swede’s outward nine was a steady rather than spectacular affair, but his round ignited after the turn with seven unanswered birdies.
The 29 year old, whose sole Challenge Tour victory came at the 2007 Challenge of Ireland, said: “My season has been a little bit up and down, but I’m working hard on my game and it seems to be turning around. If I can have a good week here and then another one in Russia next week, hopefully I can start climbing up the Rankings and into the top 20.”
That is also the goal of Gaunt, who currently sits in 28th place but is on course to improve his position in the Rankings after notching seven birdies in a flawless display of golf. Since his victory at the English Challenge in July, which secured him an instant promotion from the EuroPro Tour to the Challenge Tour, the man from Melbourne has finished inside the top 30 in every event in which he has teed up, with last week’s 12th place finish in Strasbourg his joint best performance.
Gaunt’s round of 65 continued his run of fast starts – incredibly, he is now an aggregate of 30 under par for his opening six rounds on the Challenge Tour this season, with a 74 on the opening day of the rain-affected SWALEC Wales Challenge the only occasion he has failed to break par.
He said: “It was a very good day. I got off to a pretty decent start, which always helps, and managed to carry the momentum through the rest of the round. I couldn’t really fault my play today – my playing partner Fredrik [Henge] asked me if I’d missed a shot all day and I couldn’t really remember any, though I’m sure there were one or two. But there’s no used getting carried away – being at the top of the board on Sunday is when it matters most. I’m in a good position and playing well. But I’ve got off to good starts in the last few weeks without managing to see it through, so hopefully this week will be different.”
Finland’s Annti Ahokas, Italian Federico Colombo, Sweden’s Pelle Edberg and Norwegian Marius Thorp share fourth place on six under par after posting rounds of 66.

FIRST ROUND
64 C Brazillier (Fra) ,
65 M Carlsson (Swe) , D Gaunt (Aus) ,
66 A Ahokas (Fin) , F Colombo (Ita) , M Thorp (Nor) , P Edberg (Swe) ,
67 J Arruti (Esp) , A Perrino (Ita) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , L Gagli (Ita) , A Velasco (Esp) , W Ormsby (Aus) , L Claverie (Esp) , J Zapata (Arg) , K Eriksson (Swe) ,
68 F De Vries (Ned) , J Roos (RSA) , S Buhl (Ger) , J Campillo (Esp) , J Clément (Sui) , O Floren (Swe) , M Bothma (RSA) , B Evans (Eng) , R Kakko (Fin) , C Russo (Fra) , A Bernadet (Fra) ,
69 J Grillon (Fra) , S Jamieson (Sco) , A Sjöstrand (Swe) , S Gross Jr (Ger) , R Kind (Ned) , P Golding (Eng) , T Olesen (Den) , S Manley (Wal) , M Korhonen (Fin) , T Feyrsinger (Aut) , A Gee (Eng) , A Wagner (Arg) , G Houston (Wal) , A Haindl (RSA) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , A Tadini (Ita) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , C Gane (Eng) , M Baldwin (Eng) ,
70 P Relecom (Bel) , C Baker (USA) , C Ford (Eng) , S Walker (Eng) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , G Murray (Sco) , R Dinwiddie (Eng) , M Tullo (Chi) , D Whitnell (Eng) , N Lemke (Swe) , F Praegant (Aut) , D Denison (Eng) , D Vanegas (Col) , E Saltman (Sco) , M Quiros (Esp) , D Brooks (Eng) , A Marshall (Eng) , E Ramsay (Sco) , O Whiteley (Eng) , S Davis (Eng) , M Zions (Aus) , V Riu (Fra) , I Van Weerelt (Ned) ,
71 A Kaleka (Fra) , S Tiley (Eng) , F Calmels (Fra) , A Willey (Eng) , B Barham (Eng) , M Higley (Eng) , A Hansen (Den) , G Rosier (Fra) , B Chapellan (Fra) , C Macaulay (Sco) , B Wiesberger (Aut) , J Larsen (Nor) , M Nichols (Eng) , B Grace (RSA) ,
72 A Snobeck (Fra) , M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) , P Kaensche (Nor) , F Henge (Swe) , E Canonica (Ita) , P Dwyer (Eng) , R Russell (Sco) , E Dubois (Fra) , J Moul (Eng) , A McArthur (Sco) , S Surry (Eng) , C Paisley (Eng) , N Meitinger (Ger) , O David (Fra) , J Doherty (Sco) , S Lewton (Eng) ,
73 J McLeary (Sco) , C Del Moral (Esp) , J Xanthopoulos (Fra) , Y Ali (Eng) , R Steiner (Aut) , T Fleetwood (Eng) ,
74 S Wakefield (Eng) , J Little (Eng) , A Högberg (Swe) , K Lifanov (Rus) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , W Besseling (Ned) , J Ruth (Eng) , L Kennedy (Eng) , J Sjöholm (Swe) ,
75 L Goddard (Eng) , C Günther (Ger) , T Stewart (Aus) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , L Bond (Wal) , M Laskey (Wal) , L Slattery (Eng) , J Caldwell (Nir) , J Billot (Fra) ,
76 L Jensen (Den) ,
77 M Haines (Eng) ,
82 A Mukhamedzhanov (am) (Kaz) ,
83 J Makitalo (Fin) ,
84 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) , N Makulbekov (am) (Kaz) ,
86 A Lagay (Kaz) ,
89 I Savitsky (Kaz) ,
91 A Vongay (Kaz) ,