RUSSELL HOPING TO IMPRESS IN RUSSIA CHALLENGE CUP

Raymond Russell will be hoping to make a big impression in the M2M Russian Challenge Cup at Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club this week, having opted not to play at next week’s lucrative Challenge Tour ‘Major’ in Kazakhstan.

The 40 year old currently sits in 11^th place on the Challenge Tour Rankings and is on course to earn a European Tour card for next season.

However, there is often a significant shuffle in the Rankings in the wake of the Kazakhstan Open in Almaty, which holds the biggest prize fund of a regular Challenge Tour event all season at €400,000, so a high finish in the €200,000 tournament in Russia this week would certainly go some way in easing any concerns over slipping out of the all-important top 20.

Russell, who recently became the father to a baby boy, has shown some form in recent weeks with a tied 18^th place result at the Rolex Trophy his second top 20 finish since winning the Challenge Provincia di Varese in July.

The Edinburgh-born man is joined in the field by several other Scotsmen including Alastair Forsyth, Callum Macaulay and Chris Doak, who sits in 32^nd place in the Rankings and will be hoping for positive results in the next two weeks to cement his place in the season-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final in October.

With less than €2,000 separating England’s Gary Lockerbie and Sweden’s Magnus Carlsson at the top of the Rankings and, perhaps more importantly, just €235 between Dutchman Wil Besseling in 20th place and Germany’s Max Kieffer in 21st, the third edition of the M2M Russian Challenge Cup – as well as the money-spinning Kazakhstan Open which follows it – can often make or break a player’s season.

Other notable names in the field include former World Amateur Number One Peter Uihlein of America and two-time European Tour champion Daniel Vancsik of Argentina, who both head to the Russian capital in fine fettle after finishing third and sixth respectively at the Rolex Trophy.

Home hopes rest squarely on the broad shoulders of former World Number One tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who became a professional golfer and Vice President of the Russian Golf Federation after hanging up his tennis racket in 2003.

Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club will host the M2M Russian Challenge Cup for the third successive season. Designed by 18-time Major Champion Jack Nicklaus, the layout was described by European Tour player Carlos Del Moral as “the most beautiful course I have ever played”.

 

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