KAZAKHSTAN OPEN

MURRAY URQUHART (82) HAS
TRAVELLED LONG WAY
FOR NIGHTMARE ROUND

Murray Urquhart has travelled a long way from his home in Inverness to Central Asia for the Kazakhstan - but he must be wondering if his long and expensive journey to compete in this week's Challenge Tour event was really a good move.
In the first round, Murray, pictured right, had one of his worst rounds for many a long day - a 10-over-par 82 which included a double-bogey 7 at the long fourth, a triple-bogey 8 at the long 10th and a double-bogey 5 at the short 16th in halves of 40 and 42.
Murray starts the second round in 127th position in a field of 131 and he looks most unlikely to survive the halfway cut.
Nor, for that matter, do a heap of other Scots.
Greig Hutcheon (Peterculter) and former Scottish amateur champion Andrew McArthur are borderline for the top 50 and ties. They shot par 72s to be sharing 47th place.
David Patrick from Edinburgh is joint 65th with a 73.
And so the sad story goes on for Jamie McLeary, Peter Whiteford and Chris Doak.
Englishman Sam Osborne shares the lead with one of those Spaniards with a double-barrelled surname: Alfredo Garcia-Hereda. They both shot six-under-par 66s.
One thing all the competitors agreed on was the spectacular views from anywhere on the golf course. The Central Asian mountain range in this country which is five times the size of Texas and bordered by Russia, the Caspian Sea and China makes a picture postcard backdrop to the golf.
SCOREBOARD
Par 72
66 A Garcia-Hereda (Spa), S Osborne (Eng).
Other scores:
72 G Hutcheon (Peterculter), A McArthur (Sco) (jt 47th).
73 D Patrick (Sco) (jt 65th).
74 J McLeary (Sco) (jt 86th).
76 Peter Whiteford (Sco) (109th).
78 C Doak (Sco) (jt 118th).
82 M Urquhart (Inverness) (127th).