Magnus A Carlsson off to a confident start at the M2M Russian Challenge Cup
Magnus A Carlsson carded a four-under par 68 on day one of the M2M Russian Challenge Cup, at the Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club, and settled for a share of the fourth position, on Thursday, September 6, 2012.
Henry Scott, Agustin Domingo and Morten Orum Madsen were the other three players who posted the same scores and joined the Swede on the leaderboard.
Carlsson recorded a total of three birdies against a lone bogey on the front nine for a two-under par score. He then mirrored it on the back nine by carding the same number of birdies and bogeys, to settle two strokes behind the leader Marco Crespi.
“I made birdies at the 10th and 12th, which aren’t obvious birdie holes and two on the par fives, so it was a mixture of the hard ones and easy ones,” he explained. “I guess I could have made a few more but I’m pretty happy with four under today”.
Overall, it was a stunning display of the game by the number two player in the Challenge Tour Rankings. If he succeeds in recording a win this week, he will replace Gary Lockerbie on the top of the rankings.
His game off the tee was brilliant and he wants to maintain consistency in a bid to make the preparations for the Kazakhstan Open, scheduled next week.
Carlsson believes that hitting the fairways and attacking the pins will be the key to success in the remaining three rounds in Russia.
“I've been hitting good tee shots for quite a while now and I think that’s pretty important on this course,” said the Swede. “The rough is thick in places and if you hit the fairway you can attack the pins more so that was one of the keys for me today”.
According to the golf experts, Carlsson should concentrate on his putting technique, as he missed some of the birdie chances that he created during the day.
In the meantime, Espen Kofstad, who had to withdraw from the Rolex Trophy two weeks ago, made a strong comeback by recording a five-under par 67, to share the second spot on the leaderboard.
Tags: