Cooper's Kazakh capers: Pt1

By Matt Cooper Last updated: 17th September 2009

The Challenge Tour boys are in Kazakhstan this week and Golf365's very own Matt Cooper flew out on the plane with them. Follow his blog.

The Kazakhstan Open

This is the fifth time the Challenge Tour has ventured east into Kazakhstan for an event that has quickly established itself as one of the highlights of the schedule. Indeed, with its large prize fund most players view it as a Challenge Tour major (winning the event would vault any player into the top twenty of the rankings, enough to guarantee a 2010 European Tour card).

I have been lucky enough to receive an invitation to the tournament this year from the organisers and hosts, the Zhailjau Golf Resort in Almaty.

Arrival

Most of the field, plus officials and two media men (myself and Reuben from Holland) took a flight from Frankfurt to Almaty on Sunday night.

The six hour flight has brought us to the ninth largest country in the world and we are now a mere 150 miles from China. Almaty sits in a dramatic location, nestling at the foot of the snow-capped peaks of the Tien Shan mountains.

As we queued at passport control we were introduced to Andrew, the tournament liaison officer from Zhailjau, who asked: "Who hasn't got a visa?"

James Heath sheepishly raised a hand and went to stand behind Andrew, looking like a little boy on the naughty step. Then Zane Scotland joined him, followed by Juan Abbate and another four players.

We later learned that the customs officials wanted to put the seven on the next flight out of the country, but Andrew, a native of California, smooth-talked them.

Where's my luggage?

Meanwhile there was chaos in the baggage hall as about 30 of us were wondering what had happened to our bags and/or golf clubs.

Since my golf clubs went missing between Birmingham and Frankfurt I was feeling a bit sorry for myself at the prospect of having nothing to play golf with and nothing to wear either. "There wasn't much point in me packing anything, really," I muttered.

But suddenly news came through that another container had been discovered on the plane and the panic was over.

Convoy

Traffic in Almaty is notoriously bad so the local chief of police took it upon himself to drive ahead of our convoy. At every crossroads or busy intersection he would hit his siren and a policeman would spring to life, halting the traffic and waving us through.

There was still plenty to negotiate however, not least for me, sat on the jump-seat at the front of the lead coach. It had no seat-belt and the driver took great delight in tail-gating the chief of police.

Consequently every time he braked sharply (something he did a lot of), I was vaulted head-first towards the windscreen.

The Zhailjau Resort

After quickly (well, maybe not so quickly) checking-in and grabbing a much needed shower, I jumped on the first shuttle bus out to the course.

There was a strong French contingent at the back of the bus. They had hogged all the seats and reminded me of the cool kids on a school trip so I sloped off towards the front.

The 20 minute journey took us nearer to the imposing mountains; it also took us past a series of high-rise tenement blocks that had the distinct air of the Soviet Union about them, unlike the Zhailjau Resort which is nothing less than extravagantly opulent.

It is surrounded by lavish apartment blocks and villas, one of which is owned by the president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

As one we fell out of the coach, entered the marble-floored clubhouse, strode straight across the lobby and out onto the course.

Most of us stopped for a second to take in the surroundings: all around us was abundant wealth, directly in front of us lay an impressive-looking golf course, beyond were the white-topped mountains.

Francois Calmels, however, seemed utterly oblivious and walked directly to the driving range, said hello to the marshalls, picked up a bucket of balls and started firing them at his target.

Take my chances

After a long and deep sleep I woke up feeling brave so went for a run. Why was it brave? Simple: because it required me to cross the road which is nothing less than a seriously hazardous activity in this part of the world.

Six lane highways, cars doing 60/70 mph, traffic lights erratic, lollipop ladies non-existent so what to do? Well, apparently the trick is to nonchalantly step out in front of the cars and make them stop. Easy.

Caddie shack

This week very few players are accompanied by regular caddies so are hiring locals to pull a trolley.

"What's the rules on caddies?" one player asked on the shuttle bus this morning.

"You've got to have one at the weekend but no need pre-cut. Makes sense to get one today, though, and train them up."

The locals are faithful helpers and keen to follow their new employers everywhere they go - a little too eager for one player who had to explain to his caddie that he was going to relieve himself in the trees and didn't need following on this occasion.

Lights, camera, action

This afternoon I travelled round the city with the European Tour Productions team as they filmed a feature with New Zealand's Gareth Paddison.

We teed off at the Monument to Independence - quite literally in Gareth's case as he pretended to drive a ball through Respublika Alanghy.

For much of the time he was peered at by locals who were curious about our group, intrigued by the cameraman and downright baffled by Gareth's air shots.

We continued to the Zenkov Cathedral, made entirely of wood and where Gareth wandered amongst pigeons pretending to look for a lost ball.

The round concluded next to the war memorial celebrating Kazakh war heroes who died fighting the Nazis outside Moscow.

Gareth then revealed that he quite likes having a lady caddie because it keeps his temper in check: "I'm less likely to swear and go mad in front of a lady. I don't really care if it's just some bloke."

Matt Cooper