The Kazakhstan Open has long been regarded as the European Challenge Tour event that can make a player’s season, and this was very much the case five years ago when Tommy Fleetwood won in Almaty.
The Englishman triumphed by two shots to jump to the top of the Rankings, where he would remain for the rest of the season as he graduated at the top of the class of 2011.
With the Challenge Tour returning to Kazakhstan for the 12th staging of the tournament next week, Fleetwood – now a winner on the European Tour – reminisced about his life-changing victory.
“It’s that one tournament that can change your year really and everybody knows it’s coming,” he said. “I finished second in the Rolex in the week before it so I was nowhere near getting my European Tour card before those two weeks.
“Kazakhstan was a big week. I had my dad caddying and once you’ve won it you know you’re on the European Tour, and with those two weeks I went from about 33rdin the Rankings to first, so it’s a prime example of how quickly things can turn around.
“In Kazakhstan, it’s always been on good courses – I think I came 11ththe first year, in just my third event as a pro, and then the next year I played it I won, and it is massive.
“It is the Challenge Tour Major and everybody puts so much pressure and so much emphasis on it – it’s the one that stands out and I was just lucky enough to peak at the right time.
“It was awesome having my dad there. We had a fair few arguments over the course of the week, which we always do – we argued on the 17thin fact, having a full-on argument with two holes to play and leading by one.
“He wanted me to go for it out of the bunker on 17 when I had no shot – he thought I was giving the tournament away by not going for it, I thought I was giving it away by going for it.
“In the end I went somewhere in the middle and hit a horrendous shot, but we’d had five minutes of arguing before we hit it.
“I had two putts to win it from about 30ft on the last and I holed it and went and stood next to my dad and said, ‘how good’s this?’ and he said it was all down to him.
“We didn’t really go out partying afterwards – obviously my dad was with me but I had the winner’s bug and was up at about four o’clock to practise, I couldn’t help it I was so excited.”
