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MOSCOW: Sweden's Joakim Backstrom carded a rare albatross on his way to a share of a four-way lead after the opening round of the Russian Open on Thursday.
Backstrom grabbed his moment in the spotlight when he sank his second shot at the par five 15th with a four iron from 233 yards to add to birdies on the second, fourth, seventh, eight, 12th and 14th holes.
He suffered bogeys at the fifth and 18th in his opening 65 and a place at the top of the leaderboard which he eventually shared with compatriot Fredrik Henge, David Carter of England and Roope Kakko of Finland, all at seven under par.
Backstrom was stunned by his shot of the day.
"It was slightly into the breeze from the right so it thought that a hard four iron would do it," he said.
"I hit it well and it pitched on the green and then disappeared, but because there were people sitting around the green and they didn't really react.
"They gave me a clap, but not the kind of reaction that you would expect for an albatross so I wasn't sure what happened. But when I walked up to the green and it was there in the hole."
South Africa's Darren Fichardt is fifth after compiling a round of 66 to sit just one shot off the lead.
Fichardt started strongly, picking up strokes on the first, second and third holes, before birdies at the fifth and seventh took him to the turn in 31.
A bogey at the tenth slowed his momentum, but he gained a stroke at the 15th and then shot a four at 17 to ensure he birdied all four of the par five holes on the course.
"I felt good on the range this morning and I got off to a great start with a birdie on the first," said the South African.
"Then I birdied the next from the bunker and then birdied the third hole and at that stage I didn't think I was going to make a par. It started to slow down a bit after the seventh and I made a poor bogey on the tenth but picked up another two shots after that."
John Daly, despite suffering an injured hand, shot two under par.
"It's a great tournament and it's great to see Russia getting into golf. The golf course here is wonderful and the players are treated really well here," said the American. - AFP/de
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