Russian Open

Russian Open
Tournament information
Location	Moscow, Russia
Established	1993
Course(s)	Skolkovo Golf Club
Par	71
Length	7,025 yards (6,424 m)
Tour(s)	European Tour (2003–2015); Challenge Tour (1996–2005)
Format	Stroke play
Prize fund	€1,000,000
Month played	September
Final year	2015
Tournament record score
Aggregate	265 Per-Ulrik Johansson (2007)
To par	−23 (as above)
Final champion
	Lee Slattery

Moscow

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Location in Russia

The Russian Open was a golf tournament on the European Tour. The event was established in 1993, and was first held at the Moscow Country Club in Nakhabino, just outside Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, Russia.

History

Originally contested over the first nine holes at the Moscow Country Club as an amateur tournament while the rest of the course was still under construction, the Russian Open became Russia's first professional golf tournament in 1994. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, through its Secretary, Sir Michael Bonallack, officially recognized the tournament along with the 18-hole course opening in September 1994. It became an event on the second-tier Challenge Tour in 1996, and was added to the European Tour schedule from 2003. Between 2003 and 2005, it was an official money event on both tours, and from 2006 to 2008, it was solely an event on the European Tour calendar.

Through 2006, it was held on the same weekend in August as the PGA Championship, one of professional golf's four majors, which automatically made it a secondary event. In 2007, was held the weekend before the PGA Championship, but remained an alternate event, this time to the Bridgestone Invitational, a World Golf Championships event. In 2008, it was held the week after The Open Championship.

The 2005 prize fund of $500,000 was around a tenth of those of the leading events on the European Tour, even leaving aside the major championships and World Golf Championships. However, it was one of the richest tournaments of the season on the Challenge Tour. In 2006, when it became a European Tour only event, the prize fund doubled to $1 million, doubling again the following year, to $2 million.

The tournament was not played from 2009 to 2012 but returned in 2013 at the Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club. Tseleevo had hosted a Challenge Tour event, the M2M Russian Challenge Cup, from 2010 to 2012. The Russian Open moved to the Skolkovo Golf Club in 2015 where Andrey Pavlov made history when he became the first Russian to make the cut in a European Tour event. He finished 71st, last of those who made the cut.^[1]

Winners

European Tour (dual-ranking with Challenge Tour from 2003–05)

Year	Winner	Country	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Winner's share (€)
M2M Russian Open
2015	Lee Slattery	England	269	−15	1 stroke	Estanislao Goya	166,660
2014	David Horsey	England	275	−13	Playoff	Damien McGrane	166,660
2013	Michael Hoey	Northern Ireland	272	−16	4 strokes	Alexandre Kaleka Matthew Nixon	166,660
Inteco Russian Open Golf Championship
2009–12: No tournament
2008	Mikael Lundberg (2)	Sweden	267	−21	2 strokes	José Manuel Lara	210,237
Russian Open Golf Championship
2007	Per-Ulrik Johansson	Sweden	265	−23	6 strokes	Robert-Jan Derksen	244,251
Imperial Collection Russian Open
2006	Alejandro Cañizares	Spain	266	−22	4 strokes	David Drysdale	130,642
Cadillac Russian Open
2005	Mikael Lundberg	Sweden	273	−15	Playoff	Andrew Butterfield	67,600
BMW Russian Open
2004	Gary Emerson	England	272	−16	2 strokes	Markus Brier	67,903
2003	Marcus Fraser	Australia	269	−19	Playoff	Martin Wiegele	66,660

Challenge Tour

Year	Winner	Score
BMW Russian Open
2002	Iain Pyman (2)	269 (−19)
2001	Jamie Donaldson	270 (−18)
2000	Marco Bernardini	269 (−19)
1999	Iain Pyman	273 (−15)
Moscow Country Club Russian Open
1998	Warren Bennett	270 (−18)
Sovereign Russian Open
1997	Michele Reale	280 (−8)^PO
1996	Carl Watts	203 (−13)