If I saw a richman

WHEN your national association president is a former wrestler, the leading light in the game a tennis pro, and your best golfer is only 17 years of age, then it’s not hard to surmise that the ancient game is in its infancy in your country.

That is golf's Russian cocktail at the moment. But, following the European Tour's first event a fortnight ago at Moscow Country Club, the game could be about to lift off with a little help, of course.

Australian youngster Marcus Fraser can now join the small band that could see interest in golf in Russia expand in the next 10 years. As one of the class players in the recent BMW Russian Open field he was the individual winner in the Eisenhower Trophy last year and is expected to follow in the footsteps of Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Brett Rumford Fraser was expected to excel in the first full European Tour event. Excel he did, winning a play-off with Austrian Martin Wiegele to claim his third win in nine weeks after two successes in his first year on the Challenge Tour. In some ways, the Russian Open proved a curious tournament, feeling every inch a Challenge Tour event spiced up by the presence of Andrew Coltart, the former Ryder Cup player, who finished in a share of fourth place. Few players brought professional caddies and most carried their own bags or took on local caddies, few of whom looked older than 16. The club itself is an expensive haven for well-off expatriates and "new" Russians and lies in the suburb of Nakhabino, 25 miles outside Moscow.