Golf: Scott Henry stays in touch with eagle double at Kazakhstan Open

By NEIL AHERN
Published on 14/09/2012 00:00

BACK-TO-BACK eagles on his final two holes launched Scott Henry into contention at the Kazakhstan Open after a six-under 66 meant he finished the opening day in tied fourth place at the Zhailjau Golf Resort in Almaty.

After teeing off on the 10th hole, the Clydebank man had to birdie the ninth just to reach the turn in level par and, on a day of low scoring, was well off the pace in the Challenge Tour’s “major” in Central Asia.

But he proceeded to turn things around in a spectacular fashion thanks to birdies at the second and sixth holes before negotiating his final two holes, the par-4 eighth and the par-5 ninth, in just five shots.

“I wasn’t expecting to finish on six under after the front nine but I kept digging in,” said the 25-year-old.

Former world amateur No 1 Peter Uihlein set a hot pace by carding a stunning 63 to storm into a two-shot lead over England’s Seve Benson and Lasse Jen of Denmark.

American Uihlein has been in fine form, recording top-10 finishes in his past five starts on the Challenge Tour. He got off to a superb start in the €400,000 event thanks to eight birdies and one eagle on day one.