Winners of VTB Russian Open Golf Championship (Senior) named at Moscow Country Club

 Winners of the VTB Russian Open Golf Championship (Senior), a stage of the European Tour, have been named at the Moscow Country Club, an affiliate of the Main Administration for Service to the Diplomatic Corps under the MFA of Russia. PJSC VTB Bank was the titular sponsor of this year’s event.

Fifty-five professional golfers older than 50, who represented more than 20 countries, competed for the prize fund of $500,000. Multiple winners of European Tour stages and Ryder Cup participants Ronan Rafferty (Northern Ireland), Barry Lane (England), Jarmo Sandelin (Sweden), Phillip Price (Wales), Miguel Angel Martin (Spain), and other world golf stars appeared on the legendary field in the Moscow region. Gleb Fetisov was the only Russian participant.

GlavUpDK Head Elena Zaritskaya, head of PJSC VTB Bank Department for Premium Clients and Senior Vice-President Dmitry Breitenbikher, Staysure Tour head David McLaren, and Moscow Country Club Golf Director Konstantin Gribkov attended the tournament’s closing ceremony.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the only international professional golf tournament hosted by Russia this year, David McLaren thanked the team of GlavUpDK and the Moscow Country Club and personally Elena Zaritskaya and Konstantin Gribkov for the well-governed event. “It was a phenomenal week. This year Staysure Tour is holding 20 tournaments worldwide. A player told me this morning it was the best week of the season, and the tournament was one of its main events. I can tell you that I have fallen in love with Russia, Moscow, and, of course, the Moscow Country Club, which is a special place,” McLaren said.

David Shacklady (England), who finished the game in 208 strokes, won and received a prize check for $75,000. Phillip Price and Stephen Dodd (Wales) shared the second place.

“The Moscow Country Club is an improbable place. I am delighted with the fantastic condition of the field, hospitality of the club and hotel staff, and the work done by the organizers, volunteers, and caddies. My friends told me it is a wonderful place, and now I have seen it with my own eyes,”   Shacklady said in his words of thanks to the Country Club’s staff.  He dedicated his first victory in the Senior tournament to the family and children.

Tournaments of players older than 50 traditionally attract keen attention of golf fans – professional golfers play fair and demonstrate high skills, and the finals often prove intense. Before the final day of the VTB Russian Open Golf Championship (Senior), David Shacklady was two strokes behind Phillip Price, the invariable leader of the starting rounds. David pulled ahead in the first nine and took the trophy’s fate in his hands.

Moscow Country Club vice-champion Gleb Fetisov demonstrated a good stable play in the tournament. He said he was proud to represent Russia at the international event. According to Fetisov, it was a tight competition with experienced professionals, and he was very pleased with his results.

The Russian Open Tournament was founded in 1993. The Moscow Country Club hosted the first event. This is the third Senior tournament held here (the two previous events took place in 2013 and 2014). The 2013 Russian Open winner, Simon Brown, ranked eighth this time. 

The event is organized by the Moscow Country Club, the largest golf club in Russia. A professional 18-hole golf field of 7,174 yards was built in the early 1990s and harmoniously combined the remarkable landscape with international standards. The golf field was created by the exclusive design of the U.S. architectural dynasty of Trent Jones and is deemed to be one of the best in Europe.

The Moscow Country Club is a winner of the international 2017 World Golf Award held by the authoritative World Travel Awards. The country club was declared the best golf hotel in Russia.

The Moscow Country Club joined European Tour Destinations in July 2018. This is the only golf hotel in Russia aligned to European Tour Destinations, a global network of the most prestigious golf resorts of Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and now Russia. European Tour Destinations golf clubs traditionally stand high in the global ranking and host world tournaments, including Ryder Cup and World Cup. The network comprises 28 golf resorts in 21 countries.

PJSC VTB Bank was the titular sponsor of the tournament. The RESO Garantia insurance company, the Ginza Project international restaurant holding, the Klyushka and Klyushkin Plyazh restaurants located at the Moscow Country Club, the AVIS international car rental company, the Titleist golf equipment manufacturer, and LLC TD Baikalskaya Voda were its partners.

The tournament’s information partners were Golf.RU, MATCH TV, the television channel 360, the international news agency Rossiya Segodyna, the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, the magazines Esquire, Golfdigest, City Magazine, and Sport Business Consulting, the golf portal Golf MIR, and the Internet portals Mir Vpechatleniy, and sobytiye.ru.