01 / Story
A club at four. A tour card at twenty-four.
Born on 27 March 2000, Nurtai is american, with family roots in kazakhstan. He has worked with some of the best coaches in the game, played around the world, and now puts all of it into a professional career.
Career timeline
Results
Results link to their official records and press coverage where these are online.
- 2027
The road to The Open
A full Tartan Pro Tour season, Open qualifying and DP World Tour Q-School.
- 2026
Tartan Pro Tour
6 startsScotland
The gap to the cut closed from 20 shots in the first event to 2 in the last two.
On the greens in Scotland, September 2026 - 2024
Alps Tour Qualifying School
Playing statusItaly
Back in the game. Prepared with Pete Cowen's team, Nick and Callum, came 18th at the First Stage at Le Fonti (73-72), then played the Final Stage at Golf Nazionale in Rome to earn Alps Tour playing status.
First Stage results ↗Final Stage results ↗
Back on the range, Florida, January 2024 - 2019–23
The hard years
Los Angeles
The wrong coach, isolation and COVID, then the yips. At the end of 2023 he stepped away from the game.
- 2018–19
West Florida Golf Tour
11 startsFlorida
Eleven events on the Florida mini-tour, with $1,642 in prize money. Best cheque: $750 at The JONES Championship, with 73-69-70.
- 2018
Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship (Carrick Neill)
T13Gleneagles King's Course, Scotland
Opened with two 69s to sit four shots off the lead at halfway, and finished two under par for the four rounds.
- 2018
Lothians Amateur Championship
Stuart Cup · Runner-upLuffness New, Scotland
Won the Stuart Cup as leading qualifier with 142, a shot clear of the field, then fought through the match play to the final, which he lost by one hole.
Lothians GA records ↗Edinburgh Evening News ↗Edinburgh Evening News ↗
- 2018
- 2017
Kazakhstan Amateur National Championship
ChampionAlmaty
With the trophy, Kazakhstan Amateur Championship 2017 - 2014–17
Kazakhstan Open, European Challenge Tour
4 startsAlmaty
Four consecutive appearances against Challenge Tour professionals.
- 2014
Kazakhstan Amateur National Championship
ChampionAlmaty
The youngest national champion in the event's history, at 14.
- 2012
Monterey Challenge
WinnerMonterey, California
Boys 12 division: rounds of 74 and 77 to win by two shots.
- 2011
U.S. Kids Golf European Championship
T7Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland
Boys 11 division, three rounds of 18 holes, closing with a 73.
- 2007
U.S. Kids Golf World Championship
T19Pinehurst, North Carolina
Competing on the world stage at seven, in the Boys 7 division: rounds of 40, 36 and 39.
- 2004
First club in hand
Starts playing at four years old in the United States.
In the press
Scotland, summer 2018.
“Eric is not only my coach but also a long-time friend.”
Nurtai to The Scotsman, August 2018
2019 – 2024
Losing the game, and finding it again.
01 · After Scotland
2018 was his best season yet. Then it went the wrong way. He moved to Los Angeles and worked with the wrong coach, and when COVID arrived he was isolated, with almost nowhere to compete.
02 · The yips
Fear crept into his game. The yips came, his confidence went with them and his scores ballooned. With no sponsor and no backing, every tournament meant paying the bills, not just the chance to win. At the end of 2023 he walked away from golf. Under all that pressure he had forgotten why he played.
03 · The work
What followed was work on the person, not the swing: SEAL Fit, meditation retreats, rebuilding his health, and long conversations with his brother Mukhtar, a sports consultant, to get to the source of the yips.
04 · Now
The yips are gone. He plays with the pure love of the game he had as a child. His family now shares the financial weight through their businesses, and Mukhtar takes care of much of the rest, so Nurtai can keep it simple and focus on what matters.
Coaching
Shaped by the best in the game.
Head coach since 2010
Eric Grandison
A long-standing relationship built in Scotland.
Swing
Todd Anderson
PGA Tour coach.
Putting
Mike Shannon
PGA Tour putting coach.
Swing
George Gankas
PGA Tour coach.
Short game
Mark Roe
Three-time European Tour winner and Sky Sports analyst.
Nick & Callum, 2024
Pete Cowen's team
Preparation for Alps Tour Q-School.
Where he's played
The courses
- The DutchSpijk, NetherlandsMember · home base
- CraigielawEast Lothian, ScotlandTraining base
- TPC SawgrassFlorida, USATrained
- PinehurstNorth Carolina, USAWorld Championship
- Saticoy ClubCalifornia, USAPlayed
- Le Golf NationalParis, FranceTrained
- Nurtau Golf ClubAlmaty, KazakhstanNational Championship
- Zhailjau Golf ResortAlmaty, KazakhstanMember