As the European Challenge Tour season heads into the home straight, it is still all to play for as the race for a top 15 spot on the Road to Ras Al Khaimah heats up.
Challenge Tour Members fight tooth and nail throughout the year with the aim of securing a card on the European Tour for next season, but it can all still change in the final five events on the International Schedule.
After the lucrative Kazakhstan Open Presented by ERG shuffled the pack considerably, the Challenge Tour made its fourth and final visit of the year to France for the Hopps Open de Provence, marking the start of the final five.
Frenchman Romain Langasque took full advantage on home soil by securing his maiden victory and in doing so, moved to 17thon the Road to Ras Al Khaimah.
Following a week off, the action moves to the Monaghan Irish Challenge next week before the two-week ‘Chinese Swing’ at Hainan Open and Foshan Open – a huge chance for a late surge up the Rankings before the season-ending Ras Al Khaimah Challenge Tour Grand Final.
During the last five Challenge Tour seasons, 18 winners of the final five events have gone on to earned their place on the European Tour the following year.
That represents a 72 per cent graduation rate for winners of the final five events, with only a handful of players not securing a top 15 spot following victory in one of the last five tournaments.
In 2017, Frenchman Victor Perez, the Challenge de España winner, was the only one of the final five champions of the season not to earn his card as he finished 18thin the Rankings, just under 10,000 points behind 15thspot — he will get a mulligan this year however, as he currently occupies the 18thposition on the Road to Ras Al Khaimah once again.
Erik van Rooyen, Oliver Farr, Jens Dantorp and Clément Sordet all secured one of the coveted 15 spots following late victories and have gone from strength-to-strength on the European Tour; particularly van Rooyen, who has five top tens this season, including a tied fourth finish at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by The Rory Foundation, a Rolex Series event.
The season’s late winners in 2016 followed the same pattern with Johan Edfors missing out and Alex Knappe, Marcus Armitage, Jordan Smith – the Rankings winner – and Bernd Ritthammer all earning their European Tour playing privileges for the following season.
Although the final five events are not the be-all and end-all of the season, history suggests that a strong finish to the season can prove to be the difference, with ten of those 18 winners still plying their trade on the European Tour to this day.
No-one knows what the remaining weeks of the Challenge Tour season will bring, but one thing is for sure; it won’t be lacking in drama.
