Supreme consistency around the middle part of the season has seen Spain’s Alvaro Velasco move to the top of The European Tour’s Category 11 standings after the second Re-Rank of the season at the conclusion of the Inteco Russian Open Golf Championship.
The Spaniard, who finished 17th on the 2007 Challenge Tour Rankings, amassed three top ten finishes in four weeks in May, just after the first Re-Rank of the season.
A tied for seventh place in the Methorios Capital Italian Open was followed by a share of 13th place in the Irish Open the following week before, two weeks later, he ended The Celtic Manor Wales Open in a tie for tenth place.
Another top 40 finish in The European Open at The London Golf Club at the beginning of this month has seen him accumulate €222,276 and move to 93rd on the Order of Merit, ensuring he is now the top ranked player within Category 11 for the remainder of the 2008 season.
The first tournament this will come into effect is the SAS Masters in Sweden from August 14-17 with the other tournaments being: The KLM Open, Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Omega European Masters, Mercedes-Benz Championship, The Quinn Insurance British Masters, Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Madrid Masters and the Portugal Masters.
Category 11 Members of The European Tour are those players finishing in positions 11-20 on the final 2007 European Challenge Tour Rankings as well as the successful graduates from the 2007 Qualifying School – Final Stage.
Second Re-Rank of the 2008 Season
1 Alvaro VELASCO 222276.82
2 François DELAMONTAGNE 190722.26
3 Marcel SIEM 184535.64
4 Lee SLATTERY 161822.95
5 Paul WARING 153234.47
6 Patrik SJÖLAND 143415.44
7 Iain PYMAN 141292.07
8 Edoardo MOLINARI 117600.14
9 Sion E BEBB 116931.72
10 Martin WIEGELE 115512.67
11 Peter FOWLER 113598.72
12 David DRYSDALE 113588.50
13 Gareth PADDISON 112702.85
14 Matthew MILLAR 108892.01
15 Jan-Are LARSEN 108168.63
16 James KAMTE 103513.70
17 Peter WHITEFORD 99889.24
18 Peter BAKER 96359.24
19 Fabrizio ZANOTTI 94283.11
20 Richard BLAND 88363.36
21 Thomas AIKEN 86550.26
22 Julio ZAPATA 69935.08
23 Sven STRÜVER 66407.50
24 Lee S JAMES 51720.00
25 Ulrich VAN DEN BERG 41408.75
26 Craig LEE 39905.35
27 Joakim BÄCKSTRÖM 39461.48
28 Luis CLAVERIE 36819.30
29 Pedro LINHART 34615.00
30 Philip GOLDING 27584.21
31 Juan ABBATE 23590.09
32 Alan MCLEAN 22530.90
33 Florian PRAEGANT 18517.50
34 Benoit TEILLERIA 17325.00
35 Birgir HAFTHORSSON 9287.50
36 Warren BENNETT 9125.06
37 Paolo TERRENI 2012.33
38 Notah BEGAY III 1610.00
