John Parry’s victory at last week’s Vivendi Cup was the fifth on The European Tour by a player graduating from last season’s Challenge Tour, breaking the previous record – set last year – of four.
His win enabled the Englishman, who finished 14th in the Challenge Tour Rankings last term thanks mainly to his victory at the ALLIANZ Golf Open Grand Toulouse, to secure his place on The European Tour next season.
And having climbed to 66th place in The Race to Dubai, Parry will now also have his sights set on a place in the 60-man field for the Dubai World Championship, the climax of the 2010 campaign.
After phenomenally successful seasons Italy’s Edoardo Molinari and Parry’s 2007 Walker Cup team-mate Rhys Davies of Wales, respectively first and third in the 2009 Challenge Tour Rankings, have already guaranteed their attendance at the season finale.
Molinari swept all before him on the Challenge Tour last year and has carried that winning form with him into this season, with victories at the Barclays Scottish Open and the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles building an irresistible case for his inclusion alongside younger brother Francesco in Europe’s Ryder Cup Team.
Molinari has been joined at The Celtic Manor Resort by Europe’s ‘13th man’ Davies, who after winning twice on the Challenge Tour last season captured his first European Tour title at the Trophée Hassan II in March.
The fifth European Tour victory achieved by a graduate of the Challenge Tour class of 2009 came at the Madeira Islands Open BPI – Portugal one month later, when England’s James Morrison – who finished 18th in the Rankings – triumphed at Porto Santo Golfe.
The strength of the Challenge Tour is such that two players who failed to finish inside the top 20 of the 2009 Rankings also tasted success on The 2010 European Tour International Schedule, with Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed – who earned his card at the Qualifying School – and Austrian Martin Wiegele winning the BMW Italian Open and the SAINT-OMER Open presented by Neuflize OBC respectively.
Other Challenge Tour graduates on course to keep their European Tour cards include the English duo of Gary Boyd (currently 70th in the Race to Dubai) and Robert Coles (103rd), Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts (64th) and Scotland’s Peter Whiteford (73rd).
Similarly, one good week would be enough for Julien Guerrier (118th) and England’s Richard McEvoy to retain their playing privileges.
With five Members of the European Team in action at The Celtic Manor Resort this week having started their professional careers on the Challenge Tour, there can be no doubting the important role the Tour continues to play in advancing and developing professional golf in Europe and beyond.
