The European Challenge Tour returns to Germany for the Galeria Kaufhof Pokal Challenge this week, and any Challenge Tour Members looking for inspiration at the Rittergut Birkhof Golf Club need only look back 12 months to the two players involved in last season’s thrilling sudden-death play-off, two players who went onto graduate to The 2005 European Tour.
Those two players – Garry Houston of Wales and England’s Gary Emerson – fought out a tension packed shoot-out before stepping up to The European Tour.
Houston, who eventually won the play-off at the fourth extra hole, went onto finish tenth on the Challenge Tour Rankings with earnings of €60,587 to gain promotion to European golf’s top level, while Emerson’s second place finish in Germany was the catalyst for a great run of form that took him to the 2004 Russian Open title, which secured him immediate progression to The European Tour.
Emerson has since gone on to cement his place on The European Tour following his excellent performance at the 2005 KLM Open where he finished in second place and won €166,660, taking his season’s earnings to €247,453 and guaranteeing his Tour card for next season.
Six out of the 13 Challenge Tour champions crowned in 2005 are set to line up in Germany, namely, Frenchman Olivier David, Toni Karjalainen of Finland, Englishman Richard McEvoy, Cesar Monasterio of Argentina, Brad Sutterfield of the USA and Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik.
All of those tournament winners are currently occupying positions within the top 20 of the Rankings and are therefore well placed to follow Houston and Emerson onto The European Tour.
Germany’s Kariem Baraka, who won the German PGA’s Lancia Golf Pokal Championship at the Rittergut Birkhof Golf Club in 1999, and his compatriot Erol Simsek – four times a winner on the Challenge Tour – will be among the home favourites at the 6807 par 72 Rittergut Birkhof Golf Club, which this week is playing host to the fifth Galeria Kaufhof Pokal Challenge.
