2021 Challenge Tour

The 2021 Challenge Tour was a series of professional golf tournaments collectively known as the Challenge Tour.

The Challenge Tour is Europe's official developmental tour and is organised by the PGA European Tour. It was introduced in 1986 and was originally called the Satellite Tour, before being renamed with its present title in 1990.[1]

Tournament schedule

The 2021 schedule is set out below.[2] Just like in 2020, the season was to begin in February with three tournaments in South Africa co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, but in mid-January the South African swing was postponed to April–May over COVID-19 pandemic concerns.[3] The official schedule announcement was made on 27 January 2021.[4] In April two back-to-back events in Sweden in May were added.[5]

In August, it was announced that the Hainan Open and the Foshan Open; both played in China, were cancelled.[6] Later in the month, replacement tournaments were confirmed in Spain, both hosted at Empordà Golf on the Costa Brava.[7]

DateTournamentHost countryWinner[lower-alpha 1]OWGR
points		Purse (€)Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]		Notes
25 AprLimpopo ChampionshipSouth Africa Brandon Stone (1)13R3,000,000AFR
2 MayBain's Whisky Cape Town OpenSouth Africa J. C. Ritchie (2)13R3,000,000AFR
9 MayDimension Data Pro-AmSouth Africa Wilco Nienaber (1)13R6,000,000AFR
16 MayRange Servant ChallengeSweden Craig Howie (1)12200,000New tournament
22 MayDormy OpenSweden Félix Mory (1)12200,000New tournament
30 MayIrish ChallengeRepublic of Ireland Daan Huizing (3)12220,000
6 JunD+D Real Czech ChallengeCzech Republic Santiago Tarrío (1)12200,000
13 JunChallenge de CádizSpain Kristof Ulenaers (1)12200,000
18 JunChallenge de EspañaSpain Santiago Tarrío (2)12200,000
27 JunOpen de BretagneFrance Julien Brun (2)12200,000
4 JulKaskáda Golf ChallengeCzech Republic Marcel Schneider (2)12200,000
11 JulLe Vaudreuil Golf ChallengeFrance Marcel Siem (1)12210,000
18 JulEuram Bank OpenAustria Stuart Manley (3)12190,000
25 JulItalian ChallengeItaly Ricardo Gouveia (4)12300,000
8 AugVierumäki Finnish ChallengeFinland Marcus Helligkilde (1)12200,000
14 AugMade in Esbjerg ChallengeDenmark Ricardo Gouveia (5)9200,000NGL
20 AugSydbank Esbjerg ChallengeDenmark Espen Kofstad (4)9200,000NGLNew tournament
21 AugRolex TrophySwitzerlandRemoved from the schedule––
29 AugB-NL Challenge TrophyNetherlands Alfredo García-Heredia (1)12250,000Tournament's debut delayed from 2020
5 SepBritish ChallengeEngland Hugo León (1)12£180,000
12 SepBig Green Egg German ChallengeGermany Ángel Hidalgo (1)12200,000New tournament
19 SepHopps Open de ProvenceFrance Alfie Plant (1)12200,000
26 SepOpen de PortugalPortugal Marcel Schneider (3)12200,000
3 OctSwiss ChallengeFrance Marcus Helligkilde (2)12200,000
17 OctHainan OpenChinaCancelled––CHN
17 OctEmpordà ChallengeSpain Julien Brun (3)13200,000New tournament
24 OctFoshan OpenChinaCancelled––CHN
22 OctChallenge Costa BravaSpain Daniel Hillier (1)13200,000New tournament
7 NovRolex Challenge Tour Grand FinalSpain Marcus Helligkilde (3)17450,000Flagship event
  1. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names show the total number of wins on the Challenge Tour including that event. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Challenge Tour because success at this level soon leads to promotion to the European Tour.
  2. Several tournaments are hosted under co-sanctioning agreements with other tours: AFR − Sunshine Tour; CHN − China Tour; NGL − Nordic Golf League.

Rankings

For full rankings, see 2021 Challenge Tour graduates.

The top 20 players in the season standings received full playing privileges on the 2022 European Tour, an increase of five from the last full Challenge Tour season in 2019.[8]

RankPlayerPoints
1 Marcus Helligkilde222,628
2 Ricardo Gouveia188,291
3 Santiago Tarrío173,938
4 Julien Brun163,773
5 Frédéric Lacroix120,334

See also

References
  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  2. "Challenge Tour Schedule 2021". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. "South African Swing postponed". European Tour. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  4. "Challenge Tour unveils 2021 International Schedule". PGA European Tour. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  5. "Two Swedish events added to Road to Mallorca International Schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  6. "Challenge Tour statement on the Hainan Open and Foshan Open". European Tour. 11 August 2021.
  7. "Empordà Golf to host second Spanish Swing of 2021". PGA European Tour. 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  8. "Extra European Tour cards on offer during 2021 Challenge Tour season". Sky Sports. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.