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2 unusual facts about Challenge Tour


Gary Murphy

In addition, he competed on the second tier European Challenge Tour, before returning to Europe full-time, after winning a European Tour card at the 1999 final qualifying school.

Justin Kehoe

He qualified for the 2007 Open Championship, but missed the cut following the first 36 holes He plays mainly on the PGA EuroPro Tour but has played on the Challenge Tour on numerous occasions.


Christoph Günther

Christoph Joseph Günther (born 22 July 1975) is a German professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour and the EPD Tour.

D+D Real Czech Challenge Open

The D+D Real Czech Challenge Open is a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour that is played at the Golf&Spa Kunětická Hora in Dříteč, Czech Republic.

David Drysdale

He had previously qualified for the elite tour in 2001, 2006 and 2007 through q-school, in addition to graduating directly from the Challenge Tour in 2004, when he finished 12th on the end of season rankings, largely thanks to a sudden death playoff victory over Mattias Eliasson at the Bouygues Telecom Grand Final.

Florian Fritsch

He turned professional in early 2009, and almost became the third golfer, after countryman Martin Kaymer, and Italian Edoardo Molinari, ever to win on their Challenge Tour début, when he lost to Lee S. James in a playoff for the Allianz Open Côtes d'Armor Bretagne.

Joaquín Estévez

Joaquín Estévez (born 22 September 1984) is an Argentinian professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour and the Tour de las Américas.

Johan Axgren

Axgren has won four times on the Challenge Tour, the first in 1996, and then once in 2004 and twice more in 2006, when he finished second on the end of season money list, to graduate to the European Tour for the 2007 season.

Leo Scullion

His first senior match was in the 1999 Challenge Tour, and officiated his first televised match in the 2001 Regal Scottish Masters, a tie between Stephen Lee and Patrick Wallace.

Morten Ørum Madsen

He turned professional in 2011 and promptly won twice on the third-tier Nordic League, earning a place on the Challenge Tour.

Parco di Monza Challenge

The Parco di Monza Challenge was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour that was played in 2006 at Golf Club Milano in Monza near Milan, Italy.

SAS Masters Tour

The richest event was the SEK 1,328,600 Dubliner Challenge, which is co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour, the official developmental tour operated by the PGA European Tour.


see also

Ariel Cañete

Having played in two Challenge Tour events in Latin America, he was given an invite to the European Tour's Joburg Open, and he made the most of the opportunity by claiming the title, and with it a two year exemption on the tour.

Christoph Günther

Günther won his first tournament on the Challenge Tour in 2009 at the Kärnten Golf Open.

Gareth Paddison

In 2004 he won the Victorian Open on the PGA Tour of Australasia while finishing in a tie for second at the Skandia PGA Open on the Challenge Tour.

Jens Fahrbring

In August 2013, he won his first Challenge Tour event, the Norwegian Challenge.

Open de Canarias

Abama Open de Canarias, played on just one occasion in 2005, also a Challenge Tour event

PGA European Tour

In a decision that, according to the Associated Press, "reflects the changing nature of a global game", one of the top young American amateurs, Peter Uihlein, announced in December 2011 that he would not return for his final semester at Oklahoma State University and would begin professional play in Europe the following month—both through sponsor's exemptions on the main tour and on the developmental Challenge Tour.

Polish Open

Warsaw Golf Open, a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour between 1996 and 1999, originally known as the Bank Pekao Polish Open.

Ross McGowan

Having finished in a tie for 28th place in the final event of the season, he dropped to second place on the money list, as Michael Lorenzo-Vera won the tournament and jumped to the top of the Challenge Tour's money list.