The Challenge Tour is the second tier men’s professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and as with on the main European Tour and the European Seniors Tour, some of the events are played outside of Europe. World ranking points are awarded for high finishes in Challenge Tour events.

The tour was introduced in 1986 and was initially called the Satellite Tour. The Order of Merit was introduced in 1989, with the top five players on it winning membership of the European Tour for the following season. The following year the tour was renamed the Challenge Tour. Up to 1993 the Challenge Tour Rankings were based on each players’ best several results, but since 1994 it has been a straightforward money list, with all results counting. In 2007 the total prize fund was €5,282,301.

Players who are successful on the Challenge Tour qualify for membership of the European Tour the following year. The top 10 Challenge Tour players effectively win full membership of the tour (there are many different exemption categories and it isn’t a clear-cut in/out issue), while the next 35 receive more limited privileges. Players who win three Challenge Tour events in a season are fast tracked onto the main tour immediately.

One competitive level down from the Challenge Tour there are three third-level developmental tours, the Alps Tour, the EPD Tour and the PGA EuroPro Tour, each of which is based in a different region of Europe. Each season the top five players from the Order of Merit of each of these tours wins a place on the Challenge Tour for the following season. The Challenge Tour also has an annual Qualifying School.

Schedule

This link will take you to The Challenge Tour Schedule

Top five Players

1. Christian  Nilsson Coached by Henri Reis – the man in charge of women’s World Number One Anika Sorenstam. Has met his compatriot Sorenstam just once but “would love to do half of what she has done in the game – she is just an amazing player and someone who Sweden should be very proud of.”

Took the 22nd card at the Final Stage of the 2005 Qualifying School to secure his place on Tour and, in doing so, achieved a six year goal. Played in the World and European Championships as an amateur for Sweden.

2. Seve Benson Seemed destined to become a golfer after his father named him after the great Seve Ballesteros. Won his maiden European Challenge Tour event at the Piemonte Open in Torino in May 2008 where he finished three strokes ahead of Switzerland’s Rapha?l De Sousa after carding a course record ten under par 62 in the third round despite suffering from illness.

Came through the Wentworth Club scholarship scheme and was a member of the Surrey Team that won the English County Championship in 2004.

3. Wil Besseling Clinched his maiden Challenge Tour victory when he romped to a seven shot victory in the II Club Colombia Masters at the Country Club de Bogotá in April 2008.

4. Alessandro Tadini Comes from a golfing family and enjoyed an impressive amateur career in Italy before finally earning his European Tour card in 2002 on his sixth attempt at the Qualifying School. Was second on the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2004 and built on this by retaining his European Tour credentials in each of the following two years. The passionate AC Milan supporter led the 2005 Celtic Manor Wales Open after 36 and 54 holes before finishing joint fifth and impressed on home soil in tying for eighth spot at the 2006 Telecom Italia Open.

5. Gary Boyd  edged Japans Ryuarto Nagano in a sudden-death playoff to win the inaugural Mission Hills Asia-Pacific Open Amateur Championship, staged at the Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, from November 28-December 1.
Using a new putter he bought for around £30 at a golf shop in Shenzhen, Boyd nailed a six-foot birdie putt on the first hole of the playoff to claim the title. Boyd, 20, and Nagano, 18, had ended four rounds tied on level par 288. The English youngster signed in rounds of 72, 76, 69 and 71 while the 18-year-old Japanese golfer shot 74, 71, 69 and 74 on Mission Hills 7,303-yard World Cup Course.