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]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Winner[a] | OWGR points |
Purse (€) | Other tours[b] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Apr | Limpopo Championship | South Africa |  Brandon Stone (1) |
13 | R3,000,000 | AFR | |
| 2 May | Bain's Whisky Cape Town Open | South Africa | J. C. Ritchie (2) |
13 | R3,000,000 | AFR | |
| 9 May | Dimension Data Pro-Am | South Africa | Wilco Nienaber (1) |
13 | R6,000,000 | AFR | |
| 16 May | Range Servant Challenge | Sweden |  Craig Howie (1) |
12 | 200,000 | New tournament | |
| 22 May | Dormy Open | Sweden |  Félix Mory (1) |
12 | 200,000 | New tournament | |
| 30 May | Irish Challenge | Republic of Ireland |  Daan Huizing (3) |
12 | 220,000 | ||
| 6 Jun | D+D Real Czech Challenge | Czech Republic |  Santiago Tarrío (1) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 13 Jun | Challenge de Cádiz | Spain |  (1) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 18 Jun | Challenge de España | Spain | Santiago Tarrío (2) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 27 Jun | Open de Bretagne | France | Julien Brun (2) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 4 Jul | Kaskáda Golf Challenge | Czech Republic |  Marcel Schneider (2) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 11 Jul | Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge | France | Marcel Siem (1) |
12 | 210,000 | ||
| 18 Jul | Euram Bank Open | Austria |  Stuart Manley (3) |
12 | 190,000 | ||
| 25 Jul | Italian Challenge | Italy |  Ricardo Gouveia (4) |
12 | 300,000 | ||
| 8 Aug | Vierumäki Finnish Challenge | Finland |  Marcus Helligkilde (1) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 14 Aug | Made in Esbjerg Challenge | Denmark | Ricardo Gouveia (5) |
9 | 200,000 | NGL | |
| 20 Aug | Sydbank Esbjerg Challenge | Denmark |  Espen Kofstad (4) |
9 | 200,000 | NGL | New tournament |
| Rolex Trophy | Switzerland | Removed from the schedule | – | – | |||
| 29 Aug | B-NL Challenge Trophy | Netherlands | (1) |
12 | 250,000 | Tournament's debut delayed from 2020 | |
| 5 Sep | British Challenge | England |  (1) |
12 | £180,000 | ||
| 12 Sep | Big Green Egg German Challenge | Germany | (1) |
12 | 200,000 | New tournament | |
| 19 Sep | Hopps Open de Provence | France |  Alfie Plant (1) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 26 Sep | Open de Portugal | Portugal | Marcel Schneider (3) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| 3 Oct | Swiss Challenge | France | Marcus Helligkilde (2) |
12 | 200,000 | ||
| Hainan Open | China | Cancelled | – | – | CHN | ||
| 17 Oct | Empordà Challenge | Spain | Julien Brun (3) |
13 | 200,000 | New tournament | |
| Foshan Open | China | Cancelled | – | – | CHN | ||
| 22 Oct | Challenge Costa Brava | Spain |  Daniel Hillier (1) |
13 | 200,000 | New tournament | |
| 7 Nov | Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final | Spain | Marcus Helligkilde (3) |
17 | 450,000 | Flagship event |
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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]
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marcus Helligkilde |
222,628 |
| 2 | Ricardo Gouveia |
188,291 |
| 3 | Santiago Tarrío |
173,938 |
| 4 | Julien Brun |
163,773 |
| 5 | |
120,334 |
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ "Challenge Tour Schedule 2021". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ "South African Swing postponed". European Tour. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ "Challenge Tour unveils 2021 International Schedule". PGA European Tour. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
- ^ "Two Swedish events added to Road to Mallorca International Schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ "Challenge Tour statement on the Hainan Open and Foshan Open". European Tour. 11 August 2021.
- ^ "Empordà Golf to host second Spanish Swing of 2021". PGA European Tour. 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ "Extra European Tour cards on offer during 2021 Challenge Tour season". Sky Sports. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
External links[]
- Challenge Tour seasons
- Sports events curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021 in golf