New York : The Challenge Tour, which provides players seats to the World Tour and European Tour and has four co-sanctioned events, will return to India in March with events at Delhi and Kolkata.
The Challenge Tour returns to India in March with the Delhi Challenge and Kolkata Challenge, the latter of which will be played at Royal Calcutta Golf Club – the oldest golf club in India and the first outside of Great Britain.
Players will compete for a total prize money of more than €8,000,000 for the second consecutive year and the 2024 Road to Mallorca will begin with the SDC Open at the start of February, the first of four co-sanctioned events with the Sunshine Tour in South Africa.
As part of the European Tour group’s long-term partnership with the Emirates Golf Federation, the Road to Mallorca will travel to the United Arab Emirates in April for back-to-back events, the Abu Dhabi Challenge and the UAE Challenge.
The Road to Mallorca will pass through 14 European countries, including Poland for the Rosa Challenge Tour and Ireland for the Irish Challenge at The K Club, the 2006 Ryder Cup venue that will host the Irish Open in 2023 and again in 2025 and 2027. The Challenge Tour will travel to Spain in May for the Challenge de Espana, which will launch a run of 18 tournaments in 21 weeks.
The Road to Mallorca returns to China for back-to-back events in October, the Hainan Open followed by the Hangzhou Open, which offers a final opportunity to tee it up in the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A.
The Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final returns to Club de Golf Alcanada for the third successive year for the end-of-season showpiece from October 31 – November 3, as the top 45 players on the Rankings battle it out in Mallorca for one of the life-changing 20 DP World Tour cards.
Those 20 players who benefit from this formal pathway to the DP World Tour will then be eligible for the DP World Tour’s Earnings Assurance Programme, guaranteeing them minimum earnings of $150,000 for the 2025 season if they play in 15 or more events.
Additionally, during their first season on the top tier of the European Tour group, the top five graduates will receive benefits.
“I would like to thank all our promoters, national Federations, and tournament sponsors who are absolutely integral to the success of the Challenge Tour and have helped make this global schedule possible,” stated Jamie Hodges, Director of the Challenge Tour.
“The players will be well-prepared to transition to the DP World Tour thanks to the multitude of nations we will be visiting, the diversity of courses and weather, and the overall experiences they gain on the Challenge Tour.”
The DP World Tour triumph of our graduates in 2023 and the outstanding start our graduates have had in 2024 demonstrate the caliber of golfers the Challenge Tour continues to produce. Following in their footsteps is a great incentive for our members competing on the Challenge Tour in 2024, as their careers benefited from our formal pathway to the DP World Tour.
“We are also extremely appreciative of Rolex, The R&A, and DP World’s dedication through the title partnership of the DP World Tour; these contributions have all assisted us in increasing member playing opportunities and prize money.”
Matthieu Pavon became the 213th former Challenge Tour player to win on the DP World Tour when he secured a four-shot triumph at the Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid, while the total number of wins by Challenge Tour alumni is now 570.
Six former Challenge Tour players helped Team Europe to their dominant 16½-11½ victory against the United States in the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone, including debutants Robert MacIntyre and Nicolai Højgaard, who went on to win the DP World Tour Championship last month to finish second on the Race to Dubai.
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