Following in the Footsteps of Greatness

Following in the
Footsteps of Greatness
202
Andrea Pavan
European Challenge Tour 203
Marco Crespi
Pavan’s friend and compatriot Edoardo
Molinari is one of the most famous
examples, returning from European Tour
disappointment in 2008 to enjoy a recordbreaking season on the Challenge Tour in
2009 before going on to claim two top-tier
victories in 2010.
Andrea Pavan and Alain de Soultrait, Director of Challenge Tour
In the year that the European Challenge Tour celebrated its 25th Anniversary, there could not have been a
more fitting figurehead for the success of the tour in the past quarter of a century than the 2013 Number
One Andrea Pavan.
On the one hand, the 24 year old possesses
the confidence, youthful exuberance
and supreme talent which epitomises so
many of the young stars who have passed
through the gates of the developmental
tour en route to stardom.
But there is another side to the Italian’s
story, which exemplifies one of the
Challenge Tour’s less celebrated, but
equally important, facets.
Not only does it provide a constant
conveyor belt of rising young stars,
but it also acts as a crucial platform for
players to re-focus and re-build after the
disappointment of losing their playing
rights on The European Tour.
In 2013, Pavan followed the path of many
of the Tour’s greatest alumni as he bounced
back from European Tour disappointment
in courageous fashion.
Pavan’s pedigree was beyond reasonable
doubt having burst on to the Challenge
Tour scene in 2011 with two victories,
204
including one at the prestigious season
finale, to finish second in the Rankings
behind Englishman Tommy Fleetwood.
After struggling through a frustrating
European Tour campaign in 2012, with
so much expectation on his shoulders,
Pavan’s temperament and ability to deal
with perceived failure were under the
microscope.
Undeterred, the Roman proved
unequivocally that he is made of worldbeating stuff with a 2013 campaign in
which he added an unerring consistency,
missing just two cuts in 23 appearances,
to his already indefatigable desire to win,
doubling his victory count on the Challenge
Tour to four with wins at the Bad Griesbach
Challenge Tour by Hartl Resort in July
and the Open Blue Green Côtes d’Armor
Bretagne in September.
So many of the Challenge Tour’s success
stories down the years have played out as
tales of recovering from adversity before
rising to the highest echelons of the game.
Roope Kakko
Brooks Koepka
Jens Dantorp
The Turin native’s meteoric rise reached
levels of Challenge Tour “folklore”
when he earned an appearance in Colin
Montgomerie’s victorious European Ryder
Cup Team at The Celtic Manor Resort in
Wales in 2010
Pavan, a former amateur star both in
Europe and the American collegiate system,
believes the 2013 season could be a
similarly life-changing one for him.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” said Pavan.
“I’m so happy with how things turned out
this year and I’m really looking forward to
next year.
Adrian Otaegui
José-Filipe Lima
“I was proud to make such a good
comeback. It’s not easy to get back up and I
showed that I can do it. Towards the end of
2012 I was struggling with my confidence.
It was very disappointing but I learned from
it and got back, worked hard in winter and
got hungry again to get good results and
get consistent again.
“This year has felt better than two years
ago. In the first season, you come out and
there is less pressure, but when you gain
your card and fall back it can get harder
for you. Edoardo took it to the next level.
He really dominated the Challenge Tour in
2009. I know he is a tough competitor so he
is an inspiration for me. I could not even
think about The Ryder Cup right now. I just
need to take it step by step. I know I have
European Challenge Tour 205
STAY AND PLAY AT A
WORLD-CLASS GOLF COURSE.
the potential but it’s about showing it with
results.”
The 2013 Challenge Tour season was another
ground-breaking one for the tour, visiting
Ukraine, Oman and the United Arab Emirates
for the first time in its history, and it was a
year bookended by two landmark victories for
another player who is sure to return to The
European Tour a different beast following a
morale-boosting campaign.
Shiv Kapur had spent six seasons in the top
tier before arriving on the Challenge Tour.
He could not have made a finer start to
2013 as he won the season-opening Gujarat
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DUBAI FESTIVAL CITY
Jens Fahrbring
Jordi Garcia Pinto
François Calmels
Kensville Challenge on home soil on
February 3 – nine days before celebrating
his 31st birthday.
His biggest one was yet to come, however,
as he closed the season as he began it by
celebrating a famous triumph with his win
in the Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour
Grand Final hosted by Al Badia Golf Club
– becoming not only the first player from
India to capture the showpiece finale but
also to graduate from the Challenge Tour to
The European Tour.
While Kapur was the central character in
the opening and closing chapters of the
2013 season, the many plots and sub-plots
which unfolded in between were just as
gripping and none more so than the story
of American rising star Brooks Koepka.
Robert Dinwiddie
Peter Uihlein
The confident young Floridian had already
claimed a victory on the tour in 2012 before
returning rejuvenated and even more
determined and his win at the Montecchia
Golf Open presented by POLAROID in May,
followed by a June double at the Fred
Olsen Challenge de España and Scottish
Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald
Hotels and Resorts meant he broke the
record for the fastest graduation from the
Challenge Tour in a calendar year.
In a period stretching less than 50 days,
the 23 year old earned the right to be
spoken of as a future superstar and he
proved his credentials by finishing tied
12th in his first appearance as a full
European Tour member at the Aberdeen
Asset Management Scottish Open before a
top ten at the Omega European Masters.
European Challenge Tour 207
Sihwan Kim
Simon Thornton
Stuart Manley
Daan Huizing
Nacho Elvira
Dylan Frittelli
His season almost reached a stunning
crescendo when he came close to winning
on the US PGA Tour and it is surely only a
matter of time before Koepka, who finished
the season third in the Rankings, is being
heralded as one of the Challenge Tour’s
great alumni.
While these two outstanding Americans
dominated the headlines in the early part
of the Challenge Tour season, there was
one European who emerged from the
pack in similarly spectacular fashion in
the second half of the year in the shape of
Dutchman Daan Huizing.
His friend and compatriot Peter Uihlein
is another who began the season as a
Challenge Tour member but finished it being
ear-marked as one of the next major players
in world golf, after he claimed the Madeira
Islands Open – Portugal – BPI title in May
to make the step up before finishing 14th in
The 2013 Race to Dubai and earning the Sir
Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award.
The 23 year old arrived on the Challenge Tour
with a rather eye-catching CV in the amateur
scene and he hit the ground running in June
with a tied runner-up finish in his maiden
professional appearance on the tour at the
Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda.
Tyrrell Hatton
That kicked off a run of eight events in
which he never finished outside the top
20, securing two victories in consecutive
Victor Riu
appearances in September – at the
Northern Ireland Open Challenge Presented
By Clannah and XJET and Kharkov Superior
Cup in the Ukraine – on the way to a sixth
place finish in the Rankings.
François Calmels was the fourth multiple
winner to graduate from the 2013 Challenge
Tour, finishing 13th in the Rankings after
early victories at the Challenge de Madrid
in April and the D+D Real Czech Challenge
Open in June, and he was joined by French
compatriot Victor Riu, whose maiden win at
the Swiss Challenge helped him to an 11th
place finish in the Rankings.
The Challenge Tour, of course, is no
different to any of the major world golf
tours in rewarding players with big
performances at the big events and the
most striking beneficiary in 2013 was Johan
Carlsson, whose imperious victory at the
lucrative Kazakhstan Open along with an
extraordinarily consistent second half of the
season yielded a fifth place in the Rankings.
Fellow Scandinavian Roope Kakko earned
a second Challenge Tour title, his first as a
professional, at the penultimate National
Bank of Oman Golf Classic in late October,
on the way to an eighth place finish in the
Rankings.
A week before the Finn’s crowning glory,
Spaniard Nacho Elvira made his mark in
the first of the final run of three thrilling
Brinson Paolini
season-ending tournaments, The Foshan
Open in China, before claiming the 14th
European Tour card on offer with a top ten
at the Grand Final in Dubai.
Tour Grand Final hosted by Al Badia Golf
Club, and five further top tens deservedly
lifted him to second in the Rankings.
While big prize money at big events
can prove the catalyst for success, the
Challenge Tour is also built on the virtue of
consistency and that has never been more
evident than in the 2013 season, given that
six of the 15 graduates had not recorded a
win en route to European Tour promotion.
Promising 21 year old Spaniard Adrian
Otaegui also racked up three runners-up
finishes, including a tied second finish at
the Kazakhstan Open, to finish seventh in
the Rankings while Korean Sihwan Kim
came close to victory on a number of
occasions but was rewarded for eight top
ten finishes, finishing ninth in the Rankings.
The most notable example was Portugal’s
José-Filipe Lima, winner of the 2004 Aa
St Omer Open, whose three runners-up
finishes, including the share of second
place at the Dubai Festival City Challenge
Englishman Tyrrell Hatton’s incredible
late surge in the season, which included
back-to-back tied runnersup finishes at the
Kazakhstan Open and The Foshan Open as
well as a top ten at the season finale, was
Johan Carlsson
Jamie McLeary
208
European Challenge Tour 209
Shiv Kapur
enough to secure a rookie season on The
European Tour courtesy of a tenth place
finish in the Rankings.
Daniel Gaunt
fairytale stories of the Grand Final when he
charged to a tied runner-up finish in Dubai,
initially thinking it may not have been
enough before celebrating emotionally
when confirmation eventually came
through that, after seven long seasons on
the Challenge Tour, his European Tour
dreams had finally come true.
Those who could not revel in such end-ofseason festivities despite experiencing the
joy of victory on the Challenge Tour in 2013
were Spain’s Jordi Garcia Pinto (Barclays
Kenya Open), Australia’s DanielGaunt
(Telenet Trophy), South Africa’s Dylan
Frittelli (Kärnten Golf Open presented by
Mazda), Italy’s Marco Crespi (Mugello
Tuscany Open), American Brinson Paolini
(Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge),Welshman
Stuart Manley (Finnish Challenge) and
Swedes Jens Fahrbring (Norwegian
Challenge) and Jens Dantorp (Rolex
Trophy).
He was joined by compatriot Robert
Dinwiddie, who claimed the 12th European
Tour card on offer thanks in part to a tied
fourth finish in the dual-ranking Najeti
Hotels et Golfs Open presented by Neuflize
OBC, which was won by 2011 Challenge
Tour graduate Simon Thornton.
Proof, if ever it were needed, that the
Challenge Tour can so often be a school
of hard knocks. But as the 15 stars of this
milestone 25th season of the Challenge
Tour - representing 12 different nations
- have proven, for those who bounce back
and battle to the bitter end, the rewards
are endless as they seek to follow in the
footsteps of greatness.
The final man in the top 15, Jamie
McLeary, provided one of the great
Neil Ahern
THE 2013 EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR
Jan
Feb
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Date
31 - 3
14 - 17
24 - 27+
2-5
16 - 19
23 - 26
30 - 2
6-9
13 - 16
20 - 23
27 - 30
4-7
11 - 14
18 - 21
25 - 28
1-4
8 - 11
21 - 24+
29 - 1
5-8
12 - 15
19 - 22
17 - 20
24 - 27
31 - 3
Event
Gujurat Kensville Challenge
Barclays Kenya Open
Challenge de Madrid
Montecchia Golf Open presented by POLAROID
Madeira Islands Open - Portugal - BPI***
Telenet Trophy
Fred Olsen Challenge de España
D+D Real Czech Challenge Open
Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open presented by Neuflize OBC*
Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels &
Resorts
Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda
Bad Griesbach Challenge Tour by Hartl Resort
Swiss Challenge
Mugello Tuscany Open
Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge
Finnish Challenge
Norwegian Challenge
Rolex Trophy
Northern Ireland Open Challenge presented by Clannah
and XJET
Open Blue Green Côtes d’Armor Bretagne
Kharkov Superior Cup
Kazakhstan Open
The Foshan Open
National Bank of Oman Golf Classic
Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final hosted by
Al Badia Golf Club
* Dual Ranking Event
210
** denotes play-off
THE 2013 EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR RANKINGS
Pos
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Name
Andrea PAVAN
José-Filipe LIMA
Brooks KOEPKA
Shiv KAPUR
Johan CARLSSON
Daan HUIZING
Adrian OTAEGUI
Roope KAKKO
Sihwan KIM
Tyrrell HATTON
Victor RIU
Robert DINWIDDIE
François CALMELS
Nacho ELVIRA
Jamie MCLEARY
Sam WALKER
Daniel IM
Marco CRESPI
Stuart MANLEY
Duncan STEWART
Jens DANTORP
Edouard DUBOIS
Rhys DAVIES
Jordi GARCIA PINTO
Byeong-hun AN
Andrew MCARTHUR
Jens FAHRBRING
Phillip ARCHER
Brinson PAOLINI
Agustin DOMINGO
Tim SLUITER
Dylan FRITTELLI
Daniel GAUNT
Lucas BJERREGAARD
Jamie ELSON
Steven TILEY
Bernd RITTHAMMER
Jeppe HULDAHL
Lloyd KENNEDY
Wil BESSELING
Adam GEE
Oliver WILSON
Niklas LEMKE
Julien GUERRIER
Thomas NØRRET
Terry PILKADARIS
Pelle EDBERG
Matt FORD
Knut BORSHEIM
Daniel BROOKS
Country
(ITA)
(POR)
(USA)
(IND)
(SWE)
(NED)
(ESP)
(FIN)
(KOR)
(ENG)
(FRA)
(ENG)
(FRA)
(ESP)
(SCO)
(ENG)
(USA)
(ITA)
(WAL)
(SCO)
(SWE)
(FRA)
(WAL)
(ESP)
(KOR)
(SCO)
(SWE)
(ENG)
(USA)
(ESP)
(NED)
(RSA)
(AUS)
(DEN)
(ENG)
(ENG)
(GER)
(DEN)
(ENG)
(NED)
(ENG)
(ENG)
(SWE)
(FRA)
(DEN)
(AUS)
(SWE)
(ENG)
(NOR)
(ENG)
Played
(23)
(20)
(10)
(9)
(17)
(12)
(20)
(17)
(22)
(17)
(24)
(19)
(22)
(20)
(23)
(20)
(23)
(20)
(21)
(20)
(20)
(22)
(16)
(22)
(22)
(22)
(19)
(22)
(12)
(22)
(19)
(20)
(14)
(18)
(14)
(19)
(17)
(18)
(17)
(20)
(21)
(18)
(15)
(20)
(20)
(18)
(18)
(13)
(20)
(15)
€
147811.05
123697.22
119423.33
118322.87
113065.78
104870.40
104811.40
100293.30
95707.65
92113.63
87296.78
86489.38
85533.61
82784.81
78675.75
76105.54
75870.07
74921.07
71996.38
70226.85
67342.13
66491.45
66229.19
65610.99
64395.82
62628.15
59174.57
58733.56
58562.77
58289.31
56612.00
52659.17
52322.99
51545.60
51167.22
50691.74
49096.53
47597.06
46262.79
45507.59
45103.51
44824.49
44679.32
41747.20
40889.79
35666.72
35540.79
35093.27
34990.30
34088.73
Pos
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
Name
Jason BARNES
Daniel VANCSIK
Damian ULRICH
George MURRAY
Christophe BRAZILLIER
Scott ARNOLD
Alvaro VELASCO
Andrea ROTA
Sam HUTSBY
Raymond RUSSELL
Gary STAL
Mark F HAASTRUP
Pedro ORIOL
Filippo BERGAMASCHI
Carlos AGUILAR
Jerome LANDO CASANOVA
Luke GODDARD
Andrew JOHNSTON
Pontus WIDEGREN
Paul MADDY
Gareth SHAW
Tapio PULKKANEN
Luis CLAVERIE
Nicolo RAVANO
Roland STEINER
James HEATH
Chan KIM
Charles-Edouard RUSSO
Benjamin HEBERT
Guillaume CAMBIS
Brandon STONE
Dodge KEMMER
Ross McGOWAN
Max GLAUERT
Markus BRIER
Florian PRAEGANT
Chris HANSON
Eirik Tage JOHANSEN
Edouard ESPANA
Adrien BERNADET
Sebastian GARCIA RODRIGUEZ
Wallace BOOTH
Baptiste CHAPELLAN
Paul DWYER
Lloyd SALTMAN
Adrien SADDIER
Niccolo QUINTARELLI
Matt HAINES
Domenico GEMINIANI
Tom MURRAY
Country
(ENG)
(ARG)
(SUI)
(SCO)
(FRA)
(AUS)
(ESP)
(ITA)
(ENG)
(SCO)
(FRA)
(DEN)
(ESP)
(ITA)
(ESP)
(FRA)
(ENG)
(ENG)
(SWE)
(ENG)
(NIR)
(FIN)
(ESP)
(ITA)
(AUT)
(ENG)
(USA)
(FRA)
(FRA)
(FRA)
(RSA)
(USA)
(ENG)
(GER)
(AUT)
(AUT)
(ENG)
(NOR)
(FRA)
(FRA)
(ESP)
(SCO)
(FRA)
(ENG)
(SCO)
(FRA)
(ITA)
(ENG)
(ITA)
(ENG)
Played
(21)
(21)
(15)
(19)
(22)
(12)
(21)
(17)
(21)
(19)
(16)
(16)
(17)
(17)
(20)
(19)
(21)
(12)
(7)
(18)
(16)
(15)
(12)
(21)
(14)
(11)
(12)
(17)
(19)
(19)
(4)
(17)
(9)
(14)
(12)
(18)
(11)
(9)
(9)
(20)
(13)
(18)
(16)
(18)
(18)
(4)
(18)
(12)
(16)
(19)
€
31635.89
28657.64
28484.50
28163.23
26102.12
25742.69
25737.90
25724.00
25017.83
24108.04
23676.44
23631.54
22805.46
22663.33
22159.28
21643.00
21181.31
20975.00
20200.83
19966.35
19831.57
19661.82
19533.00
19219.24
18762.10
18586.00
17556.75
17079.06
17021.78
16680.46
16601.16
15340.50
14602.75
14483.50
14169.99
13889.65
13755.73
12307.00
11350.71
11309.32
11235.25
11187.50
10850.62
10691.72
10229.79
9910.75
9737.00
9634.00
9575.83
9523.83
The Graduates of the 2013 European Challenge Tour
Venue
Kensville G&CC, Ahmedabad, India
Karen CC, Nairobi, Kenya
El Encín Golf Hotel, Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain
Golf Club della Montecchia, Padova, Italy
Club de Golf do Santo da Serra, Madeira, Portugal
Royal Waterloo GC, Lasne, Belgium
Tecina Golf, La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain
Golf & Spa Kunêticá Hora, Drîtec, Czech Republic
Aa St Omer GC, Lumbres, France
Macdonald Spey Valley GC, Aviemore, Scotland
Winner
Shiv Kapur, IND
Jordi Garcia Pinto, ESP
François Calmels, FRA
Brooks Koepka, USA
Peter Uihlein, USA
Daniel Gaunt, AUS**
Brooks Koepka, USA
François Calmels, FRA
Simon Thornton, IRL**
Brooks Koepka, USA
Score
67-71-65-71=274 (-14)
69-66-68-69=272 (-12)
63-69-72-67=271 (-17)
66-67-62-66=261 (-23)
72-64-69-68=273 (-15)
69-66-69-69=273 (-11)
64-66-64-66=260 (-24)
67-69-65-65=266 (-22)
74-70-65-70=279 (-5)
70-66-62-68=266 (-18)
First Prize / Prizefund
€32,000 / €20,000
€31,200 / €195,000
€25,600 / €160,000
€25,600 / €160,000
€100,000 / €600,000
€25,600 / €160,000
€25,600 / €160,000
€25,600 / €160,000
€83,330 / €500,000
€35,200 / €220,000
Jacques Lemans GC, St Veit - Längsee, Austria
Hartl Resort, Bad Griesbach, Germany
Golf Sempachersee, Lucerne, Switzerland
UNA Poggio dei Medici GC, Scarperia, Florence, Italy
Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil, Le Vaudreuil, France
Kytäjä Golf, Hyvinkää, Finland
Losby G&CC, Finstadjordet, Oslo Norway
GC de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Galgorm Castle GC & Estates, Ballymena, Co. Antrim,
Northern Ireland
Golf Blue Green de Pléneuf Val André, Pléneuf, France
Superior Golf & Spa Resort, Kharkov, Ukraine
Nurtau GC, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Foshan GC, Shishan Town, Nanhai District, Foshan City, China
Almouj Golf, The Wave, Muscat, Oman
Al Badia GC by Intercontinental, Dubai, UAE
Dylan Frittelli, RSA
Andrea Pavan, ITA
Victor Riu, FRA
Marco Crespi, ITA
Brinson Paolini, USA
Stuart Manley, WAL
Jens Fahrbring, SWE
Jens Dantorp, SWE
Daan Huizing, NED**
67-64-65-71=267 (-17)
68-67-66-68=269 (-19)
69-64-62-70=265 (-19)
72-64-66-65=267 (-17)
69-66-66-68=269 (-19)
65-69-64-69=267 (-21)
69-72-62-66=269 (-19)
67-67-66-70=270 (-18)
65-66-66-74=271 (-13)
€25,600 / €160,000
€27,200 / €170,000
€25,600 / €160,000
€25,600 / €160,000
€28,800 / €180,000
€27,200 / €170,000
€28,000 / €175,000
€26,000 / €228,000
€27,200 / €170,000
Andrea Pavan, ITA
Daan Huizing, NED
Johan Carlsson, SWE
Nacho Elvira, ESP
Roope Kakko, FIN
Shiv Kapur, IND
64-65-68-72=269 (-11)
70-69-67-67=273 (-15)
69-67-67-67=270 (-18)
68-68-66-72=274 (-14)
70-69-66-69=274 (-14)
69-66-67-70=272 (-16)
€28,800 / €180,000
€32,000 / €200,000
€64,000 / €400,000
€41,234 / $350,000
€35,029 / $300,000
€56,650 / €330,000
*** Prize fund capped at €500,000
European Challenge Tour 211