Jump to content

1997 Challenge Tour

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1997 Challenge Tour season
Duration5 March 1997 (1997-03-05) – 26 October 1997 (1997-10-26)
Number of official events35[a]
Most winsEngland Andrew Collison (2)
Sweden Fredrik Henge (2)
France Raphaël Jacquelin (2)
Finland Anssi Kankkonen (2)
Italy Michele Reale (2)
Germany Erol Şimşek (2)
RankingsItaly Michele Reale
1996
1998

The 1997 Challenge Tour was the ninth season of the Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the European Tour.

Schedule

[edit]

The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.[1]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)
Winner[b] Notes
8 Mar Open de Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast 70,000 Denmark Knud Storgaard (1)
16 Mar Lonrho Kenya Open Kenya 65,000 Argentina Jorge Berendt (1)
13 Apr Is Molas Challenge Italy 35,000 England Andrew Collison (2)
19 Apr Le Pavoniere Supercal Challenge Italy 35,000 England Andrew Collison (3)
27 Apr Alianca UAP Challenger France 55,000 Finland Anssi Kankkonen (2)
4 May Canarias Challenge Spain 55,000 Italy Michele Reale (1)
18 May Modena Classic Open Italy 35,000 Spain Jesús María Arruti (2)
25 May Matchmaker Austrian Open Austria 50,000 Germany Erol Şimşek (3) New to Challenge Tour
1 Jun Himmerland Open Denmark 35,000 Sweden Mikael Lundberg (1)
8 Jun KB Golf Challenge Czech Republic 55,000 Germany Alex Čejka (3)
8 Jun SIAB Open Sweden 35,000 Sweden Joakim Rask (3)
22 Jun Team Erhverv Danish Open Denmark 80,000 England David Lynn (1)
29 Jun Audi Quattro Trophy Germany 72,000 England David A. Russell (1)
29 Jun Open dei Tessali Italy 35,000 Spain Ivó Giner (1)
6 Jul Open des Volcans France 50,000 Wales Mark Litton (4)
7 Jul Neuchâtel Open Switzerland 35,000 Germany Erol Şimşek (4)
13 Jul Volvo Finnish Open Finland 35,000 Denmark Søren Kjeldsen (1)
20 Jul Rolex Trophy Pro-Am Switzerland 50,000 Finland Anssi Kankkonen (3)
27 Jul Interlaken Open Switzerland Abandoned[c]
27 Jul BTC Slovenian Open Slovenia 40,000 Sweden Kalle Brink (1) New tournament
3 Aug Klassis Turkish Open Turkey 85,000 Wales Bradley Dredge (1) New tournament
10 Aug Challenge Tour Championship England 70,000 Australia Greg Chalmers (1)
24 Aug Netcom Norwegian Open Norway 45,000 Switzerland Demitri Bieri (1)
31 Aug Steelcover Dutch Challenge Netherlands 60,000 France Raphaël Jacquelin (2)
25 Aug Toyota Danish PGA Championship Denmark 40,000 Sweden Fredrik Henge (1)
6 Sep Sovereign Russian Open Russia 90,000 Italy Michele Reale (2)
7 Sep Öhrlings Swedish Matchplay Sweden 50,000 United States Gregory Garbero (1)
14 Sep Perrier European Pro-Am Belgium 65,000 United States Craig Hainline (1)
21 Sep Eulen Open Galea Spain 65,000 England Warren Bennett (2)
26 Sep BPGT Challenge England 35,000 France Olivier Edmond (1)
28 Sep Polish Open Poland Cancelled
5 Oct Telia InfoMedia Grand Prix Sweden 80,000 Sweden Fredrik Henge (2)
11 Oct San Paolo Vita Open Italy 45,000 Australia Mathew Goggin (2)
19 Oct Estoril Challenge Portugal 85,000 Spain José Manuel Carriles (1) New tournament
26 Oct Estoril Grand Final Portugal 70,000 France Nicolas Joakimides (1) Tour Championship

Unofficial events

[edit]

The following events were sanctioned by the Challenge Tour, but did not carry official money, wins were still official however.

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)
Winner[b] Notes
22 Jun Memorial Olivier Barras Switzerland 40,000 France Raphaël Jacquelin (1)

Rankings

[edit]

The rankings were based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Pound sterling.[3] The top 15 players on the rankings earned status to play on the 1998 European Tour.[3]

Rank Player Prize money (£)
1 Italy Michele Reale 51,679
2 Sweden Kalle Brink 36,112
3 Australia Greg Chalmers 35,267
4 France Raphaël Jacquelin 34,537
5 Finland Anssi Kankkonen 32,128

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ A further two tournaments were scheduled but were either cancelled or abandoned.
  2. ^ a b The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Challenge Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Challenge Tour members. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Challenge Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the European Tour.
  3. ^ Tournament abandoned due to persistent bad weather.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "1997 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Wash out!". The Sunday People. London, United Kingdom. 27 July 1997. p. 60. Retrieved 30 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b "Leading 15 players on rankings who earn European Tour cards for 1998". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 27 October 1997. p. 21. Retrieved 29 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
[edit]