With the first quarter of the 2015 European Challenge Tour season behind us and the Road to Oman Rankings taking shape, we look at some of the young hot shots who have emerged from the pack to make a big impression in the embryonic stages of their careers.
Haydn Porteous – Third in the Road to Oman
This former South African Amateur Number One burst on the scene at the very first event of the season, the Barclays Kenya Open, where he put his name alongside the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam and another former Masters winner Trevor Immelman on the prestigious trophy.
The 20 year old from Johannesburg has been earmarked as a big star of the future, much like the man he beat in the play-off in Nairobi in April, compatriot Brandon Stone.
He will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Immelman, Louis Oostuizen and Brandon Grace by putting his Challenge Tour experience to good use in the years to come by rising to the top of the game and judging by the early impressions he has been making, who would bet against it?
Ricardo Gouveia – Fifth in the Road to Oman
The stocky Portuguese won in just his sixth appearance as a professional, having garnered an impressive CV from his time as an amateur in the collegiate circuit in the USA.
But he has proven beyond doubt that that victory at the EMC Golf Challenge Open 2014 was far from a flash in the pan by beginning the 2015 season as the most consistent player on tour – in five starts he has not finished outside the top ten and claimed a runner-up finish at the Challenge de Madrid.
At just 23 years of age, Gouveia already has a wise head on young shoulders and is one of a number of promising young Portuguese players coming through the Challenge Tour ranks. Right now though, he has a head start on the rest. Could he emerge as the country’s biggest golfing superstar?
Max Orrin – Sixth in the Road to Oman
Another one who earned a victory early in his Challenge Tour career last year but just missed out on earning graduation to the top tier, Orrin was quick to shake off that disappointment and has come out with all guns blazing at the start of the 2015 season.
After gaining some big-time experience on The European Tour in the early stages of 2015, the Englishman started his Challenge Tour campaign solidly with a tied 16th place finish at the Barclays Kenya Open.
A month later, the former Walker Cup player was back in the winners’ enclave in much different climes from those in which he claimed his maiden title at the NBO Golf Classic in Oman last year.
The 21 year old battled in windy and cold conditions to earn a one shot victory at the Made in Denmark Challenge, winning with an aggregate score of one over par. He can win pretty and he can obviously win ugly: this man could really be one to watch.
Ruaidhri McGee – Eighth in the Road to Oman
The Irishman is a close contender to Gouveia for the most consistent player on the Challenge Tour, having made the cut in all five of his starts this year and hit a seriously hot streak from the end of April to mid-May, finishing second, eighth and fifth in the space of three weeks.
McGee is playing his second season on Europe’s top developmental tour and received a medical extension into this year having suffered from Hepatitis A, and he has certainly been finding his feet with some distinction.
He has credited his good form to a new vegan diet and he will be hoping that it is a recipe for success which could make him the first Irishman to graduate from the Challenge Tour since 2011, when Simon Thornton made the step up to The European Tour thanks to a 12th place finish in the Rankings.
Borja Virto Astudillo – 22nd in the Road to Oman
This fresh-faced Spaniard has been dividing his time between The European Tour and the Challenge Tour having finished 19th at Qualifying School Final Stage last year and has, in four appearances on the latter, put himself firmly in the running for graduation on the Road to Oman.
A top ten finish on home soil at the Challenge de Madrid was followed a month later by a share of sixth place at the Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda.
While he could not continue that strong form at the D+D REAL Czech Challenge last week, a second round 66 was enough to keep him there for the weekend and continue his record of making every cut on the Challenge Tour thus far this year.
Virto Astudillo cites compatriot Sergio Garcia as his hero and, having claimed two titles on the Alps Tour in 2014 before making his mark on Europe’s top developmental tour, he looks like he has what it takes to follow a similar track.
