Alain de Soultrait, the European Challenge Tour Director, has moved to clarify the structure behind national invites for events on the tour, especially with regard to tournaments in developing golf nations such as Ukraine, where this week’s Kharkov Superior Cup takes place.
“National invites are the lifeblood of the Challenge Tour and have been since its inception,” said de Soultrait.
“While, in many of the more established golfing nations, these invites go to experienced home-grown professionals or leading amateurs used to competing in professional tournament conditions, we appreciate that is not the case in a developing golf nation such as the Ukraine where such opportunities, up to now, have been limited.
“However the whole ethos of the Challenge Tour, and bringing golf to countries such as Ukraine, is to give these players experience against, and amongst, top professionals, experience which will help them grow and develop as golfers. We are proud of that part of our rationale as a Tour and we make no apology for it.
“As well as aspiring amateurs, many of the national invites this week have been given to locally-based professionals who are striving to develop their own games as well as working very hard all year long to grow the game of golf in the country as a whole.
“Issuing these invites has allowed us the opportunity to host this event which is turning out to be an extremely successful inaugural edition. We firmly believe that, over the coming years, the Challenge Tour can work alongside the Ukraine Golf Federation not only in terms of this tournament, but also in order to continue to improve the standard of golf in the country, as we have done in so many countries before.
“Several developing golf countries which the Challenge Tour has visited in the past are beginning to see the fruits of this with young promising professionals coming through their ranks. There is no reason this will not also be the case in the Ukraine.”
