Ugo Coussaud remains at the summit of the Road to Mallorca Rankings, but there are several players that could challenge the Number One spot as the European Challenge Tour season reaches its final stages.
The Frenchman, who climbed to the top of the Rankings after a maiden European Challenge Tour win at The Challenge presented by KGA in India back in March, relinquished that place to Casey Jarvis for six weeks following the South African’s triumph at the Euram Bank Open in July.
Coussaud has since reclaimed his position as Number One, and with three events to go of the 2023 season, he has all but secured promotion to the DP World Tour.
Coussaud has amassed 1,161 points to date with Jarvis just ten points behind him. Following a first Challenge Tour win in the Swiss Challenge last weekend, Sweden’s Adam Blomme completes the top three and is only eight points behind Jarvis on 1,143 points.
Blomme edged out countryman Jesper Svensson in a play-off to secure a dramatic first win, however a second-place finish has seen Svensson climb into the top five for the first time this season. He sits fifth on 1,102 points four points behind Italian Lorenzo Scalise in fourth.
Italian Andrea Pavan is up to sixth in the Rankings on 1,050 points, Spaniard Manuel Elvira, having recorded three second place finishes this season, occupies seventh on 1,038 points, and two-time winner in 2023, Matteo Manassero is eighth with 1,035 points. Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick has impressed in his 15 starts on the Road to Mallorca, recording a win and four other top tens and is ninth on 1,003 points, ahead of Ivan Cantero who rounds out the top ten with 829 points.
Outside of the top ten, Marco Penge has recorded two top ten finishes in his last five outings, including a memorable win in the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos. Those results have seen the Englishman climb from 82nd to 20th, where he now occupies the last of the promotion places.
A full field will tee it up in the Hopps Open de Provence from 5-8 October, before the first of back-to-back elevated events where additional points are on offer.
The top 72 players in the Rankings following the Hopps Open de Provence will travel to Danzhou Ancient Saltern Golf Club for the Hainan Open. At the conclusion of that event, the top 45 players in the Rankings will then get the opportunity to secure graduation to Europe’s top tier at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by the R&A.
