With the new Challenge Tour season now only a month away, excitement is building towards the Barclays Kenya Open and the start of the 2017 Road to Oman.
Here are some of the things we are most looking forward to over the next eight months.
Match play returns
2017 will see the return of match play golf to the schedule after far too long away – for perspective, the Challenge Tour’s youngest ever winner Dominic Foos turned two the week of the Öhrlings Swedish Matchplay, the tour’s last match play event 18 years ago.
The Match Play 9 in May is similar to last week’s pioneering ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth in combining both stroke play and match play, with the first two days proceeding like a normal stroke play event before the top 36 make the cut and contest a nine-hole knock-out match play tournament over the weekend.
It is a fitting and welcome return given the match play prowess shown by former Challenge Tour players in recent Ryder Cup contests, with seven alumni competing at Hazeltine National last year, as well as Rafa Cabrera Bello and Louis Oosthuizen both finishing in the top three at the WGC-Dell Match Play 12 months ago.
Czech mate
The D+D REAL Czech Challenge forms part of the Road to Oman schedule for the sixth time this year and it has been joined by a new event, the Prague Golf Challenge.
2017 marks 25 years since the Challenge Tour first visited the Czech Republic and a trip to its capital is sure to be a mid-season highlight.
A dual-ranking duel
For the first time in history, the Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort forms part of the Challenge Tour schedule as well as the European Tour’s, and the dual-ranking event in the Algarve is sure to be targeted by all players, with 500,000 Road to Oman Rankings points on offer.
It marks the Challenge Tour’s return to Portugal, where it has not visited since the 2015 Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI, which was also the last dual-ranking event on the schedule.
Pastures new
As well as the new tournaments on the 2017 schedule, there are some new venues to visit this year as existing events explore alternative locations.
The season starts in different surroundings to the past few years, albeit still in Nairobi, as the Barclays Kenya Open reverts to Muthaiga Golf Club after an extended stay at nearby Karen Country Club.
Two new venues await the players in June, with the KPMG Trophy being staged at Royal Waterloo Golf Club for the first time and Royal Oak Golf Club taking over hosting duties of the Made in Denmark Challenge – Presented by Ejner Hessel.
And the Kazakhstan Open will be staged at Nurtau Golf Club in Almaty once again as the venue continues to alternate with neighbouring Zhailjau Golf Resort.
