The European Challenge Tour members encompass a range of different personalities and nationalities stretching across the globe from America to South Korea, from Chile to South Africa. We take a look at four countries and their countrymen ahead of the new season.
England
One of the Englishmen who will be looking to put this season right is Tom Murray. The Manchester native was the unfortunate 16th ranked player on the 2018 Challenge Tour Rankings, missing out on a European Tour card by just 604 points.
Last year saw two Englishmen gain automatic promotion to the European Tour following their victories amongst the world’s best, as Richard McEvoy and Tom Lewis both won Challenge Tour events before then triumphing on the top tier.
In 2019, 41 English players are ranked in the first 15 Challenge Tour categories and will therefore get starts in the majority of tournaments.
Korea
Four South Koreans will tee it up on the Challenge Tour during 2019, including the youngest winner in European Tour history, Minkyu Kim.
At 17 years and 64 days old, Kim sealed an iconic victory with a stunning 20 under par total after rounds of 67-66-69-66 to clinch the title by three shots. The South Korean will be joined by fellow countrymen Jinho Choi, Rak Hyun Cho and 2016 Shenzhen International champion Soomin Lee on the Challenge Tour this year.
Germany
Germany has seen six players graduate to the European Tour within the last 13 years, most famously Martin Kaymer in 2006, who won twice and recorded a further four top five finishes and never came worse than 13th in his eight events.
This season will see 16 Germans looking to follow in the footsteps of the two-time Major Champion with Marcel Schneider impressing last season, as he clinched a stunning wire-to-wire victory at the Swiss Challenge presented by Association Suisse de Golf before finishing runner-up to Kim Koivu on his debut at the Rolex Trophy.
Marcel Siem, four-time European Tour winner, will be looking to quickly return to the world stage, while Alexander Knappe will aim to replicate his stunning 2016 Challenge Tour season where he finished third in the Rankings after picking up two wins.
Australia
Australia is still looking for its first Challenge Tour Number One and it could come from the 11 Aussies with Challenge Tour categories this year.
During the last ten Challenge Tour seasons only three Australians have graduated to the European Tour, however, with Dimitrios Papadatos coming agonisingly close last year following his win in Portugal en route to a 21st place finish on the Order of Merit.
Jordan Zunic will play in his third Challenge Tour campaign, one year after losing to Cameron Smith in a play-off at the Australian PGA Championship. While Jason Norris, who won the 2017 Fiji International, will make his Challenge Tour debut this season.
