As the Challenge Tour edges towards its climax with the penultimate tournament of the campaign, the Roma Golf Open, this week,Europeantour.comtakes a look at some of the past winners of the season-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final and what they have achieved since.
Peter Whiteford
The 2009 Apulia San Domenico Grand Final champion has made huge strides on The European Tour this season and is currently 58thin The Race to Dubai.
He is yet to follow his three Challenge Tour victories with a win on the big stage, but he enjoyed a superb streak in the summer with three successive top ten finishes, in the BMW PGA Championship (seventh), the Saab Wales Open (eighth) and the BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi (fourth).
Two years ago in Puglia, the Scotsman saw off Australian Andrew Tampion in a play-off courtesy of a birdie at the first extra hole after both men had finished on five under par, and the win meant he finished fifth in the Challenge Tour Rankings.
Tano Goya
Four birdies in his final five holes allowed the Argentinian to claim the 2008 Apulia San Domenico Grand Final by a single stroke as England’s David Horsey was crowned the 2008 European Challenge Tour’s Number One after finishing seventh in Puglia.
That victory played a huge part in sealing Goya’s European Tour card for 2009 and he did not take long to acclimatise, winning in just his fourth European Tour appearance at the Madeira Islands Open – BPI Portugal.
Goya was 94thin The 2009 Race to Dubai and is on track to improve on that this year after top ten finishes in the Czech Open and the Nordea Masters, plus an 18thplace finish in the BMW PGA Championship.
He currently sits in 81stplace in The Race to Dubai with season earnings of €287,531.
Peter Lawrie
The Irishman ended his long wait for a maiden Challenge Tour victory when he won the 2002 Grand Final at Golf du Medoc near Bordeaux, posting a closing 65 to finish four strokes ahead of Julien Van Hauwe and eight clear of the rest of the field.
The following year he became the first Irish golfer to win the prestigious Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award.
Prior to his elevation to The European Tour he spent a year on the Asian Tour and three seasons on the Challenge Tour, the last of which culminated in a fourth place finish in the Rankings.
Lawrie claimed his maiden European Tour victory at the Open de España in 2008, defeating home favourite Ignacio Garrido in a play-off to fulfil the potential he showed at Challenge Tour Grand Final six years earlier.
Henrik Stenson
Stenson carded a closing 69 to win the Challenge Tour Grand Final at Varadero in Cuba in 2000, confirming his position as the Number One player on the Challenge Tour that year.
Suffice to say the Swede went on to achieve great things on The European Tour, winning six times. He also claimed the 2009 Players’ Championship on the US PGA Tour.
He has made two Ryder Cup appearances, beating Vaughn Taylor in The 2006 Ryder Cup Singles as Europe beat the USA by 18½ to 9½, and winning one and a half points in the defeat at Valhalla in 2008.
