The Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge has a rich history of producing European Tour members, with each of the winners from the six editions of the event having gone on to play on the top tier in the following year.
The French event has earned a reputation as a breeding ground for winners to then establish themselves on the European Tour, none of whom have done so more emphatically than last year’s victor Richard McEvoy.
Englishman McEvoy triumphed at Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil in wire-to-wire fashion and intended to focus on graduating from the Challenge Tour thereafter, but had already committed to playing in the Porsche European Open the following week. And what a decision that turned out to be.
McEvoy posted rounds of 70-65-69-73 to win his first European Tour event at the 285thtime of asking, marking a meteoric rise from Challenge Tour winner to European Tour triumphant in just seven days.
Furthermore, Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, who won the event in 2014, claimed his first European Tour title in 2016, before 2016 champion Alexander Björk lifted his maiden European Tour trophy in 2018. Whilst Ryan Fox and Aaron Rai, winners in France in 2015 and 2017 respectively, won on the European Tour during the 2019 season.
Brinson Paolini, meanwhile, played a full season on the European Tour in 2014 after winning the first edition of the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in 2013 and subsequently graduating from the Challenge Tour later that year.
