Oliver Farr had already graduated from the European Challenge Tour twice before, but his promotion to the European Tour in 2019 may have been his most impressive one yet.
The Welshman secured his European Tour card despite making only 14 appearances on the 2019 Road to Mallorca, the fewest of any graduate.
His rise to the European Tour marked the third time in six years that the 31-year-old navigated his way back to the big stage as his journey to secure the 12th spot on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, which can be viewed as one of the most impressive campaigns of the season.
Despite enduring a series of life-changing and testing circumstances away from the course, including the birth of his second child and family bereavements, which forced him to play a reduced schedule, no player utilised their starts as effectively as Farr, who always seemed more likely to be found inside the top 20 than out of it.
In his 14 starts, Farr missed only one cut—and still carded rounds of 69-69 that week— and recorded five top tens, which was highlighted by his third career victory at the Lalla Aïcha Challenge Tour.
There was a sense of inevitability about his victory in Morocco, given that he also lifted titles in his previous two successful graduation campaigns. However, his win at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam was anything but a certainty, as Farr produced a stunning nine under par final round of 63 to leapfrog ten other players and secure a timely win, with only four events remaining on the 2019 Road to Mallorca.
After securing a spot on the European Tour in 2014 and again in 2017, Farr entered the Challenge Tour Grand Final holding the 15th and final graduation place and needed a strong performance to regain his playing rights for 2020. He delivered, rounding out his season with a tied-sixth place finish in Mallorca to book his ticket back to the big stage.
