Another crop of future stats will tee it up on the European Challenge Tour in 2022 after graduating from the Alps Tour, including Order of Merit winner Jacopo Vecchi Fossa.
The Italian won twice on the Alps Tour in 2021, first in April at the Abruzzo Alps Open where he won by three stokes, before triumphing again in the penultimate event of the season at the Golf Nazionale Alps Open in October, securing a one-stroke victory to successfully defend the title he won in 2020.
The 27-year-old, who is no stranger to the Road to Mallorca having teed it up 40 times on the Challenge Tour previously, also had a further six top ten finishes on the Europe-based Tour as he won the Order of Merit by over 5,000 points.
Another two-time winner, Scotland’s Ryan Lumsden, earned his Challenge Tour playing privileges by finishing second behind Vecchi Fossa on the Order of Merit. The 25-year-old won on his first start of the season at the Mira Golf Exp. Acaya Open and at the Alps de Las Castillas, before following that with a second and a fourth place in his next two starts.
Spaniard Angel Hidalgo would have graduated in third place but he secured automatic promotion – and an improvement in category by winning the Big Green Egg German Challenge powered by VcG in September.
Hidalgo’s countryman Victor Garcia Broto therefore took the third graduation spot, followed by French duo Paul Elissadle and Paul Margolis.
Margolis, who is just 22, played the entire season as an amateur and won once – at the Mira Live the Soul Open. He finished inside the top ten on three further occasions before turning professional at the end of the season.
