The dominant theme on the 2011 Challenge Tour has been one of Gallic success, with Frenchmen having won a third of the events to date.
Between them, Edouard Dubois, Benjamin Hebert and Anthony Snobeck have laid claim to five of the 15 trophies handed out so far this season, with Dubois and Hebert capturing a brace of titles apiece.
Along with the ultra-consistent Charles-Edouard Russo (14th), the trio are all currently inside the top 15 of the Challenge Tour Rankings and therefore on course to gain promotion to The European Tour, with Dubois (second) and Hebert (fifth) having virtually earned enough already to secure their cards on €68,536 and €57,780 respectively.
If Dubois’ rise to prominence did not come completely out of thebleu, having registered four top 20 finishes last season – including a runner up at the Telenet Trophy – en route to finishing in 42ndplace in the final Rankings, Hebert’s sensational form of late has perhaps come as more of a surprise.
The 24 year old from Moliets, in south west France, won the European Amateur Championship in 2007, and soon after joining the professional ranks and finishing 64thin the Challenge Tour Rankings two years later, he earned a European Tour card at the first time of asking at the Qualifying School Final Stage, where he finished in 11thplace on 14 under par.
Hebert’s debut campaign turned into something of a struggle, however, with a tie for 25thplace at the Vivendi Cup his best performance.
He tried his luck again at the Qualifying School Final Stage, but missed the cut on this occasion and the hangover continued into this season, as he missed six straight cuts from the end of May to the beginning of July.
Having failed to make the weekend action at the Scottish Hydro Challenge, Hebert was languishing well outside the top 100 of the Rankings, and in urgent need of a spark to kick-start his stuttering season.
Perhaps inspired by Dubois’ victory in Scotland and that of Thomas Levet at the following week’s Alstom Open de France, Hebert resolved to double his workload on the practice range at Golf de Moliets and, after sharpening up his short game with countless hours of chipping and putting, the rewards were self-evident as he defied driving rain on the final day of the Credit Suisse Challenge to romp to his first Challenge Tour title.
With confidence fully restored, he proceeded at the English Challenge to achieve that most elusive of golfing feats – back to back victories – to set up the prospect of a swift return to The European Tour, which just three weeks ago had appeared a most unlikely scenario.
Hebert said: “After seeing Anthony win in Italy and then Edouard win twice, I didn’t want to get left behind. I’ve played with them a lot as an amateur and on the Challenge Tour, and I know my game is at a similar level to theirs. So I thought to myself: ‘if they can win, why can’t I?’ French golf is on the up at the moment, and I wanted to be a part of it. It was very frustrating to miss all those cuts, and obviously my confidence was very low. But I knew that if I kept working hard, I could turn my season around.
“My win in Switzerland gave me a lot of confidence, although I still didn’t expect to win the next week. But it shows what you can do with hard work. I practised really hard back home after missing the cut in the Open de France, and when I arrived in Switzerland I felt much more comfortable out on the course.
“Now the rest of the season is looking much better. Hopefully I can win the Rankings, and Edouard can finish second! If I can get back onto the main Tour, I’m sure I will be more prepared, because in 2009 I wasn’t really ready for it. But I learned a lot from the experience, and next time I will know what to expect. I played with lots of great players, and you can only become a better player by doing that. So hopefully I can get back there and keep my card next time.”
