The European Challenge Tour returns to Golf Club de Genève for the 31st edition of the Rolex Trophy. Here are five things to know ahead of the week in Switzerland.
Three win promotion
Win three times on the Challenge Tour during the same season and you gain immediate promotion to the European Tour. It is something which has been achieved four times at the Rolex Trophy, with the third victory being sealed at Golf Club de Genève.
Last year’s champion Kim Koivu was the latest player to do so, following in the footsteps of Benjamin Hebert in 2011, Kristoffer Broberg in 2012 and Nacho Elvira in 2015.
All eyes on
With two wins to their names this season, Calum Hill and Antoine Rozner are the only players this week who are capable of winning for a third time to gain automatic promotion to the European Tour, following the path of Koivu and co.
Scotland’s Hill won his first event of the year at the Euram Bank Open and sealed a memorable second at the Made in Denmark Challenge Presented by FREJA. His tied seventh finish in Northern Ireland last week saw him overtake Rozner in the Challenge Tour Rankings to become the new Challenge Tour Number One.
The Frenchman started the season in sublime form, winning back-to-back events to race to the top of the Rankings. His victories at the Challenge de España and Prague Golf Challenge saw him become the first player to win consecutive Challenge Tour events since Broberg in 2012.
*How far does a win go? *
Ten of the past 11 winners of the Rolex Trophy have gone on to graduate to the European Tour at the end of the same season.
Koivu followed suit last year with his third win promotion, while Pedro Oriol’s emotional victory in 2017 helped him towards a tenth-place finish in the Rankings.
Dylan Frittelli, Elvira, Byeong Hun An all triumphed in Geneva in 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively, before they graduated to the European Tour too.
Are the stars aligned for another European Tour hopeful this week?
Winners on show
There will be 12 champions from the 2019 Challenge Tour season on show in Switzerland, including last week’s ISPS Handa World Invitational Men | Women, Presented by Modest! Golf Management winner Jack Senior.
The Englishman beat fellow compatriot Matthew Baldwin in a play-off and joins 11 fellow victors from the 2019 Challenge Tour season in the field, including Rhys Enoch, Hill, Erik Tage Johansen, Matthew Jordan, José-Filipe Lima, Ross McGowan, Robin Roussel, Rozner, Ricardo Santos, Connor Syme, and Steven Tiley.
Unique tournament
The Rolex Trophy is a prestigious tournament for many reasons, none more so than as it is the longest-running event on the Challenge Tour International Schedule, having been part of the Tour’s inception since 1989.
The tournament also involves a Pro-Am format, which is unique to the Challenge Tour, where one professional plays with three amateurs during two days of the event.
