Lorenzo Gagli. Joachim B. Hansen. Kim Koivu. Aaron Rai. Ryan Evans. Jordan Smith. Nacho Elvira.
What do they all have in common? They all won on the European Challenge Tour in the opening weeks of the season and then went on to secure graduation at the end of the year.
It is no secret that momentum is a big thing in golf – particularly on the Challenge Tour – and plenty of players have taken advantage of early season form to secure a spot among the elite the following season.
In 2018, it was Gagli, Hansen and Koivu who raced out in front of their competitors to take an early lead in the Rankings, which paid off come November.
Italian Gagli won the season-opening Barclays Kenya Open to lead the Challenge Tour Rankings from the first week of the season, and top spot was where he stayed until July when he was finally overtaken by Hansen.
The Dane secured a superb win at the Turkish Airlines Challenge to make a solid start to the season, but it was at the Made in Denmark Challenge presented by Ejner Hessel where he finally surpassed Gagli and took hold of the top spot, which he never relinquished as he graduated as the Challenge Tour Number One.
The 2019 season begins with four tournaments, each with a prize fund of €200,000, which gives players the opportunity to make a big leap towards cementing a place in the top 15 before the biggest tournament of the early season arrives in the shape of the Italian Challenge with a €300,000 prize fund.
This year’s schedule will reward players who show consistency throughout the season with similar prize funds week-in-week-out before the chance to make a late drive for the top 15 arrives in the last three events of the season, with the big money ‘Chinese Swing’ and the Grand Final rounding off the season.
