The European Tour has a new winner, but it is the European Challenge Tour that can take credit for the unstoppable rise of Julian Suri this season.
The American had already had a great 2017, sitting second in the Road to Oman Rankings and guaranteed to graduate to the European Tour at the season’s end after earning so many points on the Challenge Tour that he could afford to play in the Made in Denmark.
That he won, and the manner of his victory at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort, came as no surprise to anyone who has tracked his progress on the Challenge Tour this year.
A second place in the Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort was soon followed by a maiden victory when he won the D+D REAL Czech Challenge, almost following it with another trophy the very next week in Switzerland.
A second win of the season appeared to be a case of when rather than if and, taking a two-shot lead into the final round, it looked set to come when the Challenge Tour visited Denmark at the end of June.
In fact, it would be in Denmark that Suri would lift a trophy once again, this time as a European Tour winner, though in the intervening two months his season continued to reach new landmarks.
After finishing joint top in Final Qualifying at Gailes Links, Suri earned a Major Championship debut when he teed it up at Royal Birkdale in The 146th Open Championship.
Last week he triumphed in Denmark in impressive style, a final round of 64 earning him a four-shot victory and truly announcing his arrival among the game’s elite.
WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE 🏆🇩🇰💪🏽 #flexicution #shootersshoot pic.twitter.com/IoJ0u8dgav
— Julian Suri (@JulianSuri1) August 27, 2017
There is something about Denmark and Suri – it was there that he made his maiden Challenge Tour appearance when he first came over to Europe last year.
He is the first player in history to win on both the Challenge Tour and the European Tour in the same season, and joins an illustrious group of Americans to have won on both tours – the others are Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Peter Uihlein.
Suri is also the third player to have started 2017 on the Challenge Tour before going on to earn European Tour status – following Matt Wallace, who won the dual-ranking event in Portugal ahead of Suri, and Aaron Rai, who earned promotion after three wins already this season.
There have also been memorable European Tour wins this term for Dylan Frittelli and Jordan Smith, both of whom graduated from the Road to Oman just last November.
All of this underlines the fact that quality golfers are being produced by the Challenge Tour every year – Suri is the latest star but others will doubtless follow.
