Wales was the last of the British home nations to join the European Challenge Tour honours board, and it was a well-respected Welshman that set the ball rolling.
David Llewellyn was already a well-known European Tour player by the time he teed it up at the Ivory Coast Open in 1991 aged 40 and he wrote his name into Challenge Tour folklore by winning the event in Africa.
The Welshman’s victory was the second time he won in the Ivory Coast – he also won in 1985, before it joined the Challenge Tour International Schedule – and his name is up there with some of the biggest names in golf.
The legendary Gary Player won the first edition of the event in 1980 and it was also won by three-time Major Champion Vijay Singh in 1989 and Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter in 1999.
However, it was Llewellyn who will be remembered for putting Wales on the Challenge Tour map in 1991, and that was after a 20-year period where he experienced all facets of the professional game.
He won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award in 1971 at the age of 20 and then finished a career-best ranking of 39th on the Order of Merit in 1974.
Llewellyn then took a sustained break from the competitive game and became a teaching professional for nine years, returning to European Tour action in 1984.
It was during his second spell as a touring professional that he enjoyed most of his success.
The Kent-born man won the World Cup of Golf for Wales alongside soon-to-be World Number One and Masters Champion Ian Woosnam in 1987, before winning his only European Tour title a year later, the AGF Biarritz Open.
His victory in France set the record for the lowest 72-hole score in a European tournament – 258 – and that has only since been equalled by compatriot Woosnam.
After retiring from professional golf, Llewellyn has since become a renowned coach, coaching the Welsh national team for eight years and also working with European Tour winners Jamie Donaldson and Ricardo Gouveia.
