The race to catch the European Challenge Tour’s runaway leader, Johan Axgren of Sweden, resumes at the Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata this week, with those players chasing the current Number One on the Rankings facing the difficult task of matching Axgren’s astounding run of form to have any hope of overtaking him.
Of course, if Axgren can add to the two Challenge Tour titles he has already collected this year then the chase will become irrelevant, because any player who wins three Challenge Tour events in the same season gains instant promotion to The European Tour for the remainder of the season in which the victories take place, and for one full season after that.
That is certainly Axgren’s goal as he heads to Italy’s south east coast for the 21st playing of the Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata, which was the first tournament to feature on the European Challenge Tour when it was launched in 1989.
It would, therefore, be an historically fitting setting for Axgren to become the first player to take advantage of the ‘three wins’ regulation, and he is confident that he can get into contention yet again and continue the wonderful vein of form that has seen him win twice and finish second, fourth, tenth, 13th and 25th in the seven Challenge Tour events that he has contested this season.
That is an exemplary record by any standards and is the reason why Axgren is Number One on the Rankings with €74,493.The Swede is €32,869 clear of second placed Antonio Maldonado of Mexico and €46,597 ahead of third placed Swede Alexander Noren.
“The guys will have to start trying to catch me!” said Axgren. “They are a long way behind me but that’s great for me – I have put myself in a strong position now and I am playing with a lot of confidence.
“I now have to go for the third win and I can relax and concentrate all of my efforts into doing that. It would be great to do it in Italy this week because I would then go straight to The European Tour and would be able to play in all of the massive events over the summer. I would love to be playing events like that with the confidence I have at the moment.”
Axgren has maintained a fantastic discipline throughout the first part of the 2006 season. The Swede has declined opportunities to play in European Tour events, where the prize money and rewards are far greater than those on offer at Challenge Tour level, in order to focus on the Challenge Tour.
It is difficult for any confident professional golfer to resist the temptation of playing for ten times the prize money at a European Tour event and instead opt for the Challenge Tour, but Axgren has reaped the rewards of employing his disciplined policy.
“I just don’t think moving between the two Tours works,” said Axgren. “I don’t like going back and forward and it certainly doesn’t do me any good.
“My goal for the season was to get my Tour card back via the Challenge Tour and now that I have the two wins, my goal is to get the third. Then I can play as many European Tour events as I want.”
