2020 Challenge Tour

The 2020 Challenge Tour is a series of professional golf tournaments collectively known as the Challenge Tour.

The Challenge Tour is Europe's official developmental tour and is organised by the PGA European Tour. It was introduced in 1986 and was originally called the Satellite Tour, before being renamed with its present title in 1990.[1]

After beginning with three tournaments in South Africa co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, the remainder of the season was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many tournaments being cancelled or postponed.

Tournament schedule

The 2020 schedule is set out below.[2] The numbers in brackets after winners' names show the player's total number of wins on the Challenge Tour including that event. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Challenge Tour because success at this level soon leads to promotion to the European Tour.

Dates	Tournament	Host country	Winner	OWGR points[lower-alpha 1]	Purse (€)	Notes
2 Feb	Limpopo Championship	South Africa	J. C. Ritchie (n/a)	13	$250,000	Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
9 Feb	RAM Cape Town Open	South Africa	Anton Karlsson (1)	13	$250,000	Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
16 Feb	Dimension Data Pro-Am	South Africa	Christiaan Bezuidenhout (n/a)	13	$340,000	Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
10 May	Prague Golf Challenge	Czech Republic	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	205,000
7 Jun	D+D Real Czech Challenge	Czech Republic	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	205,000
TBC 14 Jun	Match Play 9	Spain	Postponed[lower-alpha 3]		200,000
TBC 5 Jul 17 May	Challenge de España	Spain	Postponed[lower-alpha 3]		200,000
5 Jul	D+D Real Slovakia Challenge	Slovakia	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	205,000
12 Jul	Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge	France	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	210,000
12 Jul[lower-alpha 4]	Austrian Open	Austria	Marc Warren (3)	18	500,000	Dual-ranking event with European Tour
18 Jul 19 Jul[lower-alpha 5]	Euram Bank Open	Austria	Joël Stalter (2)	18	500,000	Dual-ranking event with European Tour
26 Jul	Vierumäki Finnish Challenge	Finland	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	200,000
9 Aug 31 May[lower-alpha 6]	Swiss Challenge	Switzerland	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	185,000
15 Aug	Made in Denmark Challenge	Denmark	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	200,000
22 Aug	Rolex Trophy	Switzerland	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	290,000
29 Aug	B-NL Challenge Trophy	Netherlands	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	250,000
6 Sep	Open de Bretagne	France	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	200,000
6 Sep	Northern Ireland Open	Northern Ireland		12	200,000	Addition to the schedule[lower-alpha 7]
13 Sep	Irish Challenge	Republic of Ireland	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	220,000
20 Sep	Open de Portugal	Portugal			200,000	Dual-ranking event with European Tour
27 Sep	Hopps Open de Provence	France		12	200,000
4 Oct	Lalla Aïcha Challenge Tour	Morocco	Cancelled	–	200,000
4 Oct 2 Aug 28 Jun[lower-alpha 6]	Italian Challenge	Italy			300,000
11 Oct 21 Jun	Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Open	France	Cancelled	–	190,000
18 Oct	Hainan Open	China	Cancelled	–	$350,000	Co-sanctioned with China Tour
25 Oct	Foshan Open	China	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	–	$500,000	Co-sanctioned with China Tour
8 Nov	Challenge Tour Grand Final	Spain		17	440,000

1. Points listed for tournaments that have not been completed are official projections based on the expected field and/or minimum points allocations. Final allocations are usually published the day after completion of all tournaments eligible for ranking points that week.[3]
2. Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
3. Postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11][5]
4. Added to Challenge Tour and European Tour schedules as both tours' planned season-resuming event on 15 June.[12]
5. Revised end date and dual-ranking status announced on 15 June.[12]
6. Provisionally rescheduled due to COVID-19 pandemic.[14]
7. Added to schedule as part of changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]

See also

• 2020 European Tour

References

1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
2. "Challenge Tour Schedule 2020". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
3. "Events | Challenge Tour | 2020". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
4. Jackson, Keith (11 March 2020). "Coronavirus: Indian Open postponed, Czech Masters cancelled outright". Sky Sports. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
5. "Update on Challenge Tour international schedule". PGA European Tour. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
6. "Further update to Challenge Tour schedule". Challenge Tour. 28 April 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
7. "R&A support for the Challenge Tour". The R&A. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
8. "Vierumäelle rahakas golfkisa myös tälle vuodelle". Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (in Finnish). 10 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
9. "Swiss Challenge 2020 auf golf sempach – abgesagt" (in German). Swiss Challenge. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
10. Keogh, Brian (14 August 2020). "2020 Irish Open moved to Northern Ireland's Galgorm Castle due to Republic's Covid travel restrictions". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
11. "Statement on the Challenge de España". PGA European Tour. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
12. "European Tour and Challenge Tour to resume in Austria". European Tour. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
13. "NI Open: R&A to back September European Challenge Tour event at Galgorm Spa & Resort". BBC Sport. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
14. "Statement on Challenge Tour international schedule". PGA European Tour. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.

External links

• Schedule on the European Tour's official site
• Rankings on the European Tour's official site