By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman
A
total of 22 players who started out on the Challenge Tour in 2024 will
be stepping up to the DP World Tour for the start of the new campaign in
a few weeks’ time.
Here
are the graduates who will be hoping they can back up 15 of the 20
players to earn the same opportunity 12 months ago retaining DP World
Tour cards for the 2025 campaign:
The 25-year-old Dane Rasmus Neergaard Petersen secured automatic promotion after winning three
times this season before capping off a brilliant year by finishing at
the top of the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
The 37-year-old Englishman,
who played in the same GB&I Walker Cup team as Rory McIlroy in
2007, also landed a hat-trick of victories in regaining a seat at the
top table for the third time in his career.
Oliver Lindell
The
26-year-old Finnish player recorded three second-place finishes, two of
which came late in the season during an eye-catching run of form that
also included a third.
Angel Ayora
At
20, the Spaniard is the youngest of the ‘Class of ‘24’ and underlined
his talent by opening with a course-record ten-under-par 62 in the Rolex
Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A.
Hamish Brown
The
Dane with a Scottish name - his father Marcus hails from Perthshire -
secured his step up to the main tour for the first time at the age of 25
on the back of a brace of title triumphs.
Conor Purcell
Another
double winner this year, the 27-year-old Irishman is stepping up to the
main tour for the first time after making progress in each of his four
campaigns on the Challenge Tour.
Kristoffer Reitan
The
Norwegian, who started the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final sitting
36th in the standings, was the biggest winner in terms of a card
position in Mallorca as a a breakthrough success in the season finale
saw him jump to seventh.
Joakim Lagergren
After
losing the main tour card he’d held for eight consecutive campaigns and
winning the Sicilian Open in 2018, the 32-year-old Swede will be back
sitting at the top table again next season.
Jack Senior
The 36-year-old Englisman, who won the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge in
Aviemore in 2015, has teed up another season on the DP World Tour, where
he has made more than 100 appearances and earned just under €1 million.
Joel Moscatel
Helped
by a brace of wins this season, including one on home soil in the
Challenge de Espana, the 26-year-old Spaniard will be embarking on his
first campaign on the main tour.
Mikael Lundberg
The
31-year-old Swede lost his top-tier card after finishing 142nd in last
season’s Race to Dubai but, helped by a win in the Bain’s Whisky Cape
Town Open, has bounced straight back.
Alexander Levy
After
winning five times on the DP World Tour, the Frenchman found himself
back on the Challenge Tour this season after finishing 126th in last
season’s Race to Dubai but, on the back of six top-ten efforts, he is
returning to top-tier action in 2025.
Benjamin Hebert
The
37-year-old Frenchman, who lost in a marathon play-off to Bernd
Wiesberger in the 2019 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club,
finished 59th after finding himself playing on the Challenge Tour last
season but it was job done this time thanks to a consistent campaign
that produced eight top tens.
Robin Williams
Though
he would also have secured a step up from the Road to Mallorca
Rankings, the 23-year-old South African earned his promotion through the
Race to Dubai points list after finishing joint-fourth in the Alfred
Dunhill Links Championship
Dean Germishuys
After
earning a step up for the 2023 season, the South African narrowly
missed out on holding his DP World Tour card but has got it back again
after producing a strong season, which included finishing second on home
soil in the SDC Open.
Bjorn Akesson
The
35-year-old Swede is returning to the DP World Tour after a nine-year
absence, having teed up his graduation through winning the NMB
Championship in South Africa early in the season.
Martin Couvra
The
21-year-old Frenchman, who won last year’s Challenge de Espana as he
finished 46th in the standings, capped an eye-catching second campaign
by jumping up two spots with a top-ten finish in the season finale.
Brandon Robinson Thompson
A
colourful character, the Englishman produced one of the most-impressive
performances of the season when winning the Farmfoods Scottish
Challenge supported by The R&A by eight shots at Newmachar. He is
making the step up for the first time at the age of 32.
Tapio Pulkkanen
The
man who always wears a trilby on the golf course has regained the card
he lost at the end of last season, having recorded six top-ten finishes
to be playing on the main tour again.
Pierre Pinau
The
25-year-old Frenchman chalked up eight top-ten finishes - his best
being a tie for fourth in the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge supported by
The R&A - to be making the step up for the first time after three
seasons on the Challenge Tour.
Nicolai Von Dellingshausen
The
German finished 75th in the Race to Dubai two years ago before losing
his card at the end of last season but, after being the man in most
danger in 22nd spot heading into the season finale, it was job done for
the 31-year-old.
Lucas Bjerregaard
The
Dane, who won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2018, survived a
nervy last day to secure the final spot and set up an opportunity to
get his career back on track after four disappointing seasons on the DP
World Tour
