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  • Meet the 22 golfers who are stepping up to DP World Tour in 2025

    11/4/2024


      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

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  • Why it's time for the golfing Gods to shine on Scotland's patient golfer

    9/30/2024

      BY Martin Dempster - The Scotsman

      It’s not just Rory McIlroy who deserves the golfing Gods to be kind to him before this year is out. It would be cruel, after all, if Euan Walker came up agonisingly short for the third season running in his bid to step up to the DP World Tour as a Challenge Tour graduate.

      Needing to finish in the top 20 in the Road to Mallorca Rankings to join the likes of Bob MacIntyre, Grant Forrest, Ewen Ferguson, David Law, Calum Hill and Connor Syme in securing promotion from the second-tier circuit in the past few years, the Ayrshireman finished 24th in 2022 then 26th last year.

      On both occasions, Walker decided against paying a visit to the DP World Tour Qualifying School when that would have offered him an alternative route in his quest to earn a seat at the top table, sticking to his belief that a card gained through the Challenge Tour will give him a better chance of a sustained spell on the main circuit.

      “I think in order to take advantage of the Q-School card, you’ve probably got to have some experience of the DP World Tour,” observed Walker, a highly-intelligent individual. “I think you’ve got to know some of the courses and I think it is difficult for a first-time tour player unless you are a prodigious talent. My strategy has been aimed at giving myself maximum opportunity to retain a DP World Tour card because, let’s be honest, there’s no point in getting a Q-School card but then losing it and being back in the same position at the end of the year. You want to get your DP World Tour card and stay there.”

      As, of course, MacIntyre, Forrest, Ferguson, Law, Hill and Syme have all done after using the Challenge Tour as a vital stepping stone in their careers and now, on the back of his weekend win in the weather-hit Swiss Challenge – the event was reduced to 36 holes due to constant inclement conditions and a flooded course – Walker has teed up another chance to take the first big step in his bid to do likewise.

      Having jumped from 45th to 21st in the Road to Mallorca Rankings with just three regular events remaining on the schedule, the 29-year-old has definitely achieved his initial goal for the season of securing a spot in the Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A at Club de Golf Alcanada in Port d'Alcúdia in a month’s time.

      That means another nervous week for his parents, Rona and Eric, if, as seems likely, they head out again to the Balearics to provide support and company during a pressure-packed event, which is also set to feature Daniel Young, who sits 30th in the standings, while Ryan Lumsden (70th), Craig Howie (84th) and Jack McDonald (95th) all need a big performance in either this week’s Czech Challenge or a double-header in China to be involved in the card shoot-out as well.

      “I don’t think I can approach it differently,” said Walker of a second title triumph on the circuit having set up his latest chance to get over the line. “I’ve just got to go out and try to play the best I can. In golf, you can do all the preparation but you just don’t really know when you are going to perform at your peak. It is a little bit random. Everything can go perfectly in a build up yet you still don’t quite perform at your best. On the other hand, you can have no build up at all and perform at your best. I’ve just got to try and be as relaxed as possible.”

      Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Englishman John Parry have both already secured automatic promotion on the back of each winning three times this season, with five-time DP World Tour winner Alex Levy, 2019 Genesis Scottish Open runner-up Benjamin Hebert and this year’s Farmfoods Scottish Challenge champion Brandon Robinson-Thompson among the players currently sitting above Walker in the top 20.

      As for those who could be breathing down his neck in the Grand Final, former Dunhill Links champion Lucas Bjerregaard and four-time main tour winner David Horsey are both handily-placed at a stage in the season when experience can almost be an extra club in the bag.

      “I think I am in a slightly better position this year as I have started playing really well at the right moment,” declared Walker, who reckoned he’d hit every single shot in his title-winning six-under-par 66 in the second and final round at Golf Saint Apollinaire without making a single mistake on a tricky course.

      “Two years ago, I left it a bit late. By the time I went into the final, I was probably needing a top five to secure a top-20 spot. This year, I’ve got three events left – the three biggest of the year – and my confidence is high. My long game over the last few weeks has been better than it’s ever been and I’ve just got to keep doing what I have been doing.

      “My scoring average this year is better than ever before. It’s 70.02 after this week, but, even with that, I am sitting just outside the top 20. I think that shows how golf rewards volatile performances. You’d rather be amazing one week and rubbish the next week. That’s almost been my problem this season. I’ve been consistently good, but my good weeks haven’t been good enough.”

      The latest one apart, of course, and Walker, who incidentally, is now the proud owner a cowbell, though, a smaller one than the actually trophy he was presented with on Sunday, is one of those players who should be listened to by aspiring professionals in Scotland because, as he has found out, it takes patience for the vast majority in the game to make proper headway.

      Here’s hoping those golfing Gods agree it is time in early November for that to be rewarded in Walker’s case.

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  • Robinson-Thompson seals dominant victory in Aberdeen

    8/11/2024

      The Englishman led by four shots heading into the final round at Newmachar Golf Club and never looked like being caught, firing six birdies and a solitary bogey for a five under par final round of 66 to reach 22 under par, eight shots ahead of Denmark’s Hamish Brown in second.

      The 31-year-old, who carded a sensational nine under 62 on moving day to put himself in position to close out victory, was delighted to continue his low-scoring week to win by such a large margin.

      “I’m a little lost for words at the moment,” he said. “Winning is great, but winning by eight is something else.

      I’ve always felt I had something in me like this. The margin of victory is just the icing on the cake, but it means I’m doing some really good stuff.

      “It wasn’t all plain sailing. I was struggling to find the face towards the end of the front nine, but as the round went on, I just got more comfortable, and the last four or five holes I strung some good shots together and made some nice putts. Finishing like that to seal the deal was really nice.”

      Robinson-Thompson, who won his maiden Challenge Tour title at the 2023 Irish Challenge, came close to defending his title at The K Club last week before finishing in a tie for third, a result that makes this victory all the sweeter as he pursues promotion to the DP World Tour.

      “Maybe you could call it redemption for last week,” he added. “I didn’t do a whole lot wrong in Ireland, I felt like it was all there.

      “Coming into this week I wouldn’t have predicted this exactly, but I knew I was doing the right stuff. I’m really grateful that everything came together this week.

      “My coach said I need to win twice if I want a DP World Tour card. I needed to refocus and rededicate myself in certain areas and it really lit something inside me. The goal is still to win twice, no matter where it be, and we’re going to do everything we can to do that.”

      South African Robin Williams finished in third place on 13 under par, one shot clear of Frenchman Pierre Pineau and Northern Irish duo Jonathan Caldwell and Dermot McElroy in fourth, while South African Bryce Easton carded a six under 65 to finish seventh at 11 under par.

      Robinson-Thompson’s victory catapults him into ninth place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, while Brown rises to third on 901 points after his runner-up finish. Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen remains in pole position on 1,077 points, 26 points ahead of Englishman John Parry in second.

      The Road to Mallorca now heads to Finland for the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge at Vierumäki Resort from August 15-18.

      https://www.europeantour.com/challenge-tour/farmfoods-scottish-challenge-supported-by-the-r-a-2024/

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  • Farmfoods Challenge - Newmacher Golf Club 8th-11th August

    8/9/2024


      Farmfoods Scottish Challenge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⛳️
      Newmachar Golf Club

      Link to Round 2 leaderboard 👇🏻


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