2010 Challenge Tour

The 2010 Challenge Tour was the 22nd season of the Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the European Tour.

2010 Challenge Tour season

Duration	18 February 2010 (2010-02-18) – 30 October 2010 (2010-10-30)
Number of official events	25[a]
Most wins	Andreas Hartø (2) Mark Tullo (2) Álvaro Velasco (2) Martin Wiegele (2) Bernd Wiesberger (2)
Rankings	Álvaro Velasco
← 2009 2011 →

Changes for 2010

In August, the Official World Golf Ranking announced that the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final would gain "flagship event" status, meaning that the minimum points awarded would increase to 16 from 12.^[1][2]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2010 season.^[3]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (€)	Winner[b]	OWGR points	Other tours[c]	Notes
21 Feb	Abierto Internacional de Golf II Copa Antioquia	Colombia	US$220,000	David Vanegas (1)	12	CAN, TLA	New to Challenge Tour
28 Mar	Kenya Open	Kenya	190,000	Robert Dinwiddie (3)	12
2 May	Turkish Airlines Challenge	Turkey	175,000	Charlie Ford (1)	12		New tournament
9 May	Allianz Open Côtes d'Armor Bretagne	France	150,000	Sam Walker (2)	12
23 May	Mugello Tuscany Open	Italy	150,000	Floris de Vries (1)	12		New tournament
30 May	Telenet Trophy	Belgium	150,000	Lee Slattery (2)	12
6 Jun	Kärnten Golf Open	Austria	160,000	Martin Wiegele (2)	12
13 Jun	Scottish Hydro Challenge	Scotland	200,000	George Murray (1)	12
20 Jun[d] 25 Apr	Moroccan Golf Classic	Morocco	150,000	Chris Baker (1)	12
20 Jun	Saint-Omer Open	France	600,000	Martin Wiegele (3)	18	EUR
27 Jun	Fred Olsen Challenge de España	Spain	150,000	Álvaro Velasco (1)	12
4 Jul	The Princess	Sweden	150,000	Thorbjørn Olesen (1)	12
11 Jul	Allianz Golf Open de Lyon	France	150,000	Bernd Wiesberger (1)	12
18 Jul	Credit Suisse Challenge	Switzerland	150,000	Alessandro Tadini (3)	12
25 Jul	English Challenge	England	150,000	Daniel Gaunt (1)	12
1 Aug	Green Challenge	Finland	–	Cancelled[5]	–
14 Aug	Rolex Trophy	Switzerland	215,000	Mark Tullo (1)	12
22 Aug	ECCO Tour Championship	Germany	DKr 1,350,000	Andreas Hartø (a) (1)	12	DNK
28 Aug	SWALEC Wales Challenge	Wales	150,000	Oscar Florén (1)	12
5 Sep	Allianz EurOpen Strasbourg	France	150,000	Romain Wattel (a) (1)	12
12 Sep	Kazakhstan Open	Kazakhstan	400,000	Álvaro Velasco (2)	12
19 Sep	M2M Russian Challenge Cup	Russia	175,000	Carlos del Moral (2)	12		New tournament
10 Oct	Allianz Golf Open du Grand Toulouse	France	150,000	Bernd Wiesberger (2)	12
16 Oct	Roma Golf Open	Italy	150,000	Andreas Hartø (2)	12
23 Oct	Egyptian Open	Egypt	250,000	Mark Tullo (2)	14		New to Challenge Tour
30 Oct	Apulia San Domenico Grand Final	Italy	300,000	Matt Haines (1)	16		Flagship event

Rankings

For full rankings, see 2010 Challenge Tour graduates.

The rankings were based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.^[6][7] The top 20 players on the rankings earned status to play on the 2011 European Tour.^[8][9]

Rank	Player	Prize money (€)
1	Álvaro Velasco	134,297
2	Matt Haines	107,152
3	Thorbjørn Olesen	104,754
4	Floris de Vries	101,288
5	Bernd Wiesberger	99,989

Notes

1. One further tournament was scheduled but was cancelled.
2. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Challenge Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Challenge Tour members. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Challenge Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the European Tour.
3. CAN − Canadian Tour; DNK − Danish Golf Tour; EUR − European Tour; TLA − Tour de las Américas.
4. Rescheduled due to the eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull.^[4]

References

1. "Official World Golf Ranking board announces new directives". Official World Golf Ranking. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2023. The Board also agreed that the European Challenge Tour, in keeping with the other Tours, should have a Flagship event and approved a proposal that the 2010 Apulia San Domenico Grand Final should receive Flagship status with 16 ranking points to the winner.
2. "Grand Final becomes Flagship Event". European Tour. 29 July 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
3. "2010 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
4. Callow, James (19 April 2010). "Volcanic ash cloud causes widespread disruption to sporting calendar". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 August 2023. The Moroccan Golf Classic has been postponed...
5. "Green Challenge removed from Challenge Tour schedule". European Tour. 23 April 2010. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
6. "2010 Rankings". European Tour. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
7. "Haines hits the high notes on day of drama". European Tour. 30 October 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2023. Velasco has also targeted a maiden European Tour victory after topping the Rankings with earnings of €134,296.
8. "The Challenge Tour class of 2010". European Tour. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
9. "The Challenge Tour class of 2010 continued". European Tour. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2023.

External links

• Official website