Challenge Tour implements interesting strategy to include amateurs in rankings

With the Challenge Tour beginning its 2016 season in Kenya this week, it is important to discuss the interesting new strategy that the Tour is implementing. Amateurs will be included in the season-long rankings list, which will now be converted to a points list, with each euro earned equating to one point. In previous years, the Road to Oman was a money list and amateurs were not able to be included because they are not able to earn prize money. With this new initiative, amateurs who play a minimum of four tournaments and pay a membership fee will be given a ranking.

The creation of this new initiative is designed to make the transition from the amateur ranks to the professional game easier. Many times, players will play well in amateur events or even a select few pro events, but they struggle to make it onto a professional tour once they turn pro due to finances, performance, etc. Scotland, in particular, has struggled with its amateurs making the transition to the pro game. With this new strategy, the requirement to start over from scratch once they join the paid ranks is over.

This strategy, no doubt, has another objective: to keep European amateurs in the European professional golf system. While the number of European amateurs attending college in the United States will always stay consistent, this new initiative gives those players more incentive to play Challenge Tour events during their summers and offers them a place to play once they graduate instead of turning pro immediately. While there will always be some European amateurs who choose to stay in the United States after graduation and ply their trade on mini tours, this new strategy gives them a viable alternative and another option to consider.

I feel that this initiative will be extremely popular among amateurs and the Challenge Tour will be reaping the rewards almost immediately.