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.

The week in review

Marcel Siem triumphed in a playoff over Ross Fisher and Alex Levy in the first event of the Final Series, the BMW Masters in Shanghai, China.  The German moved to number four in the Race to Dubai and recorded his fourth European Tour win in the process.  Siem had undergone two surgeries already this season and was struggling with a knee injury prior to the event.  The emotional and fiery player moved to 70th from 143rd in the Official World Golf Rankings.  Levy, who had a four-stroke lead going into the final round, shot 78 but he continues to have a breakout season.  Fisher shot an impressive 67 and was lucky to get into the playoff, but it was nice to see the Englishman return to form in time for the Turkish Open next week and the Dubai World Tour Championship the following week.

On the Challenge Tour, I was absolutely delighted to see Nick Dougherty finish in a tie for ninth place.  The three-time European Tour winner lost his main tour card in 2011 and has struggled for the most part since then, with five top-tens (all on Challenge Tour) being his best results since then.  But there has been reason for optimism based on his last three events.  His missed the cut by one stroke in the Wales Open, finished T58th in the Dunhill Links Championship, and then his top-ten last week.  With the final stage of Qualifying School (November 15-20) fastly approaching, the Englishman is coming in with some form and I expect him to perform well in Spain.