A year more, Mallorca has experienced a day of reckoning and agony. Many things at stake in the great Final of the Challenge Tour. The fight for the tournament has travelled to Norway with Kristoffer Reitan, the leadership of the annual ranking has been taken by Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and, of course, the great suffering has been in the battle for one of the precious twenty cards that grant access to the DP World Tour. Especially in the last spots, which were decided this Sunday.
A year ago, it was Stuart Manley who claimed the last of the cards after a long three-hour wait during which he decided to go to the hotel and turn off his phone. Brandon Robinson Thompson was the first to miss out. This year, the Englishman has removed the thorn, finishing in 18th place and securing the coveted card.
Today, a similar situation was experienced. The Dane Lucas Bjerregaard (-2) played the role of Stuart Manley and went through a real ordeal with a happy ending. He finished his round at 12:50 with a total of two under par, relegating him to 39th place in the tournament. Well, it wasn’t until the end of the penultimate match, around 16:15, that he mathematically secured his card. Almost three and a half hours of pure anguish. Nicolai Kristensen (-16), his compatriot, was his main threat.
Bjerregaard owes a round to Oliver Lindell (-17). The Nordic player scored 66 in the final round to finish fourth on his own. This relegated Kristensen to fifth place and left him without options. If Nicolai had finished fourth on his own, he would have achieved it. He was so close to achieving it, but ultimately finished 28th in the annual ranking. The fight for that final spot had ten players in a tight race. Precisely that round by the Finn prevented Ángel Ayora from finishing on the podium of the annual ranking. One more stroke by Lindell would have granted him third place in the Road.
Bjerregaard breathes easy. Six years ago, he was in the running to play the Ryder Cup in France, and now he sees the light at the end of the tunnel again. The winner of two tournaments on the DP World Tour had been battling in the Challenge Tour for two consecutive seasons. There is life beyond the abyss. You have to have faith, work hard, and always a little bit of luck.
The other side of the coin was the Englishman Jamie Rutherford (-10), the first player to miss out on promotion. A lip-out on the last hole prevented him from sneaking into the top 22 who secured the card at that moment. It’s true that with the final results, that birdie wouldn’t have been enough, he would have needed something more, but at that moment, it felt like a punch in the stomach.
Among the names that arrived in Alcudia with some apprehension and finally secured the card is the very young Martin Couvra (-15). The 21-year-old Frenchman won the Challenge de España a year ago, still as an amateur, and next season he will play in the first division of the European Circuit. He arrived in 19th place for the year and with a final round of 65 strokes, he finished seventh in the Final and 17th in the Road.
This year, only one player who was within the cut missed the final goal. Last year, misfortune befell up to four golfers. Sam Hutsby was in 21st place four days ago and finished in 24th. A bad week in Mallorca left him without options.
