Conor Purcell goes in search of a DP World Tour card this week when he tees it up in the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A at Club de Golf Alcanada.
The only Irishman in the field, Purcell will need a strong performance in Mallorca to secure his DP World Tour card. A terrific start to the season in South Africa saw him register back-to-back top ten finishes in Cape Town and George. His best result of the season was a T2 at the Dormy Open.
In total, the Portmarnock man has three top-10 finishes to his game and arrives ranked 36th in the Road to Mallorca Ranking with the top-20 earning DP World Tour cards after the Grand Final.
The 26-year-old’s form has been patchy of late with a missed cut and three finishes outside the top-30 in his last four starts.
Nevertheless it has been a good season for Purcell who embarked on his first full campaign on the Challenge Tour having done enough to earn a card during limited starts towards the end of last season.
Purcell tees off at 8:33 am alongside Englishman Sam Hutsby and Danish player Jeppe Kristian Andersen.
Manuel Elvira has had a season to remember and will tee it up on home soil as the Road to Mallorca Number One. The Spaniard is in pole position to cap an outstanding year, which has included three second place finishes and seven other top tens. Mathematically, the Rankings winner could come from anyone currently in the top 25 of the Rankings, so Elvira will have to fight off the chasing pack in order to get the job done.
From one to 45, every player teeing it up this week has something to play for. Even for those such as Elvira that have already guaranteed their DP World Tour playing privileges for next year, the title of Road to Mallorca Number One doesn’t come around often.
Frenchman Martin Couvra, as the last man in the field this week, is 267.28 points behind Euan Walker who currently occupies the final promotion place. With a win this week securing a season-high 640 points, a win for anyone in the field would give them a great chance of catapulting themselves into the promotion spots.
Three men in the field will have the opportunity to write their name into the record books by becoming Challenge Tour Number One for a second time. Italian Andrea Pavan topped the Rankings in 2013, Portuguese Ricardo Gouveia did so two years later in 2015, and Italian Francesco Laporta finished in first place in 2019. Interestingly, all three players have already won on the Challenge Tour this season.
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