The sun shines over the balcony above the players chill zone, overlooking the Bay of Alcudia at Club de Golf Alcanada. In plain sight, the lighthouse which once brought tired sailors home now has a new resonance as a beacon for golfing excellence.
This is life on the Challenge Tour, at least for one week only. A momentary oasis, away from the grim reality of trying to climb the golfing ladder from the bottom rungs.
The Rolex Grand Final gives a brief taste of what world class feels like to players who may never get off this tour which has come a long way since the days of Brooks Koepka eating horsemeat in Kazahkstan.
Conor Purcell has sampled elite level events before in his handful of DP World Tour appearances and he hopes to regularly dine at the top table after securing his card on Europe’s top tier for the 2025 season.
“This is very Rolex, if you could advertise Rolex you would do it here” says Purcell whose second love is tennis rather than listing cult heroes from the ‘prime Barclays’ Premier League era.
Purcell has made the most of life on Europe’s second tier, moving up a level with his maiden professional win at the NI Open before sealing his DP World Tour promotion with a second victory at the Hangzhou Open to pocket a cool €121,163.76 in the process and just over €210,000 for the season.
Not too shabby for a tour that he says you need to be around the top-6 to break even in earnings for a tournament week.
“Financially it’s difficult to play because the consistency isn’t rewarded. If you are finishing 20th every week you won’t make crazy amounts of money and you won’t get your card at the end of the year,” Purcell explains.
“Challenge Tour teaches you that when you are playing well to keep the foot down, try and get over the line and finish as high as you can. It will be of value for me when I get out to the DP World Tour.
“I’ve even noticed it from the five years I have been dabbling on the Challenge Tour since I turned pro that the standard every year is getting better. Courses are not getting any easier and the scores are getting better. I feel if you can compete here you can compete anywhere.”
Purcell clinched the sixth available DP World Tour card out of 20 on the Challenge Tour meaning he should be able to play in up to 20 events in the 2025 season – a campaign which gets underway in just under a fortnight in Australia.
“It’s been a non stop season since February that I haven’t really sat down and thought about it. I will make a conscious effort to take a few weeks off and spend time with family and friends and soak it all in. It’s a decent transition and I know my game is able to perform out there it’s just about bookmarking the Challenge Tour and moving on to bigger things,” he says.
The 27-year-old has seen progress in each of his five years as a professional, coming through the Alps Tour in 2022 to nearly securing a DP World Tour card at the Challenge Tour Grand Final twelve months ago. This time around he feels he gained further maturity which helped him take that crucial next step towards promotion.
“Just getting to know myself a bit better not going down any rabbit holes when I wasn’t playing great. I had spells where I didn’t play amazing but I didn’t try to change what I was doing. In previous years I have messed around and tried changing equipment, driver, putters. I’ve changed putter from time to time but I haven’t changed much throughout the bag all year so the more you can keep constant the better.
“Mentally I feel I can control my emotions a bit more.”
Purcell has labelled the Challenge Tour as somewhere he doesn’t want to spend too much time on, fearful of getting stuck on Europe’s second tier.
But missing out on a possibly ahead of schedule promotion last year might prove to be a blessing in disguise as the Challenge Tour has now taught him how to play aggressive golf and more importantly, win. More than once too.
Purcell’s win in July put him in a very commanding position to seal a DP World Tour card but after a dip in form that saw him miss three successive cuts, his newfound maturity helped him recover quickly and rubber stamp his promotion at the penultimate event of the season.
“I would have felt ready to play on the DP World Tour last year but I think this year has been perfect because it has shown me I am able for bigger events, bigger stages and nice to get wins under my belt and it’s important to learn how to win and I feel like winning twice has helped me to try and win next year,” Purcell explains.
“Especially when I won in July then had a spell where I wasn’t playing amazing so just nice to bounce back at the end of the year with an elevated event needing for my own sake to have a good week to solidify my place. Second was just as nice as the first and hopefully more to come.
“It’s the only time all year I played four weeks in a row, I said at the start of the year I would only play three at a time. The win came in the second week and I feel I didn’t process the win, playing in Ireland the week after and there was a lot going on.
“There’s a lot of media attention and you feel like you should perform more but yeah just a lot to deal with when it’s your first win and glad I got back on track very quickly.
“It’s been a long year. I travel most Mondays then Tuesday to Sunday is full on I feel when Monday comes around I am travelling again and you don’t get to rest. Those Mondays are not rest days when you’re changing country. It’s important to take weeks off.”
In total, the Portmarnock man racked up six top-10s including his two victories and five top-20s but his second victory after an indifferent spell of form shows that there could be more reward for being a streaky player than a model of consistency.
“I think there is an element of that but I feel my game is more than capable of being consistent enough to win once or twice a year. You lose a lot more than you win playing golf but I personally like to play a little bit more consistently with some high finishes but if I can get a win or two I’ll keep working towards that.”
The 2019 Walker Cup player has shown up well in his handful of DP World Tour starts to date with a made cut on his Irish Open debut in 2023 and a T7 finish at the 2022 Australian Open key highlights that give Purcell belief that he is ready to make the step up.
Of the 20 players who graduated from the Challenge Tour 12 months ago, 15 retained DP World Tour cards and you can make it 16 out of 21 by adding in Alex Fitzpatrick, who’d already secured his step up before the season finale through the Race to Dubai standings.
Statistics that should pump further belief through Purcell’s veins.
“100% my game is ready to play no matter where I play and that’s one of the things that I have done a better job of. Not really taking notice of where I am playing or what it’s for just getting much better at that,” he affirms.
“There’s so many events to pick from and I am looking forward to a lot of new things. It’s something I grew up watching on TV for so many years. I played a couple of events but to be out there full time and feel a part of it will be special.
“Australia (2022 )was the point where I felt the event itself didn’t dictate how I felt. Finishing seventh felt very familiar so if I can keep doing that I’ll be OK.”
Purcell turned professional after the 2019 Walker Cup and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for any budding young professional as the Covid-19 pandemic plunged golf into turmoil.
But he has shown resilience to work his way through the golfing pyramid and admits he has been fortunate to get some of the breaks some of his fellow Irishmen who turned professional at the same time but have fallen by the wayside, did not.
At the end of the Grand Final all 20 Challenge Tour Graduates gathered on the 18th green to toss their golf caps in the air to confirm their graduation and progression to the DP World Tour and for Purcell, it was a moment of immense pride given where his journey began.
“I have been fortunate to get plenty of invites. I feel like in golf you need a bit of luck as well as playing good stuff I feel this year I have played better on my good weeks made the most of them and that’s what you need to do to get out of here.
“Once I see progress every year I feel like I will get to where I want to be. You do want it to be quicker than five or six years but it’s taught me a lot and fortunately this year has resulted in a card. Hopefully it doesn’t stop and I can keep the foot down.
“I am proud of myself, anyone on the Challenge Tour knows how difficult it is and when I stood back last year and looked at how close I was, I still felt so far away. I was like ‘jeez I played well this year’ but I still had so much to give so to back it up this year and fully cement my place feels good that all the work I put in is being rewarded so far.”
Purcell is relishing the prospect of being in the spotlight on the DP World Tour next season but his performances will also be under scrutiny.
Purcell was the first Irishman to graduate from the Challenge Tour since Tom McKibbin in 2022 and if McKibbin can secure a PGA Tour card via the Race to Dubai next week it will leave Purcell as Ireland’s only regular DP World Tour player depending on Q-School results.
Additionally, Purcell and McKibbin would be Ireland’s only DP World Tour card holders under the age of 35, but he thinks it’s too easy for critics to sit by the sidelines and whinge about Ireland’s diminishing tour presence in Europe.
“Golf is hard I think it is so easy to sit on the sidelines and say that we don’t have many players out on tour,” Purcell adds.
“At the end of the day I am my own boss. I control how much work I put in, who I ask for assistance from and I think people put too much blame on federations we probably need to get as much help as we can and go out and give it our all and see where it leaves us. I have no doubt we will have plenty of players on tour in the future.
“Anytime you have played with lads in the amateur game and have been close enough to them and see them get success it spurs you on to do it yourself. Hopefully we can keep that trend going and keep the wins on the European Tour going upwards.”
Earning promotion to the DP World Tour has been a family achievement for Purcell who is the youngest of five and the son of former professional Joey.
The Purcell’s are a sporting clan with two of his brothers plying themselves as tennis coaches.
Joey, now retired from his position as professional at Portmarnock Golf Club has had the time of his life globetrotting to watch his son try and fulfil his dream. Joey was a decent player in his day and reached the European Tour in 1974 and regained his card at Q-School in 1979 before embarking on a successful career as a PGA pro.
It could have been golf or tennis but Purcell never felt pressured by his father and this career milestone is as much for Joey as it is him.
“No, never and that’s been the best thing about it,” smiles Purcell. “We’ve just been a sporty family both my brothers play tennis they are both coaches. Dad has been a pro for so long so it was nice to go in and get him to help me to where I am now. He still has an input and it’s just cool to see that he played out here and seeing me get my card I am sure he is proud of me.
“We had known for a while it was cemented but for him and my family it probably didn’t really sink in until the caps went up at the graduation. We didn’t get to celebrate the second win either because I was in China and had the Grand Final but the weeks off will be used to celebrate properly!”
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