Largest ever prize fund for 2005 Challenge Tour

THE 2005 European Challenge Tour will have the largest prize fund for any single event in its 17-year history at the €600,000 Madeira Island Open.

It also makes a landmark trip to the Greg Norman-designed Real Club de Golf Prat in Barcelona.

Those are just two highlights included in the opening half of the schedule, released yesterday. The €600,000 on offer in Madeira on April 7-10 at Santo da Serra will give players the chance to make a telling mark on the rankings as they strive to end the season inside the top 15 for a place on The European Tour.

The tour moves from Madeira to Barcelona for its next event, the Peugeot Challenge at the Real Club de Golf Prat from April 28 to May 3. Established in 1954, El Prat, which hosted the Spanish Open on eight occasions, has now been moved to a new home in Terrassa on the outskirts of Barcelona.

The Peugeot Challenge will be the first major tournament to be played at the Norman-designed course.

The Challenge Tour will then move to another new location, The Vale Hotel Golf and Spa Resort for the Ryder Cup Wales Challenge before return trips to Italy and Morocco for the Tessali Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata and the Tikida Beach Agadir Moroccan Challenge.

The second dual-ranking event of the season, The Aa St Omer Open at the Aa St Omer, France, has an increased prize fund of €450,000, and is followed by visits to Italy and Germany before the Challenge Tour returns to France for the Open des Volcans from July 7-10.

The season resumes this week at the Costa Rica Open, before the Panama Masters and Abierto Telefonica de Guatemala Open see the completion of a six-tournament stay in Latin America.

The full 2005 European Challenge Tour Schedule will be released in March.