The Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A has a history of finding the next generation of golfing superstars.
Each player teeing it up next week will be battling it out for one of the life-changing DP World Tour cards on offer, in the hope of adding their name to a growing list of graduates that continue to achieve great things in the game. Here are just a few of them…
Frederic Lacroix
At last year’s Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final, Frederic Lacroix started the week outside of the promotion places but would enjoy a brilliant week at Alcanada to catapult himself to graduation. The Frenchman’s third place finish in Mallorca saw him climb from 25th in the Rankings to 13th, and he’s had an outstanding year since. After coming close on several occasions, Lacroix would earn a maiden DP World Tour win in the Danish Golf Challenge in August, firing a six under par final round to secure a dominant four stroke victory. The 29-year-old also looks set to tee it up in the DP World Tour Championship next month.
Tom McKibbin
At 19-years-old, Tom McKibbin was the youngest in the field at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final in 2022. The Northern Irishman would fire a final round 66 at Club de Golf Alcanada to finish in a share of sixth place to climb up to tenth in the Road to Mallorca Rankings and make sure of graduation to golf’s Global Tour. McKibbin went on to claim a breakthrough DP World Tour win at the Porsche European Open in his first full season on the DP World Tour, and has followed that with another stellar 12 months in 2024, recording eight top ten finishes in 25 starts.
Rasmus Højgaard
Rasmus Højgaard teed it up in the Challenge Tour Grand Final back in 2019 as an 18-year-old and would go on to finish tied 13th as Club de Golf Alcanada made its debut as a host venue of the season finale. That finish saw the Dane earn graduation to the DP World Tour, and he hasn’t looked back. Now, at just 23, he’s a five-time winner on golf’s Global Tour. This year alone he has recorded a win and five other top tens as he looks set to join his brother, Nicolai, on the PGA TOUR next term.
Victor Perez
Victor Perez’s journey to being a Rolex Series winner began on the Challenge Tour, as he earned graduation thanks to a second-place finish in the season finale back in 2018. The Frenchman finished as the Number Four that year and has since gone on to win three times on the DP World Tour. The first of those came the following year when he triumphed in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, before he added the Dutch Open to his growing list of accolades in 2022. Last year he earned the biggest win of his career with victory in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Ryan Fox
The Challenge Tour played its part in Ryan Fox’s journey to becoming a Rolex Series title winner. Back in 2016, the New Zealander finished fourth in the Rankings to earn promotion to the DP World Tour, where he played for seven consecutive seasons before earning PGA TOUR playing rights in 2023. The 37-year-old is now a four-time winner on golf’s Global Tour. A maiden title came in 2019 before he added two more in 2022, including the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Then in 2023, he carded rounds of 69-68-66-67 to record the biggest win of his career in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
