2006 Challenge Tour

The 2006 Challenge Tour was the 18th season of the Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the European Tour.

2005 Challenge Tour season

Duration	1 December 2005 (2005-12-01) – 22 October 2006 (2006-10-22)
Number of official events	31
Most wins	Johan Axgren (2) Martin Kaymer (2) Adrien Mörk (2)
Rankings	Mark Pilkington
← 2005 2007 →

OWGR points increase

In July 2005, the Official World Golf Ranking announced that the minimum points awarded to Challenge Tour events, beginning in 2006, would be increased from 6 to 12.^[1]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2006 season.^[2]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (€)	Winner[a]	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
4 Dec	Abierto Mexicano Corona	Mexico	US$305,000	Antonio Maldonado (1)	6	TLA
11 Dec	Abierto Visa de la República	Argentina	US$250,000	Kevin Stadler (n/a)	12	TLA	New to Challenge Tour
5 Feb	Abierto Movistar Guatemala Open	Guatemala	US$150,000	Miguel Ángel Carballo (1)	12	TLA
12 Feb	Kai Fieberg Costa Rica Open	Costa Rica	US$125,000	Johan Axgren (2)	12	TLA
26 Feb	Estoril Challenge	Portugal	120,000	Kyron Sullivan (1)	12
12 Mar	Tusker Kenya Open	Kenya	160,000	Johan Axgren (3)	12
9 Apr	Peugeot Challenge R.C.G. El Prat	Spain	120,000	David Drysdale (2)	12
30 Apr	Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata	Italy	120,000	Anthony Snobeck (1)	12
14 May	Parco di Monza Challenge	Italy	130,000	Álvaro Salto (3)	12		New tournament
21 May	Telenet Trophy	Belgium	130,000	Toni Karjalainen (2)	12		New tournament
28 May	Tikida Hotels Agadir Moroccan Classic	Morocco	130,000	Adrien Mörk (1)	12
3 Jun	Morson International Pro-Am Challenge	England	£100,000	Álvaro Quirós (1)	12
11 Jun	Thomas Bjørn Open	Denmark	120,000	Marcus Higley (1)	12
18 Jun	Aa St Omer Open	France	400,000	César Monasterio (2)	18	EUR
18 Jun	Lexus Open	Norway	120,000	Kalle Brink (3)	12
25 Jun	Credit Suisse Challenge	Switzerland	140,000	Francisco Cea (2)	12
2 Jul	Open Mahou de Madrid	Spain	120,000	Juan Parrón (1)	12
9 Jul	Scottish Challenge	Scotland	200,000	Sam Walker (1)	12		New tournament
16 Jul	Texbond Open	Italy	120,000	Carlos del Moral (1)	12
23 Jul	MAN NÖ Open	Austria	130,000	Rafa Cabrera-Bello (1)	12		New to Challenge Tour
30 Jul	Ryder Cup Wales Challenge	Wales	130,000	Sion Bebb (1)	12
6 Aug	Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge	Ireland	130,000	John Wade (1)	12
13 Aug	Vodafone Challenge	Germany	120,000	Martin Kaymer (1)	12		New tournament
20 Aug	Rolex Trophy	Switzerland	200,000	Alex Norén (1)	12
27 Aug	ECCO Tour Championship	Denmark	130,000	James Heath (1)	12	NGL	New tournament
3 Sep	Telia Challenge Waxholm	Sweden	SKr 1,130,000	Rafael Echenique (1)	12
17 Sep	Open des Volcans – Challenge de France	France	120,000	Martin Kaymer (2)	12
24 Sep	OKI Mahou Challenge de España	Spain	130,000	Adrien Mörk (2)	12
1 Oct	Kazakhstan Open	Kazakhstan	300,000	Mark Pilkington (1)	12
8 Oct	Golf Open International de Toulouse	France	120,000	Julien Forêt (1)	12
22 Oct	Apulia San Domenico Grand Final	Italy	250,000	James Hepworth (2)	12		Tour Championship

Rankings

For full rankings, see 2006 Challenge Tour graduates.

The rankings were based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.^[3][4] The top 20 players on the rankings earned status to play on the 2007 European Tour.^[5]

Rank	Player	Prize money (€)
1	Mark Pilkington	119,152
2	Johan Axgren	105,699
3	Alex Norén	99,631
4	Martin Kaymer	93,321
5	James Hepworth	84,236

Notes

1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Challenge Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Challenge Tour members. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Challenge Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the European Tour.
2. EUR − European Tour; NGL − Nordic Golf League; TLA − Tour de las Américas.