News from European Challenge Tour

Benson has runaway leaders in his sights

England’s Seve Benson is hot on the heels of Spain’s Rafael Cabrera Bello and Australia’s Andrew Tampion in the early stages of day one of the Trophée du Golf Club de Genève on the European Challenge Tour.
A five under par round of 67 at Golf Club de Genève saw Benson – currently second in the Challenge Tour Rankings – close to within one shot of Cabrera Bello and recent Challenge of Ireland winner Tampion, who both set a blistering early pace after carding six birdies in flawless rounds of golf.
With a considerable prize fund up for grabs – 36 players are vying for €210,000 – a high finish here would greatly enhance Benson’s prospects of joining fellow Wentworth Club scholarship scheme graduate Ross Fisher on The European Tour.
But Benson, named after Spain’s legendary golfer Seve Ballesteros, is refusing to allow his thoughts to stray to what might become of his debut season on the Challenge Tour.
He said: “Geneva’s one of the biggest tournaments of the year so it’s nice to get a good start, but you’ve also got to finish well. There’s only nine tournaments left after this but there’s still an awful lot of money to be won, so a lot can happen between now and the end of the season.
"Even though I’m in a good position there’s a lot of golf to be played, so I can’t afford to take my eye off the ball or get carried away thinking about next season, because that’s a dangerous game to play. Of course I’d love to be playing on The European Tour next season, but I’ve still got a job to do this year.”
The same applies to Cabrera Bello, who sits in 15th place in the Rankings thanks largely to his victory on the Challenge Tour’s last visit to Switzerland, at the Credit Suisse Challenge.
With four top 12 finishes and five missed cuts to his name the Spaniard, whose sister Emma is currently competing in the S4C Wales Ladies Championship of Europe on the Ladies European Tour, knows he must improve his consistency if he is to join the elite.
Cabrera Bello said: “I’ve been playing well lately, but playing well and scoring well are two completely different things. It shows how fine the margins are – a few missed putts here and there mean you miss the cut, but if they drop in then you can be challenging for the title. Luckily for me it went my way today, but tomorrow may be a different story – although I hope not!”

Leading early scores (round not yet complete):

66 A Tampion (Aus); R Cabrera Bello (Esp)
67 S Benson (Eng)
69 M Higley (Eng); M Hoey (NIR)70 A Tadini (Ita)
72 D Horsey (Eng); J Huldahl (Den); G Maybin (NIR); A Rocha (Bra)
74 G Boyd (Eng)