CHALLENGE TOUR EVENT SWITCHED FROM ITALY TO COPENHAGEN

MEDIA RELEASE FROM EUROPEAN TOUR
The penultimate tournament of the European Challenge Tour season has been relocated and will now be titled the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Challenge hosted by Royal Golf Club, taking place at the picturesque Danish venue.

The original venue, Poggio Dei Medici Golf Club in Tuscany, Italy, has been severely affected by a drought and despite the tireless efforts of staff, the high temperatures and lack of water in recent months have rendered the golf course unsuitable to host the Mugello Tuscany Open from October 18-21.

With only a fortnight to go until the tournament is due to begin, options for a replacement venue were limited, and the search for another course in Italy proved unsuccessful.

Royal Golf Club in Copenhagen, however, will provide the perfect setting to stage the final tournament in the battle for the 45 spots which qualify for the lucrative season-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final the following week.

The 96-strong field at the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Challenge hosted by Royal Golf Club will comprise 85 Challenge Tour players and 11 national players.

Alain de Soultrait, Director of the European Challenge Tour, said: “We must thank the people at Poggio Dei Medici Golf Club, who stopped at nothing in their efforts to make the Mugello Tuscany Open happen.

“Unfortunately, through circumstances out of their control, the golf course was not fit to host an event of this stature. We look forward to returning next year for what is always a fantastic tournament.

“We are extremely grateful to Royal Golf Club in Copenhagen for stepping in at such late notice and providing an ideal replacement venue. We know that preparations have already begun and, having spoken to several Challenge Tour players familiar with the course, we are sure it will be above and beyond the standards that we set for our tournaments and will prove a great success.”

Morten Sundberg, CEO of Royal Golf Club in Copenhagen, said: “We are very honoured to be given this opportunity to host a Challenge Tour event and to support the Danish players in their quest for a European Tour card.

“We are sure all the players will enjoy not only our very challenging course and first class facilities, but also the fact that it is situated literally five minutes from the centre of the Danish capital, Copenhagen.”

It will be the second Challenge Tour event to be held in Denmark this season after the ECCO Tour Championship hosted by Thomas Björn and Mercedes-Benz in September, which was won by Italian Alessandro Tadini.

With three Danish players – Andreas Hartø, Joachim B Hansen and Morten Orum Madsen - currently in the top 20 of the Challenge Tour Rankings and Lasse Jensen just outside the cut-off point for a European Tour card for the 2013 season, in 21^st place, this year has been extremely fruitful for the Nordic nation on Europe’s top developmental tour.

ENDS

EUROPEAN TOUR CO