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1997 Challenge Tour season
Duration	5 March 1997 – 26 October 1997
Number of official events	35
Most wins	Andrew Collison (2); Fredrik Henge (2); Raphaël Jacquelin (2); Anssi Kankkonen (2); Michele Reale (2); Erol Şimşek (2)
Rankings	Michele Reale
	← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 Challenge Tour was the ninth season of the Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the European Tour.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.^[1]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner^[b]	Notes
8 Mar	Open de Côte d'Ivoire	Ivory Coast	70,000	Knud Storgaard (1)
16 Mar	Lonrho Kenya Open	Kenya	65,000	Jorge Berendt (1)
13 Apr	Is Molas Challenge	Italy	35,000	Andrew Collison (2)
19 Apr	Le Pavoniere Supercal Challenge	Italy	35,000	Andrew Collison (3)
27 Apr	Alianca UAP Challenger	France	55,000	Anssi Kankkonen (2)
4 May	Canarias Challenge	Spain	55,000	Michele Reale (1)
18 May	Modena Classic Open	Italy	35,000	Jesús María Arruti (2)
25 May	Matchmaker Austrian Open	Austria	50,000	Erol Şimşek (3)	New to Challenge Tour
1 Jun	Himmerland Open	Denmark	35,000	Mikael Lundberg (1)
8 Jun	KB Golf Challenge	Czech Republic	55,000	Alex Čejka (3)
8 Jun	SIAB Open	Sweden	35,000	Joakim Rask (3)
22 Jun	Team Erhverv Danish Open	Denmark	80,000	David Lynn (1)
29 Jun	Audi Quattro Trophy	Germany	72,000	David A. Russell (1)
29 Jun	Open dei Tessali	Italy	35,000	Ivó Giner (1)
6 Jul	Open des Volcans	France	50,000	Mark Litton (4)
7 Jul	Neuchâtel Open	Switzerland	35,000	Erol Şimşek (4)
13 Jul	Volvo Finnish Open	Finland	35,000	Søren Kjeldsen (1)
20 Jul	Rolex Trophy Pro-Am	Switzerland	50,000	Anssi Kankkonen (3)
~~27 Jul~~	Interlaken Open	Switzerland	–	Abandoned^[c]
27 Jul	BTC Slovenian Open	Slovenia	40,000	Kalle Brink (1)	New tournament
3 Aug	Klassis Turkish Open	Turkey	85,000	Bradley Dredge (1)	New tournament
10 Aug	Challenge Tour Championship	England	70,000	Greg Chalmers (1)
24 Aug	Netcom Norwegian Open	Norway	45,000	Demitri Bieri (1)
31 Aug	Steelcover Dutch Challenge	Netherlands	60,000	Raphaël Jacquelin (2)
25 Aug	Toyota Danish PGA Championship	Denmark	40,000	Fredrik Henge (1)
6 Sep	Sovereign Russian Open	Russia	90,000	Michele Reale (2)
7 Sep	Öhrlings Swedish Matchplay	Sweden	50,000	Gregory Garbero (1)
14 Sep	Perrier European Pro-Am	Belgium	65,000	Craig Hainline (1)
21 Sep	Eulen Open Galea	Spain	65,000	Warren Bennett (2)
26 Sep	BPGT Challenge	England	35,000	Olivier Edmond (1)
~~28 Sep~~	Polish Open	Poland	–	Cancelled
5 Oct	Telia InfoMedia Grand Prix	Sweden	80,000	Fredrik Henge (2)
11 Oct	San Paolo Vita Open	Italy	45,000	Mathew Goggin (2)
19 Oct	Estoril Challenge	Portugal	85,000	José Manuel Carriles (1)	New tournament
26 Oct	Estoril Grand Final	Portugal	70,000	Nicolas Joakimides (1)	Tour Championship

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the Challenge Tour, but did not carry official money, wins were still official however.

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner^[b]	Notes
22 Jun	Memorial Olivier Barras	Switzerland	40,000	Raphaël Jacquelin (1)

Rankings

The rankings were based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Pound sterling.^[3] The top 15 players on the rankings earned status to play on the 1998 European Tour.^[3]

Rank	Player	Prize money (£)
1	Michele Reale	51,679
2	Kalle Brink	36,112
3	Greg Chalmers	35,267
4	Raphaël Jacquelin	34,537
5	Anssi Kankkonen	32,128

Notes

^ A further two tournaments were scheduled but were either cancelled or abandoned.
^ ^a ^b 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.
^ Tournament abandoned due to persistent bad weather.^[2]

References

^ "1997 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
^ "Wash out!". The Sunday People. London, United Kingdom. 27 July 1997. p. 60. Retrieved 30 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b "Leading 15 players on rankings who earn European Tour cards for 1998". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 27 October 1997. p. 21. Retrieved 29 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.