A new Frenchman will play on the European Tour in 2022. After a second victory on the Challenge Tour, Julien Brun is sure to join the highest European division. The Challenge Tour will however be the new playground for Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon, Paul Elissalde and Paul Margolis having obtained their playing rights for the following season.

Julien Brun's victory celebrated French style.

Julien Brun's victory celebrated French style.

After winning his second victory of the season on the Challenge Tour, Julien Brun fully validates his card on the European Tour for the 2022 season. In the lead since the first day of the Emporda Challenge, the Antibes player has retained the head until the end of the tournament resisting even the onslaught of the English Jonathan Thompson signing a 62 (-9), ending his tournament one stroke of the French. He thus won his third professional victory (the second of the year) and finished third in the Road To Mallorca. With two tournaments to play and only € 34 difference with the leader of the order of merit, Santiago Tarrio, the number 000 position is more than accessible for the French. See you for the last two tournaments of the year, in Spain, from September 1 to 19, then from November 22 to 4.

Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon will join the circuit that Julien Brun is leaving: the Challenge Tour. After a suspense of which he was only a spectator, the Frenchman finished first in the order of merit of the Pro Golf Tour and will play next year in the second European division. He says he is relieved to leave the Pro Golf Tour and happy to return to the Challenge Tour, which he left after a difficult 2019 season. The player now based in Portugal feels better armed and has confidence in his game to compete in his season and perhaps get a playing right on the European Tour.

Two other French people will join the Challenge Tour next year: Paul Elissalde and Paul Margolis.
Respectively 5th and 6th in the order of merit of the Alps Tour, the two players obtained their ticket for the upper division.
It was indeed necessary to finish in the first six of the order of merit, and not the first five. Angel Hidalgo Portillo, third in the standings, cleared a place for the top division by winning a tournament directly on the Challenge Tour, which gives him playing rights for the next season.

Paul Elissalde will therefore play in the Challenge Tour next season. He obtained his card thanks to a good end of the season: a podium in Rome then a great victory in Austria a month later.
27th in the standings last year, he will join the second European division for the first time.

Paul Margolis, still an amateur, achieved a fine performance by taking part in the Challenge Tour for his first year on the circuit: “2021 is an incredible year. I was a finalist at the Spanish Open at the start of the year, I followed this with a victory on the Alps Tour then a final at the European Team Championships, afterwards I won the Gounouilhou… There, I went up to the Challenge Tour ". (Interview by the ffgolf)
A dream first season but which imposes on him a dilemma for the Terre Blanche player: when to go pro?
With the objective for a year, the world amateur team championships in France, Paul Margolis hopes to be able to join the Challenge Tour as an amateur. He could thus compete in his season, take part in the world amateur team championships, then go professional.

A French unfortunately ends at the gates of accession, Franck Medale finishes 7th. After a victory in June at the Open de la Mirabelle d'Or, then two top 10, the 25-year-old finished a few points behind the last place synonymous with access.

By Baptiste Laurensou.

To find the Empordà Challenge leaderboard: click here.

Find the final rankings of the circuits, below:

Order of Merit ALPS Tower.

Order of Merit Pro Golf Tour.