Scene is set Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final

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Transcript

00:00The Challenge Tour is the primary pathway to the DP World Tour.

00:06The top 20 players on the Challenge Tour rankings at the end of our season, the end of this

00:10event, will graduate to the DP World Tour.

00:13Essentially they earn a full card or full status on the DP World Tour.

00:18Our job really is to prepare the players to then, when they do progress onto the DP World

00:23Tour, that they're ready.

00:24And we do that through quality of the golf courses that we play on, through the organisation

00:29of the events.

00:30We're really just trying to help them when they make that step.

00:33And I think we can feel happy and proud of the fact that five of last year's class are

00:37in the top 50 on the DP World Tour rankings, so we'll be playing in the DP World Tour

00:41Championship and 14 of the 20 graduates have kept their status on the DP World Tour for

00:46next year.

00:47So I think we feel that that is a proven record of the fact that the players are ready to

00:51compete on the DP World Tour once they leave the Challenge Tour.

00:55We started in South Africa in February.

00:58This is our 28th event, played in 16 different countries.

01:01We've had a deal with the Mallorca government for the last four years.

01:04This is our fourth year.

01:05We've had four very happy years here.

01:07This is the culmination of our season, so the players have been battling out since February

01:11to finish in the top 45.

01:13Top 45 players here are all trying to not only win this event, but also try and earn

01:17one of those top 20 spots.

01:19And that is possible for every one of the 45 players.

01:22We've had a long history of playing in the Middle East.

01:24We've had regular events in Ras Al Khaimah and Oman that both went on to become the Challenge

01:29Tour Grand Final, our premier event of the season.

01:32And we also had the Grand Final in Dubai as well.

01:34So it's a region that obviously offers first-class golf courses, beautiful weather, particularly

01:39at the time of year where our final takes place.

01:42It's been a happy host for us for many years and it's somewhere we're very much looking

01:45forward to going back to.

01:47First of all, it's really exciting for our members to go back to a region that, as I

01:52say, we know well.

01:53And I think what the partnership with the Emirates Golf Federation gives the Emirati

01:57players is ultimately is now opportunity.

01:59So there's a clear pathway for how they can progress.

02:03Those players will also have the opportunity to play in Europe against some of the finest

02:07players in Europe.

02:08They now have a clear pathway as to how they can progress from where they are currently

02:12right up all the way through to the DP World Tour and the DP World Tour Championship.

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