The Swiss Challenge is a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament on the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

, held in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, except in 2021, when it was held in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

History

It was first played as the Credit Suisse Private Banking Open in 2000 and 2001 at the Golf Club Patriziale Ascona in

Ascona 300px, Ascona Ascona ( lmo, label= Ticinese, Scona ) is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore. The town is a popular tourist destination and holds the yea ...

. It replaced the Interlaken Open which ended after financial issues. During the course of the 2002 edition, the heavy rain led to the overflow of the

Lake Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; it, Lago Maggiore ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh Maggior; pms, Lagh Magior; literally 'Greater Lake') or Verbano (; la, Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest la ...

and to the cancellation of the event. Following a four-year hiatus, the tournament returned in 2006 and was held at the Wylihof Golf Club in

Luterbach Luterbach is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Luterbach is first mentioned in 1052 as ''lutere Bach'', though this identification is disputed. In 1319 it was mentioned as ''ville Lu ...

through 2009. Since 2010 the event has been played at Golf Sempachersee in Hildisrieden. In 2021, the event was uniquely held in France. It was played at Golf Saint Apollinaire in Folgensbourg, close to the Swiss border. In round 2 of the 2021 event,

Alejandro del Rey Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander (Czech, Polish), Alexandre (French), Alexandros (Greek), Alsander (Irish), Alessandro (Italian), Aleksandr ( Ru ...

shot the first ever round of 58 on any tour in Europe. It was also the lowest round to-par (−14) on any major tour in world golf.

Winners

References

External links

Official websiteCoverage on the Challenge Tour's official site
Challenge Tour events Golf tournaments in Switzerland Summer events in Switzerland Recurring sporting events established in 2000 2000 establishments in Switzerland {{golf-tournament-stub