| Duration | 22 April 2021 – 7 November 2021 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 26 |
| Most wins | 3: Marcus Helligkilde
|
| Challenge Tour Rankings |
Marcus Helligkilde
|
|
← 2020
2022 →
| |
The 2021 Challenge Tour was the 33rd season of the Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the European Tour. The tour started as the Satellite Tour with its first Order of Merit rankings in 1989 and was officially renamed as the Challenge Tour at the start of the 1990 season.
Similarly to 2020, the season was due to begin in February with three tournaments in South Africa co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, but in mid-January the South African swing was postponed to April–May over COVID-19 pandemic concerns. The official schedule announcement was made on 27 January 2021. In April two back-to-back events in Sweden in May were added.
In August, it was announced that the Hainan Open and the Foshan Open; both played in China, were cancelled. Later in the month, replacement tournaments were confirmed in Spain, both hosted at Empordà Golf on the Costa Brava.
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2021 season.
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (€) |
Winner |
OWGR points |
Other tours |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Apr | Limpopo Championship | South Africa | R3,000,000 |
 Brandon Stone (1) |
13 | AFR | |
| 2 May | Bain's Whisky Cape Town Open | South Africa | R3,000,000 |
J. C. Ritchie (2) |
13 | AFR | |
| 9 May | Dimension Data Pro-Am | South Africa | R6,000,000 |
Wilco Nienaber (1) |
13 | AFR | Pro-Am |
| 16 May | Range Servant Challenge | Sweden | 200,000 |
 Craig Howie (1) |
12 | New tournament | |
| 22 May | Dormy Open | Sweden | 200,000 |
 Félix Mory (1) |
12 | New tournament | |
| 30 May | Irish Challenge | Ireland | 220,000 |
 Daan Huizing (3) |
12 | ||
| 6 Jun | D+D Real Czech Challenge | Czech Republic | 200,000 |
 Santiago Tarrío (1) |
12 | ||
| 13 Jun | Challenge de Cádiz | Spain | 200,000 |
 Kristof Ulenaers (1) |
12 | ||
| 18 Jun | Challenge de España | Spain | 200,000 |
Santiago Tarrío (2) |
12 | ||
| 27 Jun | Open de Bretagne | France | 200,000 |
Julien Brun (2) |
12 | ||
| 4 Jul | Kaskáda Golf Challenge | Czech Republic | 200,000 |
 Marcel Schneider (2) |
12 | ||
| 11 Jul | Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge | France | 210,000 |
Marcel Siem (1) |
12 | ||
| 18 Jul | Euram Bank Open | Austria | 190,000 |
 Stuart Manley (3) |
12 | ||
| 25 Jul | Italian Challenge | Italy | 300,000 |
 Ricardo Gouveia (4) |
12 | ||
| 8 Aug | Vierumäki Finnish Challenge | Finland | 200,000 |
Marcus Helligkilde (1) |
12 | ||
| 14 Aug | Made in Esbjerg Challenge | Denmark | 200,000 |
Ricardo Gouveia (5) |
9 | NGL | |
| 20 Aug | Sydbank Esbjerg Challenge | Denmark | 200,000 |
 Espen Kofstad (4) |
9 | NGL | New tournament |
| Rolex Trophy | Switzerland | – | Removed | – | |||
| 29 Aug | B-NL Challenge Trophy | Netherlands | 250,000 |
Alfredo García-Heredia (1) |
12 | New tournament | |
| 5 Sep | British Challenge | England | £180,000 |
 Hugo León (1) |
12 | ||
| 12 Sep | Big Green Egg German Challenge | Germany | 200,000 |
Ángel Hidalgo (1) |
12 | New tournament | |
| 19 Sep | Hopps Open de Provence | France | 200,000 |
 Alfie Plant (1) |
12 | ||
| 26 Sep | Open de Portugal | Portugal | 200,000 |
Marcel Schneider (3) |
12 | ||
| 3 Oct | Swiss Challenge | France | 200,000 |
Marcus Helligkilde (2) |
12 | ||
| Hainan Open | China | – | Cancelled | – | CHN | ||
| 17 Oct | Empordà Challenge | Spain | 200,000 |
Julien Brun (3) |
13 | New tournament | |
| Foshan Open | China | – | Cancelled | – | CHN | ||
| 22 Oct | Challenge Costa Brava | Spain | 200,000 |
 Daniel Hillier (1) |
13 | New tournament | |
| 7 Nov | Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final | Spain | 450,000 |
Marcus Helligkilde (3) |
17 | Flagship event |
Challenge Tour Rankings
For full rankings, see 2021 Challenge Tour graduates.
The rankings were titled as the Road to Mallorca and were based on prize money won during the season, calculated using a points-based system. The top 20 players on the tour earned status to play on the 2022 European Tour.
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Marcus Helligkilde
|
222,628 |
| 2 |
Ricardo Gouveia
|
188,291 |
| 3 |
Santiago Tarrío
|
173,938 |
| 4 |
Julien Brun
|
163,773 |
| 5 |
Frédéric Lacroix
|
120,334 |