WOODSOME HALL’S Chris Hanson looks set to rack up the mileage this year when he competes on the European Challenge – which gets under way next week with a tournament in India!

For the second successive year, the Kensville Golf & Country Club will host the Gujarat Kensville Challenge in Ahmedabad, which starts next Friday until Sunday, and carries with it a total prize fund of 200,000 Euros.

February is a blank month on the Challenge tour, before the action moves to South America for the Pacific Rubiales Classic in Colombia from March 8 to 11 which is a new event with 250,000 US dollars on offer.

And then it’s over to Kenya for the Barclays Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club, in Nairobi, before arriving in Europe at the end of April for the Turkish Challenge.

From then on the tour stays mainly in Europe, encompassing one further new tournament, the Acaya Golf Challenge Open in Italy and the Allianz Open organised by the French Golf Federation.

The biggest money event takes place in Madeira for the Madeira Islands at Porto Santo, which has a prize fund of a whopping 700,000 Euros.

Further events follow in May and June in Belgium, the Canary Islands, with the European Tour, Austria and France before the Scottish Hydro Challenge takes place at Macdonald Spey Valley in Aviemore.

There is also an event in England at the end of July, but the venue has still to be confirmed.

Long trips to Moscow and Kazakhastan are on the card for September before the season ends with the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final in October.

Hanson qualified for this season’s European Challenge Tour having finished top of the Order of Merit last year while competing in the EuroPro Tour following wins at Bovey Castle, Galgorm Castle and Mottram Hall.

One notable entrant for the Tour opener in India is US Amateur champion Peter Uihlein, who occupied the world Amateur No1 spot for 52 weeks and will be making his professional debut in the Gujarat Kensville Challenge.

Also beginning his professional career on the Challenge Tour is South Korean An Byeong-hun, who was the youngest-ever winner of the US Championship when he triumphed in 2009 as a 17-year-old, and who like Uihlein has joined Chubby Chandlers’ International Sports Management team, along with Hanson.

At the end of the season the top 20 players on the Challenge Tour will then qualify for the majority of tournament on the main European Tour the following year, while anyone winning three Challenge Events will automatically be fast-tracked onto the main tour.

Previous winners of the Challenge Tour include Italy’s Edoardo Molinari, Swedish duo Johan Edfors and Henrik Stenson, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and last year Spain’s Alvaro Velasco.