2012 PGA Tour
The 2012 PGA Tour, the 45th season since the Tour became independent from the PGA of America, consisted of a total of 45 official money events running from early January to mid November.[1] The schedule, announced on October 19, 2011,[2] has four phases:
- Regular season – Consisting of 37 events, starting on January 2 with the limited-field Hyundai Tournament of Champions and ending with the Wyndham Championship on August 19.
- FedEx Cup Playoffs – As in previous seasons, this will be a series of four tournaments, starting with The Barclays on August 23–26 and ending with The Tour Championship on September 20–23.
- Fall Series – After The Tour Championship, the principal portion of the season ends with a series of four tournaments. These tournaments, generally passed on by elite players, offer an additional opportunity for players to secure their tour cards for the following season by finishing in the top 125 on the money list, or to gain a two-year exemption by winning a tournament with a slightly weaker field than usual.
- Between the regular season and the end of the Fall Series, the tour has three events, none of which offers official prize money.
- The 2012 Ryder Cup, a biennial team competition involving a United States team and a European team. In 2012, this event will be held in Illinois.
- The CIMB Classic, a limited-field event held in Malaysia that debuted in 2010.
- The WGC-HSBC Champions, a World Golf Championships event held in China. Founded in 2005, it was elevated to WGC status in 2009, when it also became an event on the PGA Tour schedule. Although the prize money is unofficial, it now counts as an official PGA Tour win, if it is won by a PGA Tour member.
The regular season will include all four major championships and three of the World Golf Championships events. All four majors and all four WGC events are also sanctioned by the European Tour.
Schedule
The following table lists the main season events for 2012. "Date" is the ending date of each event. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on tour up to and including that event. For an explanation of the "Status" column, see PGA Tour event categories. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament.[3]
- ^ The tournament was scheduled to end on August 19, but the end of the final round was pushed back to the following day due weather delays.
Money leaders
This section shows the final money leaders table.
| Rank | Player | Country | Events | Prize money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rory McIlroy |  Northern Ireland |
16 | 8,047,952 |
| 2 | Tiger Woods |  United States |
19 | 6,133,158 |
| 3 | Brandt Snedeker | United States |
22 | 4,989,739 |
| 4 | Jason Dufner | United States |
22 | 4,869,304 |
| 5 | Bubba Watson | United States |
19 | 4,644,997 |
| 6 | Zach Johnson | United States |
25 | 4,504,244 |
| 7 | Justin Rose |  England |
19 | 4,290,930 |
| 8 | Phil Mickelson | United States |
22 | 4,203,821 |
| 9 | Hunter Mahan | United States |
23 | 4,019,193 |
| 10 | Keegan Bradley | United States |
25 | 3,910,658 |
- There is a full list on the PGA Tour's website here.
Awards
See also
Notes and references
- ^ "2012 PGA Tour schedule" (Press release). PGA Tour. October 19, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
- ^ "2012 PGA TOUR schedule included notable changes" (Press release). PGA Tour. October 19, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
- ^ Each tournament is allocated a certain number of Official World Golf Ranking points for its champion, and points for lower finishes are based on a sliding scale. The major championships and the Players Championship have fixed allocations, but the points of the other tournaments depend on the strength of the field so they are not available in advance.
- ^ a b "McIlroy clinches awards in memorable year". PGA Tour. Associated Press. October 10, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
- ^ Ferguson, Doug (November 13, 2012). "Tour changing the way it looks at 'comeback player' award, no one on ballot this year". Star Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012.