PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is an organization headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA that operates the USA's main professional golf tours. Its name is officially rendered in all caps as “PGA TOUR".
The PGA Tour should be distinguished from a number of other golf organizations. Since 1968, it has been completely separate from the Professional Golfers' Association of America (“PGA of America”), which is now primarily an association of club professionals. (Before 1968, it was the PGA of America's Tournament Players Division.) The PGA of America, not the PGA Tour, runs the PGA Championship and the Senior PGA Championship and co-organizes the Ryder Cup with the PGA European Tour. The PGA Tour does not run the women's tours in the United States, which are controlled by the independent LPGA. The governing body of golf in the United States is the United States Golf Association.
Tours operated by the PGA Tour
The PGA Tour operates the following tours, which are played mostly in the United States, with occasional events in Canada and Mexico, and one major championship in the United Kingdom in each of the first two listed:
- PGA Tour, the top tour
- Champions Tour, for golfers 50 and over
- Nationwide Tour, a second-level tour
The PGA Tour also conducts an annual Qualifying Tournament (known colloquially as Q-School), a six-round tournament held each fall; the top 30 finishers, including ties, receive privileges to play on the following year's PGA Tour. Other upper-level finishers receive privileges on the Nationwide Tour.
The top 20 money-winners on the Nationwide Tour also receive privileges on the following year's PGA Tour. A golfer who wins three events on that tour in a calendar year earns a "battlefield promotion" which garners PGA Tour privileges for the remainder of the year and the following year.
At the end of each year, the top 125 money-winners on the PGA Tour receive a tour card for the following season, which gives them exemption from qualifying for most of the next year's tournaments. However at some events, known as invitationals, exemptions apply only to the previous year's top seventy players. Players who are ranked between 126-150 receive a conditional tour card, which gives them priority for places that are not taken up by players with full cards.
Winning a PGA Tour event provides a tour card for a minimum of two years. Winning a World Golf Championships event provides a three-year exemption. Winners of the major championships earn a five-year exemption. Other types of exemptions include lifetime exemptions for players with twenty wins on the tour; one-time one year exemptions for players in the top fifty on the career money list who are not otherwise exempt; and medical exemptions for players who have been injured, which give them an opportunity to regain their tour card after a period out of the tour.
There is no rule limiting PGA Tour players to men only. In 2003, Annika Sörenstam and Suzy Whaley played in PGA Tour events, and Michelle Wie has done so in each year from 2004 through 2007. None of these three made the cut, although Wie missed by only one stroke in 2004. The LPGA is limited to female participants only.
The PGA Tour places a strong emphasis on charity fundraising, usually on behalf of local charities in cities where events are staged. With the exception of a few older events, PGA Tour rules require all Tour events to be non-profit; the Tour itself is also a non-profit company. In 2005, it started a campaign to push its all-time fundraising tally past one billion dollars, and it reached that mark one week before the end of the season.
There is also a PGA European Tour, which is separate from either the PGA Tour or the PGA of America; this organization runs a tour, mostly in Europe but with events throughout the world outside of North America, that is second only to the PGA Tour in worldwide prestige. There are several other regional tours around the world. However, the PGA Tour, European Tour, and many of the regional tours co-sponsor the World Golf Championships. These, along with the major championships, usually count toward the official money lists of each tour as well as the Official World Golf Rankings.
Television and radio coverage
In January 2006 the PGA Tour announced a new set of television deals covering 2007 to 2012. CBS Sports will remain the main carrier of PGA Tour golf, and will increase its events from 16 to 19 per season. NBC Sports will increase its coverage from 5 to 10 events. The Golf Channel will be the Tour's cable partner on a 15 year contract, providing early round coverage of all official money events and four round coverage of a few events at the beginning and towards the end of the season. These deals do not cover the major championships as the PGA Tour does not own the rights to them. The fees involved were not mentioned in the press release, but it stated, "total prize money and other financial benefits to players will increase approximately $600 million over the term as compared to the previous six years, a 35-percent increase". [1]
The PGA Tour is also covered extensively outside the United States. In the United Kingdom Sky Sports was the main broadcaster of the tour for a number of years up to 2006. However Setanta Sports won exclusive UK and Ireland rights for six years from 2007 for a reported cost of £103 million. The deal includes Champions Tour and the Nationwide Tour events, but like the U.S. television deals it does not include the major championships. Setanta has set up the Setanta Golf channel to present its coverage. [1]
In the United States and Canada, radio coverage of the PGA Tour is available on XM Satellite Radio, on the PGA Tour Network, channel 146.
The structure of the PGA Tour season
Outline of the season
The table below illustrates the structure of the PGA Tour season.
Three of the four majors take place in eight weeks between June and August. In the past, this has threatened to make the last two and a half months of the season anti-climactic, as some of the very top players competed less from that point on. In response, the PGA Tour has introduced a new format, the FedEx Cup. From January through mid-August players compete in "regular season" events and earn FedEx Cup points, in addition to prize money. At the end of the regular season, the top 144 FedEx Cup points winners are eligible to compete in the "playoffs," four events taking place from mid-August to mid-September. The field sizes for these events are reduced from 144 to 120 to 70 and finally the traditional 30 for the Tour Championship. Additional FedEx Cup points are earned in these events. At the end of the championship, the top point winner is the season champion. To put this new system into place, the PGA Tour has made significant changes to the traditional schedule.
In 2007 THE PLAYERS Championship is moving to May so as to have a marquee event in five consecutive months. The Tour Championship will move up to mid-September, and an international team event (Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup) follows at the end of September. The Tour will continue through the fall, with the focus on the scramble of the less successful players to earn enough money to retain their tour cards. 2007 will also see the introduction of a tournament in Mexico, though it will be an alternate event staged the same week as the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. [2]
Tournaments
In 2007 there are 48 events in the 44 week regular season, of which 47 are official money events, including four alternate events played the same week as a higher status tournament. The 48th event is the Presidents Cup team event. Most members of the tour play between 20 and 30 tournaments in the season. The geography of the tour is determined by the weather. It starts in Hawaii in January and spends most of its first two months in California and Arizona during what is known as the "West Coast Swing," and then moves to the American Southeast for the "Southern Swing." Each swing culminates in a significant tour event. In April, tour events begin to drift north. The summer months are spent mainly in the Northeast and the Midwest, and in the fall (autumn) the tour heads south again.
In most of the regular events on tour, the field is either 132, 144 or 156 players, depending on time of year (and available daylight hours). After two rounds, there is a cut where the top 70 professional players and ties will advance to the next rounds and earn money. The winner usually receives 18% of the total purse.
2007 schedule
The following table lists the main season events for 2007. The designations in the "Status" column are explained in the notes below the table. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event.
Event categories
- Majors: The four leading annual events in world golf are The Masters, The United States Open, the Open Championship (often referred to as the British Open), and the PGA Championship.
- World Golf Championships: A set of events co-sanctioned by the International Federation of PGA Tours which attract the leading golfers from all over the world, including those who are not members of the PGA Tour.
- Unique: The unique status of the The PLAYERS Championship is based on the fact that it is the only event apart from the majors and the World Golf Championships which attracts entries from almost all of the world's elite golfers. Official recognition is given to its unique position in the sport by the Official World Golf Rankings, which allocate it a fixed number of points (which is 20% less than for a major), whereas the number of points allocated to "regular" events is dependent on the rankings of the players who enter each year, and is only determined once the entry list is finalized. It is increasingly referred to by the media as the "Fifth major". In North America some people would like to make the tournament an official major and it will be ranked equally with the majors in the FedEx Cup point system. However there is little support for this in the rest of the world, and any revision to the points system for the world rankings would require a global consensus.
- Small field: The FedEx Cup starts and finishes with two elite events for fields which are about 30-strong instead of the usual 150 or so.
- Playoff event: The last four tournaments of the FedEx Cup will have fields based on the FedEx Cup rankings. The fields will be cut each week: Barclays Classic 144 players; Deutsche Bank Championship 120 players; BMW Championship 70 players; The Tour Championship 30 players.
- Team: A United States team of 12 elite players competes in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup in alternate years. The Ryder Cup is arguably the highest profile event in golf, outranking the majors. The Presidents Cup is less well established, but is still the main event of the week when it is played. There is no prize money in these events, so they are irrelevant to the money list.
- Regular: Routine weekly tour events. The "regular" events vary somewhat in status, but this is a subjective matter. The relative status of the events is not based on the size of the prize fund to a very large degree, as this doesn't vary much. Some of the other factors which determine the status of a tournament are:
- Its position in the schedule, which influences the number of leading players that choose to enter.
- Its age and the distinction of its past champions.
- The repute of the course on which it is played.
- Any associations with "legends of golf". Five events in particular have such associations:
- The EDS Byron Nelson Championship, named after Byron Nelson, was until 2007 the only current event named after a PGA Tour golfer.
- The Arnold Palmer Invitational, formerly the Bay Hill Invitational, closely identified with Arnold Palmer and played at a resort he owns.
- The Nissan Open and Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, both identified with Ben Hogan, although the Colonial is more closely identified with him.
- The Memorial Tournament, founded by Jack Nicklaus, played on a course he designed, and annually honoring a selected "legend".
- Invitational: These events are similar to the regular ones, but have a slightly smaller (around 100-120 players), selective field. The top 70 on the previous year's money list can automatically take part to invitationals, as well as past champions of the event. There is an increased amount of sponsor's exemptions as well, and some invitationals allow the defending champion to invite one or several amateurs as well. Invitational tournaments include the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Verizon Heritage, the Memorial Tournament and others. The tournaments usually do have an association with a golf legend, or in the case of the Verizon Heritage, a famous course.
- Alternate: Events which are played in the same week as a higher status tournament and therefore have weakened fields and reduced prize money. They are often considered an opportunity for players on the bubble (near or below 125th or 150th) in the money list to move up more easily or to attempt an easier two-year exemption for winning a tournament.
There are also a number of events which are recognized by the PGA Tour, but which do not count towards the official money list. Most of these take place in the off season (November and December). This slate of unofficial, often made-for-TV events (which includes the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge, the Franklin Templeton Shootout, the Skins Game, etc.) is referred to as the "Challenge Season" or, less approvingly, the "Silly Season".
Money winners and most wins leaders
Players who lead the money list on the PGA Tour win the Arnold Palmer Award.
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Notes:
- Players with 2 wins in 1991: Billy Andrade, Mark Brooks, Fred Couples, Andrew Magee, Corey Pavin, Nick Price, Tom Purtzer, Ian Woosnam
- Players with 2 wins in 1983: Seve Ballesteros, Jim Colbert, Mark McCumber, Gil Morgan, Calvin Peete, Hal Sutton, Lanny Wadkins, Fuzzy Zoeller
- Players with 3 wins in 1969: Billy Casper, Raymond Floyd, Dave Hill, Jack Nicklaus
Multiple money list titles
The following players have won more than one money list title through 2006:
- 8: Jack Nicklaus
- 7: Tiger Woods
- 5: Ben Hogan, Tom Watson
- 4: Arnold Palmer
- 3: Sam Snead, Curtis Strange, Greg Norman
- 2: Byron Nelson, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Tom Kite, Nick Price, Vijay Singh
Player and rookie of the year awards
PGA Tour players compete for two player of the year awards. The PGA Player of the Year award dates back to 1948 and is awarded by the PGA of America. Since 1982 the winner has been selected using a points system with marks awarded for wins, money list position and scoring average. The PGA Tour Player of the Year award, also known as the Jack Nicklaus Award, is administered by the PGA Tour and was introduced in 1990; the recipient is selected by the tour players by ballot, although the results are not released other than to say who has won. More often than not the same player wins both awards; in fact, as seen in the table below, the PGA and PGA Tour Players of the Year have been the same every year since 1992. The Rookie of the Year award was also introduced in 1990. Players are eligible in their first season of PGA Tour membership; several of the winners had a good deal of international success before their PGA Tour rookie season, and some have been in their thirties when they won the award.
Multiple PGA Player of the Year Awards
The following players have won more than one player of the year award through 2006:
- 8: Tiger Woods
- 6: Tom Watson
- 5: Jack Nicklaus
- 4: Ben Hogan
- 2: Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Arnold Palmer, Nick Price
Career money leaders
The table shows the top ten career money leaders on the PGA Tour as of May 20, 2007. Due to increases in prize funds over the years, it consists entirely of current players. The figures are not the players' complete career prize money as most of them have earned millions more from unofficial events or on other tours such as the European Tour. In addition, elite golfers often earn several times as much from endorsements and golf related business interests as they do from prize money.
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods |  United States |
69,893,415 |
| 2 | Vijay Singh |  Fiji |
52,597,901 |
| 3 | Phil Mickelson | United States |
43,634,626 |
| 4 | Davis Love III | United States |
35,390,493 |
| 5 | Jim Furyk | United States |
32,308,528 |
| 6 | Ernie Els |  South Africa |
29,567,765 |
| 7 | David Toms | United States |
26,835,544 |
| 8 | Justin Leonard | United States |
21,218,435 |
| 9 | Mark Calcavecchia | United States |
21,077,288 |
| 10 | Nick Price |  Zimbabwe |
20,551,208 |
There is a full list on the PGA Tour's website here.
Trivia
- No professional golfer with a surname beginning with the letter "Q" has ever won a PGA Tour event.
References
- ^ Broadcaster is seeking £200m for TV soccer. The Sunday Times, 1 July 2006.
- ^ Each tournament is allocated a certain number of Official World Golf Ranking points, and initially this number is doubled up (see the article about the rankings for more on this somewhat confusing system). Some publications use original points and others use doubled-up points, so both are given here for the sake of clarity. The major championships and the Players Championship have fixed allocations, but the points at the other tournaments depend on the strength of the field so they are not available in advance.
See also
- Professional golf tours
- Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
- Most PGA Tour wins in a year
- Most wins in one PGA Tour event
- 2007 in golf
- Vardon Trophy