Opinion & Analysis

PGA Tour strengthening Web.com Tour ties everywhere… except the U.S.?

Published

13 years ago

Nov 14, 2013

Give credit where credit is due: the PGA Tour is to be commended for recent measures that have helped expand its reach across the globe. It has brought the Canadian Tour into the fold in the form of the rebranded PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica has established PGA Tour hegemony in Latin and South America. More recently, the PGA Tour announced an associated tour in China. All of these entities are or will be formal feeders to the Web.com Tour.

But call a spade a spade: for all the PGA Tour’s new hands across the globe of golf, there is no “official” Web.com Tour feeder tour in the United States. To many, this is problematic.

Instead of a full season’s worth of American events through which aspiring stars can gain chances to ascend to the coliseum that is the Web.com Tour, there is Q-School, which, rather than sending its top finishers to the PGA Tour, feeds the Web.com Tour. This is a massive change that has accompanied the establishment of the four-week Web.com Tour Finals, which took place for the first time this past late-summer.

PGA Tour Latinoamerica will have held 16 tournaments that will serve as an official entrée to the Web.com tour. PGA Tour Canada has 10. In China, an even dozen. But in the United States, that number is one. And it’s an expensive one.

Those needing to pre-qualify owe an initial entry fee of $2,500. If they advance to the first formal stage of qualifying, it’s another $2,700 to $3,500, depending on when they sign up. Some players are exempt into the second stage of qualifying; their entry fee is between $4,000 and $5,000, again depending on their time of entry. Finally, some players are exempt all the way to the final stage of the grueling multi-week event. Their passage costs a mere $3,500 to $4,500.

In other words, given the exponential dropoff in purse size from the PGA Tour to the Web.com Tour and the colossal further dropoff from the Web.com Tour purses to those of the likes of the NGA Tour and the eGolf Professional tour, Q-School costs a fortune.

Consider that the eGolf Professional tour’s current money list leader, Frank Adams III, stands at just under $70,000 through 23 events, with No. 50 on the same list, Barrett Kelpin, at $13,620 after 14 events. Things are going a little better on the NGA Tour, but not much: Jon Curran, longtime friend of Keegan Bradley, currently leads with nearly $103,000 in 14 events, while Paul Brown sits in 50^th at $18,447. Countless other mini-tours yield a fraction of that to their own top players.

Trying to play professional golf is daunting. Kudos to the PGA Tour for forging a more concrete path to the Web.com Tour through outlets in South America, Asia and Canada. Is it not time to open up an avenue at home in the United States?

Related Topics:PGA Tour Web.com Tour

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Tim Gavrich

Tim grew up outside of Hartford, Conn., playing most of his formative golf at Hop Meadow Country Club in the town of Simsbury. He played golf for four years at Washington & Lee University (Division-III) and now lives in Pawleys Island, S.C., and works in nearby Myrtle Beach in advertising. He's not too bad on Bermuda greens, for a Yankee. A lifelong golf addict, he cares about all facets of the game of golf, from equipment to course architecture to PGA Tour news to his own streaky short game.

10 Comments

NaBUru38

Apr 5, 2014 at 3:20 pm

The PGA Tour could expand the Q-School to a full season from October to December, with tournaments in Florida, Texas and California, and similar purses as in Canada and Latin America.

Reply Report comment
Raleigh

Nov 16, 2013 at 5:35 pm

Great article, I myself am a professional golfer and have played egolf and NGA tour tournaments. The NGA is offering web.com exemptions but you’re correct. It is a long and daunting task to make the PGA and it would be nice to have a better 3rd tier system to get to the web.com.

Reply Report comment
- Harvey
  
  Nov 18, 2013 at 3:36 pm
  
  They shouldn’t of changed it.. They only made the web.com the only feeder to the PGA so more Americans got on tour. Suits me fine, we’ll keep the Ryder cup a few more years 😉
  
  Reply Report comment
Jack

Nov 15, 2013 at 9:33 pm

So are American golfers going to be moving overseas to compete? If they’re serious about making the web.com tour they probably should.

Reply Report comment
bl21

Nov 15, 2013 at 11:09 am

Great Insight! I agree that something should be done.

Reply Report comment
Zach

Nov 15, 2013 at 4:45 am

They follow the money.

Reply Report comment
- Merrick
  
  Nov 18, 2013 at 3:09 am
  
  They also follow the publicity and basically anything that benefits them.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Harvey
  
  Nov 18, 2013 at 3:33 pm
  
  Ignorant.. The top 10 in the world maybe but not at this level. You play where you can afford to play, the money is terrible unless you win and normally have to finish top 5 to make a profit on the week.
  
  Reply Report comment
D Louis

Nov 15, 2013 at 3:50 am

Tim, You are absolutely right. You would think that the PGA Tour would take care of their home turf first and implement a better 3rd level development system there.

Reply Report comment
marko

Nov 15, 2013 at 12:40 am

Fred Funk said it today”Americans are becoming a minority on the PGA Tour”.

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Opinion & Analysis

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