Major changes to PGA Tour qualifying

All 50 cards to be made available to Nationwide Tour players, says Finchem

Orderly Q: Tim Finchem has announced major changes to the PGA Tour’s qualifying structure

As speculated, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has revealed dramatic changes to the circuit’s qualifying structure.

Previously, PGA Tour cards were available to the top 25 players on the Nationwide Tour at the end of the season, with a further 25 going to the best finishers at PGA Tour Q-School.
However, beginning in 2013, all 50 PGA Tour membership cards will be awarded through the Nationwide Tour, with the three final tournaments on the Nationwide Tour combining PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour players to determine who earns the playing privileges.

Q-School, meanwhile, will become a pathway exclusively to the Nationwide Tour.

“We are excited to announce these significant changes, as we strongly believe that they will strengthen both Tours,” said Finchem. “The Nationwide Tour, which has proven to be the most effective indicator of future success on the PGA Tour, will now become the primary path to the tour starting in 2013 by awarding all 50 cards. And with the restructuring, those final three events will create a particularly exciting and dramatic finish to the season.”

The changes to the PGA Tour qualifying structure have been expected for some time and appear to be an attempt by Finchem and his team to heighten the profile of the Nationwide Tour. The satellite circuit is currently in the process of trying to lure a new title sponsor, as its present deal with Nationwide Insurance is set to expire next year. The financial company announced back in September 2010 that it wouldn’t be renewing its deal.

The Nationwide Tour has certainly proven to be an effective breeding ground for young tour professionals in recent times. Indeed, over the past six years, 87% of Nationwide Tour graduates have held onto their PGA Tour playing privileges compared with just 16% of those who have come through Q-School.

However, that’s not to say Q-School hasn’t unearthed a few stars in its time, recent examples including Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Anthony Kim.

The changes to the set-up mean that there is now no real pathway to the PGA Tour other than by spending a season on the Nationwide Tour.

Further changes announced by Finchem will see the PGA Tour 2013-14 season beginning in October 2013 and concluding in late September 2014, with the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola, the fourth and final FedEx Cup Play-Off.

As such, Fall Series events will begin awarding FedEx Cup points in 2013.

Finchem added: “In regard to the change to the start of the PGA Tour season, the fall tournaments certainly will benefit by becoming part of the FedEx Cup season. But the benefit also extends to FedEx, our telecasts of those tournaments and the understanding among fans that there’s a true finality to the season, with the FedEx Cup and eligibility for the PGA Tour concluding at the same time.”

The changes to the tour season also pose an interesting question: what about the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014? If the end of the 2013-14 PGA Tour season is to conclude in ‘late September’ as Finchem has indicated, it would appear likely that the Ryder Cup will take place either in the final weekend of September or, as is more likely, early October. That is something that the event organisers on the side of the Atlantic were thought to be keen to avoid in order to lessen the risk of a repeat of the bad weather that so afflicted the 2010 match at Celtic Manor in Wales.

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered