Pro Golf's Changing Landscape

As we know, the PGA Tour will look a lot different next year with no-cut designated events and the elimination of both the match play event and Korn Ferry Finals. 

Now changes are coming to Q-school and both the Canadian Tour and the PGA Tour Latinoamerica - the two international tours run by the PGA Tour. (I'm going to say "source" a lot in this article, and I apologize in advance) 

According to a source (See! I told you!), Q-school in the fall will "determine playing access across the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, and international tour." That means there will be just one Q-school instead of a separate qualifying tournament for Korn Ferry Tour and the international tours, as there is now. Also, according to the source, there will be incentives for being a medalist at both first and second stages. If you are a medalist at any first stage site, you will earn guaranteed starts on the international tour even if you don't make it through second stage. If you are a medalist at a second stage site, you will earn guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts regardless of your finish at final stage. 

The final stage will then award five PGA Tour cards and 40 Korn Ferry Tour cards. The rest of the players will have conditional Korn Ferry Tour status and be ranked, in order, for the international tour. 

This change will make Q-school the only chance to gain status on any of the tours. In the past, the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Canadian Tour each held their Q-schools separately from Korn Ferry Tour Q-school. 

As I reported last week, the LatinoAmerica and Canadian Tours will be combined into one international tour next season. They will play a full schedule with the number of events to be determined across North and South America. The number of players exempt from this year's PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Canadian Tour for the coming combined tour has yet to be determined. However, the number would have to be significantly fewer than the current 60 players who keep their cards. I hope this will lead to stronger fields, bigger purses, and more direct access to Korn Ferry Tour starts for the players graduating from the international tour. It is also a considerable cost-saving measure by the tour, as they had to staff both the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Canadian Tour. 

Playing opportunities for players abroad will be significantly reduced, but I am not sure that is a bad thing. It will force more players to stay in the US and hopefully increase mini-tour field and purse sizes here.

The landscape of pro golf has continually changed over the last 18 months, so it's no surprise to see that all players are now feeling the changes. 

‍