Early Start For Revamped Pga Tour
The PGA Tour will start its season in October from 2013 and tweak qualifying methods for players as a result, in a move that is designed to give greater prominence to the Nationwide Tour, according to PGA commissioner Tim Finchem.
The changes include a revamp of the qualifying system for the PGA Tour, dramatically elevating the importance of the Nationwide Tour developmental series by establishing it as the primary pathway to the PGA Tour itself.
With these changes, all 50 PGA Tour membership cards will now be awarded through the Nationwide Tour; the three final tournaments on the Nationwide Tour will combine PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour players to determine who earns those 50 cards; and the annual qualifying tournament will become a pathway exclusively to the Nationwide Tour.
The start of the PGA Tour’s 2013-14 season will begin in October 2013 and conclude in late September 2014 with the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola, the fourth and final FedExCup Playoff event.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said: ‘We are excited to announce these significant changes, as we strongly believe that they will strengthen both Tours.’
‘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.’
‘In regard to the change to the start of the PGA Tour season, the fall tournaments certainly will benefit by becoming part of the FedExCup 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 FedExCup and eligibility for the PGA Tour concluding at the same time.’
