PGA Tour reorganizes Canadian, Latin American circuits; LIV player rankings continue to sink
Nearly 30 percent of the current PGA Tour membership played on either the PGA Tour Latinoamerica or PGA Tour Canada — or both.
The alumni include PGA Tour winners Tony Finau, Joel Dahman, Mackenzie Hughes and Nico Echavarria, plus Nease graduate Tyler McCumber — the only player to earn Korn Ferry Tour status off both international satellite tours.
The PGA Tour is consolidating those two tours but the end result will be the same: 10 players will eventually earn Korn Ferry Tour cards but even more avenues will be open to the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour's national qualifier.
The Tour announced on Tuesday that it is merging PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour Canada into the PGA Tour Americas, which will begin play next February, with 16 events in Latin America, Canada and the United States from February through September.
The top 10 finishers on the season-long points list will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the following season. Under the previous system, the top five on the points list from each tour advanced.
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One player who took advantage of that was McCumber, who then earned a PGA Tour card off the Korn Ferry Tour. The Tour said 28.2 percent of current Tour members played on either PGA Tour Latinoamerica or PGA Tour Canada, combining for 28 PGA Tour victories., 18 from Canada alumni and 10 from Latinoamerica players.
The PGA Tour Americas season will begin with the Latin America Swing, through May. Eligibility for the Latin America Swing will include the top 60 finishers from the final 2022-2023 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Points List and the top 60 finishers from the final 2023 PGA TOUR Canada Points List.
In addition, those who advance from the first stage of the PGA Tour qualifying tournaments and those 40th and below on the final stage of the 2023 PGA Tour national qualifying (which will be in December at the TPC Sawgrass and the Sawgrass Country Club), will be eligible for the PGA TOUR Americas.
There also will be avenues from the Latinoamérica Dev Series and the highest finisher on the 2023 APGA season-long points list who is a member of the APGA Player Development program.
The top 60 players on the points after the Latin America Swing will continue on to compete in the North America Swing. There will also be a mid-season qualifying tournament and Nos. 6 through 20 on the PGA Tour University rankings of college seniors will get cards.
Full eligibility for PGA Tour Americas will be announced later this year and will feature similar categories to PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour Canada, including open qualifiers, sponsor exemptions and eligible Korn Ferry Tour members.
Five conditional Korn Ferry Tour cards are available to the top two finishers in the Latin America Swing and the top three performers from the North America Swing if those players do not finish in the top 10 on the final PGA Tour Americas Points List.
The top 10 finishers on the points list, the top two finishers on the Latin America Swing and the top three finishers on the North America Swing will earn exemptions to the final stage of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament. Nos. 11-25 on the points list, Nos. 3-10 on the Latin America Swing and Nos. 4–10 from the North America Swing will earn exemptions to second-stage qualifying.
The 2024 PGA Tour Americas schedule will be announced in September.
PGA Tour players skipping Italy
In a sense, you'd wonder if PGA Tour players in contention for the Ryder Cup would have learned something.
The 2018 Ryder Cup was played at the National Golf Club of France, and the DP World Tour scheduled the French Open there. Seven members of the European Ryder Cup team played in that tournament. One American player competed, Justin Thomas.
Europe won going away by seven points. Thomas was the lone bright spot for the Americans with a 4-1 record, including a 1-up singles victory over Rory McIlroy in the first match out of the gate on Sunday.
The Italian Open is next week at Marco Simon, the site of the year's Ryder Cup. However, no American players are entered, probably because the Wells Fargo Championship the same week is a designated event, with a $20 million purse.
U.S. captain Zach Johnson said he's not concerned and has trips planned for U.S. players to visit the course later this summer.
“The more times you can get your feet on the site, great,” he told the Associated Press. “But I’ve got some plans in store that will allow the team to get used to a golf course that they’re not familiar with.”
Among the European Ryder Cup contenders in the field are Victor Perez, Thorbjorn Olesen, Robert MacIntyre and Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard.
Old guys rock the Korn Ferry Tour
Two of the first three winners on the Korn Ferry Tour this season were 23-year-old Pierceson Coody and 26-year-old Chandler Phillips.
Pretty normal trend right there.
But since Coody won in Panama, the last five championships on the Korn Ferry Tour have all been won by players 33 years or older, topped by last week's LECOM Suncoast Classic at Lakewood National winner, 46-year-old Scott Gutschewski.
Other winners have been Spencer Levin (38), Ben Kohles (33), David Skinns (41) and Rhein Gibson (37). Ben Silverman (35) won in The Bahamas between Phillips and Coody).
The last five winners averaged 39 years old. They're also pouring in the birdies: they've shot a cumulative 95 under par and average 66.4.
It's not unusual for veterans to play on the Korn Ferry Tour. Many have prepared for the PGA Tour Champions by getting some at-bats on the Korn Ferry Tour, where their status as past PGA Tour players gets them a few starts.
But what's next? Metamucil in the locker room?
More attrition at LIV
One year ago, when the LIV Golf League launched, 19 of its players were among the top-50 in the world. Only six remain, led by Ponte Vedra Beach resident Cameron Smith at No. 8.
LIV hasn't been approved by world rankings points. Among the hold-ups: its 54-hole format, lack of a clear qualifying process and all-tee starts.
The next players to possibly drop out of the top-60, which would get them in the U.S. Open and the British Open, are Mito Pereria (55) and Harold Varner III (61). They are eligible for the PGA in May.
PGA TOUR
Event: Mexico Open, Thursday-Sunday, Vidanta Vallarta Golf Club.
At stake: $7.7 million purse ($1,386,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).
Defending champion: Jon Rahm.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m.); CBS (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).
Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Jonas Blixt, Lanto Griffin, Patton Kizzire, Doc Redman, Greyson Sigg, Carl Yuan.
Notable: The field has only two other players from the top 50 in the world, Tony Finau and Alex Noren. ... Finau closed with a 63 last year and tied for second with Kurt Kitayama and Brandon Wu. ... Gary Woodland is among those in the field, along with former British Open champion Francesco Molinari. ... Twelve players who made the cut last year in Mexico are now in Singapore with Saudi-funded LIV Golf. That includes Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, along with Sebastian Munoz of Colombia. ... Alvaro Ortiz, the younger brother of Carlos Ortiz, is playing. ... Latin America Amateur champion Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira is playing on a sponsor exemption.
LIV GOLF LEAGUE
Event: Liv Golf Singapore, Thursday-Saturday, Sentosa Golf Club.
At stake: $20 million purse ($4 million to the winner).
Defending champion: First-time event.
TV: CW (Friday-Saturday, 10:30 p.m.-3:30 a.m.).
Area players entered: Cameron Smith.
Notable: Sergio Garcia won the Singapore Open at Sentosa in 2018 and Ian Poulter won it in 2009. ... Paul Casey, Louis Oosthuizen and Lee Westwood have all finished second in that event. ... Peter Uihlein moved into first on the LIV money list by finishing seventh last week in Australia and is the only player to have top 10s in all four LIV events this year.
LPGA TOUR
Event: JM Eagle LA Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Wilshire Country Club, Los Angeles.
At stake: $3 million purse ($450,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: First-year event.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 6-9 p.m.).
Area players entered: Chella Choi, Mel Reid.
Notable: The DIO Implant Open moved from Wilshire after playing there from 2018-2022. Three of the winners at Wilshire in that tournament are in this week's field, Brooke Henderson, U.S. Women's Open champion Minjee Lee and Moriya Jutanugarn. ... The only top-10 players missing this week are Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Event: Insperity Invitational, Friday-Sunday, The Woodlands Country Club, Houston.
At stake: $2.7 million purse ($405,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Steven Alker.
TV: Golf Channel (Friday, 12-3 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).
Area players entered: David Duval, Jim Furyk, Fred Funk, Vijay Singh.
Notable: Alker romped past Brandt Jobe and Steve Stricker by four shots. ... Duval, Funk and Singh all won the Houston Open on the PGA Tour when it was played at The Woodlands.
KORN FERRY TOUR
Event: HomeTown Lenders Championship, Thursday-Sunday, The Ledges, Huntsville, Ala.
At stake: $1 million purse ($180,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Harrison Endycott.
TV: None.
Area players entered: Chris Baker, A.J. Crouch, Taylor Dickson, Rick Lamb, Jared Wolfe.
Notable: Endycott shot 63 in the first round, 64 in the second and went on to beat Ben Taylor by five shots.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour combines Canadian, Latin American Tours; LIV players rankings sink
