Huge Changes to PGA Tour Schedule and Q-School

[Shorty]

I basically agree with it.
Unfortunate that you'll no longer see someone like John Huh go through every stage and make a name for himself, but these days, Q School is characterised more by has beens recycling themselves for another 12 months and doing nothing on the big tour.

Unfortunately, it will kill the Australasian tour. We had been getting some good players here at the end of the U.S.season. Now none will come because it's the start of the new PGA Tour.shame.

[mdl]

On the one hand, I agree that there's a big negative in not having a simple path for a dominant amateur (ie, Johnson, Holmes) to get to play against the best in the world right away when he's good enough to compete right away.  On the other hand, the numbers show that the rare exceptions aside, the Nationwide tour as a sort of minor leagues of golf does in fact produce players who are more capable of competing on the PGA tour than the average player who's coming from college or mini-tours and gets hot for 6 days at Q-school.  Unfortunately, unlike the team sports with minor leagues, golf is an individual sport so there's no manager or GM who can just make the decision that someone is dominant enough that they can compete at the top level right away.

I do like the idea of a 3 tournament series where the top guys from Nationwide and the bottom guys from PGA compete for spots. How about the best of both worlds? Have a separate pre-3-tournament-series Q-school, with the same qualifying standards as the current Q-school, so it would be open to the best juniors, college and mini-tour players as well as numbers 76 and below on the Nationwide tour, where the top 25 get guaranteed Nationwide cards but are also invited to the 3 tournament series where they can upgrade to a PGA card if they finish in the top 50?

Keep alive the Q-school to PGA dream, but require a sustained 4 tournament proving, but with 3 of those tournaments against Nationwide and some PGA players as well.  That would make me even more interested in watching the 3 tournament series in years when there's a couple feel good stories of mini-tour grinders or top college or junior players trying to run a 4 tournament gauntlet and make it straight to the PGA tour.

[brocks]

That's not the same thing. You used to be able to play well enough in Q School to get a PGA Tour card. None of the things you mentioned get you a PGA Tour card.

I took his post to mean you have those ways (sponsor's exemptions, etc.) to get into a pro event, and then if you play well enough, you get your card either by winning an event, or finishing in the top 125 in money. I agree it's not much of a chance. If Tiger wasn't the last guy who got his card that way, he was one of the two or three last guys to do it.

[x129]

There also not a lot of guys that go right from high school/ college to the pros in a sport like baseball.   Some article pointed out that if this system had been in effect, Woods likely would have spent a year on the nationwide tour as the win that put him in the tour happened  too late in the fall series. Maybe he would have gotten enough exemptions to get on the tour but there is a chance that he wouldn't have been able to win the masters the following year because he wouldn't have qualified. He might have done things differently as far as when he went pro. That would be my big concern with this system is that it might encourage more kids to drop out early to try and get that year on the nationwide out of the way.  This scheme is largely a PGA pro protection plan. It makes is much easier for 125-200 to keep their cards in my opinion.  We can argue if that is a good or bad thing. I vote for bad.

I also wonder how the last event will play out. Will 1/3 of the field be assured of a card, 1/3 totally out of it, and the other 1/3 fighting for the last spots? Sounds boring. Or since it is all about PGA money do you just need to nap 1 top 5 finish to make the tour so now guys have 3 shots to have 1 good tournament?

Quote:

I took his post to mean you have those ways (sponsor's exemptions, etc.) to get into a pro event, and then if you play well enough, you get your card either by winning an event, or finishing in the top 125 in money. I agree it's not much of a chance. If Tiger wasn't the last guy who got his card that way, he was one of the two or three last guys to do it.

[mdl]

Originally Posted by x129

I also wonder how the last event will play out. Will 1/3 of the field be assured of a card, 1/3 totally out of it, and the other 1/3 fighting for the last spots? Sounds boring. Or since it is all about PGA money do you just need to nap 1 top 5 finish to make the tour so now guys have 3 shots to have 1 good tournament?

I didn't think about this.  Even just taking the new system for what it is, it could be really boring if it's structured the way you describe.  Maybe they'll do a FedEx playoffs type thing, where you have to finish in, say, the top 100 the first tournament to play the next week, top 50 to play the final week, and then the top 25 the final week get their cards or something?

[Canuck]

Is there going to be any plans for an overhaul of the Nationwide Tour then? Maybe a new format of Q-school to get into the "minor leagues" or Nationwide Tour. I like the idea of having a minor league where players can work their way onto the PGA by playing well through the minors. I imagine this will take some tinkering and adjusting over the next few years to make it all work out. But there still needs to be a way for "the average pro" to get himself into a top tour through a Q-school type setup.

[Shindig]

But there still needs to be a way for "the average pro" to get himself into a top tour through a Q-school type setup.

I'll be surprised if this happens for more than a year or two without a change to allow a low number of Q-school finishers - maybe only the top 5, which I think was what was necessary to move from the then-Hogan tour to the PGA Tour back when it began - a way onto the tour, with the vast majority going into the minors.

[BruceMGF]

Good and bad.

I hate the damn playoff mentality pervading sports since the 1960s-70s, at least in North America.  What the hell are they "playing off" after a "regular season" that goes on forever, anyway?  Playoffs used to be for breaking ties, or between winners of separate leagues that didn't meet in the season.  Now they're played just because.

But I never liked the Q-school idea, either.  A few hot rounds and you're in.  Or not.  Satellite tours and Monday qualifying are better.  A few bad rounds doesn't kill your chances for a year, if you're consistently good for a long stretch.

[Frank-0-Sport]

Greetings .... If Q-School is indeed going to be phased out and the Nationwide Tour is to be relied on even more, than the exemption categories need to be re-done so that only the Top 90 Money Leaders (rather than Top 125) are fully exempt, and several other categories added or revised to provide more playing opportunities for Nationwide Tour members. One of my personal ideas is the creation of a category where certain eligible current year Nationwide players can get into PGA Tour events, then possibly go on to achieve Special Temporary Member Status and then perhaps Top 90 fully exempt status for the next season. Of course making Top 90 Equivilancy vs Top 125 would be a considerable task, but with heart, soul, dedication and determination it could be done. Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by BruceMGF

Good and bad.

I hate the damn playoff mentality pervading sports since the 1960s-70s, at least in North America.  What the hell are they "playing off" after a "regular season" that goes on forever, anyway?  Playoffs used to be for breaking ties, or between winners of separate leagues that didn't meet in the season.  Now they're played just because.

But I never liked the Q-school idea, either.  A few hot rounds and you're in.  Or not.  Satellite tours and Monday qualifying are better.  A few bad rounds doesn't kill your chances for a year, if you're consistently good for a long stretch.

Totally agree.

Get rid of Q-School. I don't see the 'tradition' in it anyway - it's a 6-round pressure cooker that I am sure no pro will lament its demise. But instead, show that you can be a good player in the 'minor leagues' - the Nationwide Tour - and move up. You can groove your game in real tournament conditions & make a decent living in the process.

Man, I think back to guys that missed getting their cards by one shot at Q-School just cuz of a bad break (remember the guy that hit a putt into the middle of the hole & the ball hit the bottom of the cup & popped back out onto the lip?) & just think that this new method is a lot more fairer...and a better test of getting the privilege of playing on the PGA Tour.

[Ben]

This new QSchool is raising a lot of eyebrows with the people I know, but when It comes down to it. get Nationwide status, kick butt then get the to PGA Tour, just one extra season. Yes, it kind of deminishing the hopes and dreams we've all aspired for. But really, if you're good enough to make it to the Nationwide Tour, you're also more then likely good enough to get to the PGA Tour.

Originally Posted by BruceMGF

But I never liked the Q-school idea, either.  A few hot rounds and you're in.  Or not.  Satellite tours and Monday qualifying are better.  A few bad rounds doesn't kill your chances for a year, if you're consistently good for a long stretch.

"A few hot rounds", really? Finally stage is six rounds. Before Final is Pre-Qual, First Stage, and Second Stage. That's twelve hot rounds, before six hot rounds. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time putting four good rounds together let alone eighteen... Hardly the walk in the park you make it out to be. Ands lets not forget, $5,000 just in entry fees, not to mention travel of food expense after that.

[Frank-0-Sport]

Greetings .... Ben, you're right about the various stages. And let's also not forget that these Q-Schoolers have picked up experience from tours such as he PGA Tours of the US, Europe, Asian, Australia, South Africa, Japan and various other International entities; plus Nationwide, Hooters and various Mini-Tours; also, the college and amateur circuits. So, Q-School is not quite the one-shot deal that some detractors see it as. Thanx-A-Lot, Frank-0-Sport