PGA Tour to take over control of Canadian Tour

[WWBDD]

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/18/pga-tour-takes-control-of-canadian-version #

Quote:

“Having gained a thorough understanding of the golf landscape in Canada over the course of the 2012 season, we are confident that, by fully dedicating our assets and resources, PGA Tour Canada will be well-positioned to play an increasingly important role in professional golf,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

“With a solid foundation of existing tournaments along with outstanding opportunities to establish new events, we are confident PGA Tour Canada will strengthen and grow in the coming years,” he added.

On the surface this seems like a good thing for golf in Canada.

Curious to hear the thoughts of those with insight into the Canadian Tour.

[MEfree]

Starting next year, the PGA Tour will run the Canadian Tour- the top 5 players will get Web.com Tour cards with the next 5 being exempt into Web.com Q School finals.  This is similar to what the PGA Tour has done in Latin America

http://blogs.golf.com/presstent/2012/10/pga-to-take-control-of-canadian-tour.html#

It seems as if the PGA Tour is in the process of expanding its minor league farm system.  I think this is a good thing as guys who play consistently well elsewhere will be able to get into "Triple A" (Web.com Tour) without having to worry about a single bad day/tournament knocking them out of the Q school process.

There are lots of journeyman professionals with a lot of talent who can succeed on the PGA Tour when they are playing well.  With the Canadian Tour being summer only, and the Web.com Tour Finals (3 event PGA Tour card series) being in the fall, I`d like to see the top PGA Tour Canada player or two get invited that same year to compete with the top 75 Web.com palyers and 126-200 from the main tour instead of having to wait for the next year.

I wonder if the PGA Tour is looking to expand it minor leagues in the US?  I think it would be good to see one or more of the mini tours and/or groups of regional tournaments (like the Long Beach Open, Colorado Open, etc) offer Web.com Tour cards to the top players.

[WWBDD]

It seems like a positive move for the Canadian Tour.

If nothing else, the PGA has the marketing capacity to raise its profile here in Canada and abroad.