by Dr. Deborah Graham
Keeping track of the world's Professional Golf Tours is more than a challenge as it seems new ones come and go each year.
But if you take a count of the various professional tours that are providing playing opportunities for competitive men and women golfers at any given you will probably find no less than 40 or so..
Each of these tours have their own unique origin, rules, structure. And each is run by an independant organization who is responsible for creating schedules, securing tournament locations, qualifying members, arranging events, finding sponsors, establishing the entry and the purses, etc.
Most of the major tours have been set up to be " player controlled". The objectives of the PGA Tour, for example, are to
- maximize income and retirement benefits for their card holding members
- pay the salaries of it's administrators
- making annual charitable contributions
Following are the world's major tours, roughly in order of purses and payouts are as follows:
- PGA Tour
- European Tour
- Champions Tour
- LPGA Tour
Other significant tours include:
- Nationwide Tour (official developmental tour to the PGA Tour)
- Challenge Tour (official developmental tour to the European Tour)
- Future's Tour (womens developmental tour)
- Asian Tour (tour for Asia with the exclusion of Japan)
- Japan Golf Tour
- Japan Challenge Tour (official development tour in Japan)
- Indian Golf Tour (regional tour)
- China Golf Tour (regional tour
- LPGA of Japan Tour
Men's Tours
[edit] International Federation of PGA Tours
The International Federation of PGA Tours is the trade body of the main men's professional golf tours. As of 2007, there are six full members:
These six tours co-sanction the Official World Golf Rankings, and world ranking points are awarded at all official money events on their calendars. The Canadian Tour and the Tour de las Americas are associate members of the Federation. [1] Canadian Tour events receive world ranking points, but as of 2007, Tour de las Americas events do not.
[edit] Other men's tours
World ranking points are also awarded for good placings in events on two developmental tours:
The richest tour that does not offer ranking points is the Korean Tour. Below this level, the tours do not offer ranking points, and the prize money on offer will be at a level that allows only a few of the members, or perhaps none of them at all, to make their main income from playing on that tour alone. Some of the players will also play on other tours when they are able to, and others will be club or teaching professionals who play tournament golf part time.
The official development tour in Japan is the Japan Challenge Tour. Other regional tours include the Indian Golf Tour and the China Golf Tour.
The United States and Europe have additional tours for players who haven't made it onto the Nationwide Tour or the Challenge Tour. At this level the prize money is partly funded by entrance fees and only the most successful players will win enough to do more than cover their expenses: the emphasis is very much on moving up to a higher tour.
In Europe there is a well-defined third tier of tours which are independently operated but offer promotion to the Challenge Tour for the most successful players. The three third level tours are the PGA EuroPro Tour, the Alps Tour and the EPD Tour. Below this level there are various minor professional tournaments, some of which are organised into series by national golf associations, for example the men's leg of the Swedish Golf Association's Telia Tour, the developmental tour for Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the Celtic Pro Tour, and the Midas Tour covering the south of England.
In the United States the lower-level tours do not offer direct promotion to the Nationwide Tour so there is not a well defined third tier. The larger regional tours include the Gateway Tour and NGA Hooters Tour and there is a constantly changing roster of small "mini-tours". The term mini-tour is colloquial and not easy to define - the larger regional tours carefully avoid applying the term to themselves, while some of the smaller tours such as the Moonlightgolf.com Tour apply it to all tours below Nationwide Tour level in an attempt to put themselves on the same level as their larger competitors. Either way, below Nationwide Tour level there is little possibility of earning a living from the prize money alone and players compete to gain competitive experience. Some are employed as club or teaching professionals and play tournaments part time, while some may have sponsors or family backing.
There have also been some well known sportsmen from other sports who, after retiring as wealthy men while still at an age when elite golfers are in their prime, have tried their luck as tournament golfers on the developmental tours, but none of them have made it into golf's elite so far. Examples include Ivan Lendl and Roy Wegerle. Two prominent professional athletes from other sports, however, have had modest success on the Champions Tour for golfers 50 and over. Former National Football League quarterback John Brodie won one tournament and had 12 top-10 finishes on that tour, and former Major League Baseball pitcher Rick Rhoden has had three top-10 finishes.
[edit] Men's senior tours
Upon reaching age 50, male golfers are eligible to compete in senior tournaments. Golf is unique among sports in having high profile and lucrative competitions for players of this age group. Nearly all of the famous golfers who are eligible to compete in these events choose to do so, unless they are unable to for health reasons. A number of players win more than a million dollars in prize money each season, and once endorsements and other business activities are taken into account, a few of the "legends of golf" in this age group earn more or less as much as any of the younger PGA Tour pros, other than Tiger Woods. The two main senior tours are:
[edit] Women's tours
Women's professional golf is also organised by independent regional tours. Leading female golfers make incomes well over USD$1 million per year, more than most other women athletes other than top tennis players. There are currently six first tier regional tours:
The LPGA Tour is the dominant tour, and is the main playing base of almost all the world's leading players. The LPGA of Japan Tour is the second richest tour, and retains many of its leading players. The best players from the other tours usually move to the LPGA Tour at the earliest opportunity.
The second tier women's professional tour in the United States is the Duramed FUTURES Tour. Although there used to be little opportunity for women's developmental play in the United States besides the Duramed FUTURES Tour level, women are welcome to compete against men on some mini-tours, and the Pro Women's Victory Golf Tour will begin May 2008 going to eight cities in the eastern United States. By defining itself as complementary to the LPGA and not simply developmental to it, the Victory Golf Tour offers the second largest purses for U.S. women golfers and promises to be a needed alternative to the LPGA and Duramed FUTURES Tour. Sweden, which is the European country where women's golf is most popular, has its own Telia Tour, which serves as a feeder tour for the Ladies European Tour. The LPGA of Korea operates two mini-tours that effectively serve as feeders for its main tour.
In 2001 the U.S. based Women's Senior Golf Tour was founded, featuring golfers 45 and over. In 2006 it was rebranded as the Legends Tour. The LPGA of Korea now operates the Akia Tour, a four-event mini-tour for the same age group.
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