PGA Tour

PGA Tour, an offshoot of the PGA of America, is the organization that runs the men’s Professional Golf Tour, in the United States. The PGA Tour is a completely separate organization than any other golf association in the States. This has been the case since 1968. Although the PGA Tour runs their yearly events, there is no restriction to women golfers playing on what is considered the men’s tour.

One of the annual tour events they sponsor includes the Qualifying School, Q-School, which is a way for a player to gain a tour card and the privilege to play on the tour. The top 30 players by score win their card for the next year. This event is held in the fall. Since this allows entry into tour events, the pressure to qualify is huge. Those that do not qualify but finish well are allowed to play on the Nationwide Tour. A three-time winner on this tour in one year also receives a tour card. The 20 top money winners earn their tour card for the following season.

Those players on the PGA Tour that are in the top 125 money winners maintain their tour card for the following year. Major tour events have special rules that extend the winning golfer’s tour privileges for three to five years. A life time card is awarded to any golfer who wins 20 or more PGA Tour events.

The PGA Tour operates three distinct tours. The first is the PGA Tour that is seen almost weekly on TV. This is the tour that has the top golfers from around the world playing for fame and fortune. The second tour is the Champions Tour, which is played by golfers who are at least 50 years old. The third tour is the Nationwide Tour, which is made up of golfers who are trying to gain a tour card for the PGA Tour. These are usually young golfers who are just starting their careers. All three tours are entertaining to watch and are show places for golf skill.

The PGA Tour has a long association with charity fundraising. The charities in each event city are recipients of significant moneys raised via the tournament. In 2005 the total money raised for charities passed the one billion dollar mark. The other money fall out of a PGA Tour golf event is the visitors that come to the city to see the event live. A major tournament can bring a large gathering of folks who are passionate about golf. These visitors will stay in the hotels and eat in the better restaurants. They make up part of the crowd you see on a televised event. It is the love of fine golf that motivates the crowds to come to the course and pay good money to see the pros play. It is the drama of a man challenging his fear and nerve while under severe pressure that has allowed the PGA Tour to raise so much money for charity. This combination has been good for golf and wonderful for the charities that receive the money.

Television and the PGA Tour were made for each other. The PGA Tour would not be any thing like it is today without its TV popularity. This started in the 1950s and has grown like a parabolic curve over the last 50 some years. It started with a golfer nick named the ICE MAN, Ben Hogan, and shot straight up with TV viewers when Arnold Palmer came on the scene. Palmer’s charging style of golf appealed to the TV viewers. His face and body language made what he was feeling at the time clearly apparent to the TV viewer. You felt his anguish when things went bad and his exhilaration when he was staging one of his famous come-from-behind charges. Palmer is credited with putting professional golf on the map. After Palmer’s popularity was in place, Jack Nicholas challenged him as the king of golf. Jack won so often and had such skill that he soon overshadowed the great Arnold Palmer. He is and was considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time. His place at the top is being challenged currently by Tiger Woods.

All of these personal battles by these great golfers make for dramatic TV. The courage to come through when all is riding on a single shot is admired by even non-golfers. TV does an excellent job of bringing the course and the play directly into the home. The grace under pressure comes vividly through the TV coverage. A viewer can feel the pressure in their gut, thanks to TV. Golf and TV make the perfect marriage.

The PGA Tour is the perfect show place to exhibit courage under severe pressure. The final nine holes of a major tour event drips with the need to be able to do your best when the tournament is riding on each shot. It is the professional player’s performance under these extreme circumstances that has made these events breath-taking. Golf is a difficult game to play well at any time. Millions of players’ worldwide can attest to this fact. Being able to play well in a major tournament brings a level of skill and grace under pressure that is remarkable. This accounts for the audience that these golf shows enjoy on TV. This is what brings the live crowds to the course to see the best play at their best.

Courage to try and fail needs to be mentioned here as well. Golf is a game of risk vs. reward. Great golfers have failed miserably under these circumstances, but they had the courage to try. That is the important point. They play to win and not to play it safe. The winner of a major golf event is hailed by one and all. Those that try and fail also should be honored, as their courageous attempt was the human spirit at its best. Risking it all on one shot takes courage. Golfers who are wiling to do just that play on the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour schedule stretches from January to November each year. The events start in Hawaii and finish in the south. The weather dictates when and where these events are held. The first part of the tour is held in Hawaii, California and Arizona.

The venue then moves to the south starting in Florida and then moving up to Georgia. It stays in the lower half of the United States until about May when it then makes its way to the Northern states. The tour swing then moves back to the south to finish the PGA Tour season.

Major events punctuate the schedule throughout the year. Three are played in the States and one in England/Scotland/Ireland. These four events are called the Grand Slam. Each is pointed at by the tour professional as a must play event. Whole seasons are considered good or bad by the way the pro finishes in these events.

One overlooked fact by the public is that a player can earn a significant income and never win a single tournament. A consistent top ten finisher can easily make over a million a year and not book a victory. The glory goes to the winners of the tournaments, money earnings go to those that are consistent week to week.

Most of the pros only play in 20 to 30 events a year out of the over 40 on the schedule. The top golfers point toward the majors and use the preceding tournaments before a major to fine-tune their game. A player the caliber of Tiger Woods can make three or four million a year from a limited playing schedule. Endorsements and appearance fees then enhance these earnings. Most of the pros have earnings of this nature, but not in the range of Woods. His are reported to be close to 100 million a year.

Football has its Super Bowl and Baseball the World Series. The PGA Tour has four name events each year that individually can make a players’ whole year. It starts in April among the dogwood trees in Augusta, Georgia. The tournament is held at fabled Augusta, the course designed by the golf legend, Bobby Jones.

It is called The Masters with good reason. It takes a true golf master to win at Augusta. Each year as the country is still shaking off the winter season, the best golfers in the world are invited to play at The Masters. It is an invitation sought by every golfer in the world, of any merit.

The golf test of The Masters is so difficult that many great golfers have never won there. In some cases the course just does not align well with their game. For others the challenge is just too difficult and they succumb to the pressure of The Masters. On the other hand, there are golfers who win there more than once. And, every now and then an unknown golfer has a four game score that is the game of their lives. They may well never have that experience again, but for that week they were the best on the course. They will be remembered forever. Such is the stature of The Masters. The PGA Tour does not operate this tournament, but it is considered part of the yearly tour by all golfers Even though it is not open to all the tour members, it is still a major event on the tour.

After all it is The Masters.

The US Open Championship is played in June and many say it is the most difficult test of golf that man can design. It is always played on a very testing course, which is made more unforgiving by having a rough that is allowed to grow. The grass in this rough is so tall that a golfer’s ball can be lost in it even though all saw where it entered the rough. It is so tall that even the strongest golf swing will move the ball little distance. The premium exacted on driving the ball is exquisite. Accuracy is paramount, not driving distance. A shorter but accurate ball striker can win this championship even though his opponent can out drive him on every hole. Another reason for this tournament’s popularity is that it is open to those that qualify via qualifying tournaments. Without a doubt it is the most difficult tournament to win and therefore carries a higher stature among the pros.

Ball striking skill is important in this tournament, but course management is also at a premium. Under par scores are rare, unlike many other PGA Tour events.

This one fact states it all. The US Open is a keeper.

The British Open (now called The Open championship)

The British Open (now called The Open championship) is played each year on a course in the British Isles. It is called bump and run golf because many shots are played that way on these courses. The history of golf has its founding there and winners of this tournament are hailed throughout the golf world. It can be played in great sunny weather and it can be played in terrific rain and windstorms. Each year there is a course change and the weather will likely be different than in the past. The course is a good test of golf shot imagination. Golfers from around the world trek there trying to win the tournament associated with the birthplace of golf. The nostalgia for golf history has a great deal to do with this tournament’s standing in the world of golf.

The PGA Championship brings a fitting culmination to the PGA Tour in September. It is run by the PGA of America, but is considered as part of the PGA Tour. It is obviously a prestige event each year as the best golfers in the world gather to compete. As usual the course is made as difficult as possible so the test of golfing skill can be rigorously tested.

The players who qualify for this event are made up of different groups of players. Twenty of the spots are reserved for golf club pros. No amateur golfers are invited. The top 70 money winners are among those invited to play. Past winners (the last 5 years) of the other three majors are invited. Past winners of the PGA Championship are invited. The PGA of America also can invite a player who does not meet any of the other criteria.

This tournament is respected by all who play in it as it has the best of the best entered. The highest level of skill and competitive spirit is exhibited during this four-day event. Winning this championship has grown in stature as golf has grown in popularity. Winning The PGA Championship and another major in the same year is something special. Many have tried, but few have succeeded.

The PGA Tour has accomplished for golf a grand vista of pure joy of the sport and a remarkable place in the rating of golf as a spectator event. People all over the world watch TV, rooting for a millionaire player to win more money. Tiger Woods has done more to erase the color line by his skill and intelligence than can be imagined. His ability to meet the challenge of a close match in a major has brought him fame and admiration. The PGA Tour has been a stage for all of these talented players to strut their stuff.

Each year also brings a new player out of the hopefuls and into the spotlight. The emergence of a talent is fun to watch and a joy to behold. The desire to win and succeed at something as unpredictable as golf is also a measure of man’s madness for the sport. How can something as simple as hitting a little white ball and then chasing after it have captured millions of people? How can sane people sit glued to their TV and watch grown men do such a thing? It is easy to ask the question and hard to answer. For those that know the game and power to capture you heart and soul; they know why. But, what about the rest of us? Why do people who have never even tried to hit a golf ball, watch? Is it the beauty of the long shadows on the course as the fierce battle is decided in the last holes?

Whatever the reason, the PGA Tour has made golf a special happening to millions around the world. It has converted perfectly sane people into golf fanatics. It has helped an industry that supports golf grow beyond all expectation. Just look at the number of stocks that have something to do with golf.

The PGA Tour has brought cheering fun into the lives of many golf lovers. May they continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The Masters in April marks each year with the promise of things to come.