Web.com Tour - Changes For 2013 Season and Beyond

Changes For 2013 Season and Beyond

On March 20, 2012, the PGA Tour announced radical changes to the main tour's season and qualifying process effective in 2013. Major changes to what was then known as the Nationwide Tour were also announced at that time. Full details of these changes were announced on July 10 of that year.

The first major change is that beginning in fall 2013, the PGA Tour season will start in October of the previous calendar year. This change will cause several knock-on effects for the Web.com Tour, either directly or indirectly.

Starting with the 2013 season, the Web.com Tour will have a structure similar to that of the main PGA Tour, with a regular season followed by a season-ending series of tournaments. In the case of the Web.com Tour, the ending series will consist of three tournaments, to be held during the main tour's FedEx Cup playoffs, called the Web.com Tour Finals. A total of 150 players will be eligible to compete in the Finals—the top 75 on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list, plus the players finishing between 126 and 200 on the FedEx Cup points list. Because some of the PGA Tour players will be exempt by other means, such as tournament wins in the previous two years, the Finals field is not expected to consist of all 150 eligible players. A total of 50 PGA Tour cards for the following season will be awarded at the end of the Finals—25 to the top regular-season money winners on the Web.com Tour, with the remaining 25 determined by total money earned during the Finals.

Also, starting in 2013, the PGA Tour's qualifying school will grant playing rights only for the Web.com Tour.

Finally, the Web.com Tour will provide up to two entrants in the following year's Players Championship. One invitation will be extended to the player who tops the regular season money list. The golfer who tops the money list during the Finals will also receive an invitation, but only if he did not also finish atop the regular season money list.