When PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced significant changes coming to the future Tour schedule, he failed to mention how the Korn Ferry Tour, the primary feeder system to the big leagues, would be impacted.
On Tuesday, those changes were revealed. Beginning next year, 30 PGA Tour cards will be awarded to the top players on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List at season’s end. KFT President Alex Baldwin touted the increase of five PGA Tour cards from 25 as “yet another sign our mission to produce the next generation of PGA Tour stars is working.”
The additional five PGA Tour cards available via the Korn Ferry Tour were announced in concert with widespread changes to the PGA Tour’s qualification process, including that 10 Tour cards would be awarded to the top performers on the DP World Tour.
For the first time in a decade, Q-School will offer PGA Tour status to the top five finishers and ties.
“Bringing back the awarding of PGA Tour cards at Q-School will be exciting for our fans, membership, and potential new membership,” Baldwin added. The Tour cards available via Q-School and the DP World Tour will first be awarded in 2023 for the 2024 PGA Tour season.
That means the Korn Ferry Tour Finals will no longer be a competition for Tour cards between the top 75 on the Korn Ferry Tour and Nos. 126-200 in the FedExCup standings. Beginning in 2023, the four-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals will serve as the culmination of the Korn Ferry Tour season, where members will compete for increased purses and points allocations. The four Finals events will feature $1.5 million purses and award 600 points to each winner. The other 22 events on the schedule will have a minimum purse of $1 million and award 500 points to winners. The 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season is scheduled to run from January to October.
“The additional Tour cards available and reimagined Korn Ferry Tour Finals will properly reward more players for season-long success,” Baldwin said. “Stretching our season into October while maintaining a 26-event schedule will allow us to compose the best possible tournament calendar with natural breaks, peak golf course conditions, as well as providing graduates with time to prepare for their transition to the PGA Tour.”
One nice perk will stay the same: the No. 1 player on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List will continue to earn an exemption into the following season’s Players Championship, as well as the following season’s U.S. Open Championship.
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