SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – When PGA Tour University was announced in 2020, it set out to provide the best college players access to professional golf at the highest levels. Two years later, executive director Brendan von Doehren feels PGA Tour U is accomplishing that mission.
“I think we’ve gotten off to a great start,” said von Doehren ahead of Monday’s release of the Class of 2022 graduates.
The top-five players in the standings following the conclusion of the final round of stroke play at the 2022 NCAA Div. I Men’s Golf Championship will receive Korn Ferry Tour membership and be exempt into all open, full-field events through the conclusion of the regular season. Players will also be exempt into the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament. Players who finish 6-15 in the standings earn membership on a PGA Tour international tour and will be exempt into the second stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.
“Year one’s been great,” said von Doehren. “Looking at the players that matriculated through the Korn Ferry Tour now and through the international tours, we saw Trevor Werbylo, our first PGA Tour University alumni to win on the Korn Ferry Tour, hopefully he’ll secure his card soon, and a large number of those class of 2021 players are playing exceptionally well on the Korn Ferry Tour. So I think that just validates that the identification method in the way that we’re ranking these players kind of mirrors where they’re going to be in professional golf.”
Last year’s inaugural graduates to the Korn Ferry Tour each have a top-25 finish to their name, but just two of the five – Davis Thompson and Kevin Yu – have a top-10 finish. Werbylo, who finished in the 6-15 range in 2021, claimed the Lake Charles Championship back in March.
After seeing a graduate win on the Korn Ferry Tour, von Doehren said he hopes to continue to see successful player results, but the next thing to check off the list is a win on the PGA Tour. Until then, he’ll settle for more junior and amateur players using PGA Tour U as their accelerated pipeline to professional golf.
“Nothing really stands out in the sense of one specific thing,” he said of where he’d like to see PGA Tour U improve, while adding his team is open to feedback on anything from the ranking method or eligibility. “We want to provide the most opportunities we can for players out of college. Sometimes it’s a little easier said than done, but hopefully as we continue to improve the concept and prove that these are good players at the next level, hopefully that bodes well for us to potentially expand down the line.”
One eligibility change was made earlier this month, when PGA Tour U announced players who finish in the top 15 would be ineligible, “if such player competes in any professional golf tournament that is not ranked by the Official World Golf Ranking, excluding such events that have been previously approved by the PGA Tour.” If a player is deemed ineligible or decides not to accept the benefits, they will be offered to the next eligible player in the final ranking.
Greg Norman has said that amateurs would be able to play in his Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, with the first event scheduled for June 9-11 in London. As of now, the LIV Golf events do not offer OWGR points.
Talk of expansion could mean access for more men’s players, but it also brings the women’s game into question. As it stands now, there’s no similar pipeline for women’s collegiate golfers to the LPGA and Epson tours, despite coaches across the country wanting one.
“We’ve had initial conversations with the LPGA, we’re obviously a men’s organization, but at the same time we’re neighbors in golf, we’re supporting them, so if there is interest now or whether it be in the future given their business model, we’re happy to share the secret sauce, so to speak,” explained von Doehren. “But right now, I think their business is in a little bit of a different position with how players matriculate from junior to college and amateur to professional golf. It’s nothing that we have jurisdiction over, but we’re happy to collaborate with the LPGA.”
Players staying the full four years in college was extremely important for von Doehren and his staff, who noted how statistics showed the longer players compete at a high level in college, the more likely they are to have success at the highest level of golf.
“So for us, that was a founding principle,” said von Doehren. “I would say we don’t envision changing unless there’s some radical changes within golf. I think it’s demonstrating that all these best players have stayed four years and are good players at the top of the game.”
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