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New cardholders: The 25 newest PGA Tour members

Monday, October 29, 2012

Starting the week at No. 44 on the Web.com Tour's money list, Justin Bolli needed to make a big move to jump the 19 spots required to earn his PGA Tour card.

How about winning the Web.com Tour Championship outright?

Bolli, 36, made his PGA Tour rookie debut in 2005, and has been a PGA Tour member for three seasons, never once keeping his status for the following year. His best PGA Tour finish was a T-5 at the 2008 AT&T Classic in Georgia.

This is the last year the top 60 on the Web.com Tour money list will play the Tour Championship in attempt of getting into the top 25. Next year, as part of the changes to the PGA Tour schedule, the top 75 from the Web.com Tour will compete in "The Finals", along with 75 PGA Tour players who don't qualify for the FedEx Cup, for another 25 spots. The top 25 players on the Web.com money list at the end of the 2013 season will clinch a card.

Justin Bolli fired a final-round 65 to clinch his fourth season on the PGA Tour. Photo by Stan Badz/PGA Tour.

Two of the more unlikely stories to earn a card out of TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas include Luke Guthrie and Ben Kohles. Both 22-year-olds and recent college graduates--Guthrie from Illinois and Kohles from Virginia--won two Web.com Tour events to lock up their cards early in the season. Kohles won two events in a row, lucking into a spot at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational, then winning the Cox Classic the next week.

Another good story is Morgan Hoffmann, who was struggling to Monday qualify for Web.com events early in the season. The former All-American at Oklahoma State finished in the top-10 in six of the last seven events of the year, including a T-3 at the Tour Championship to earn his card. A roommate of Rickie Fowler and Cameron Tringale in Jupiter, Tringale said he hadn't seen Hoffmann in months with their differences in schedule. Now the trio will be on the same schedule in 2013.

Casey Wittenberg had locked up his PGA Tour card early in 2013, winning two events before June. The 27-year-old Memphis resident also qualified for the U.S. Open, and was paired with Tiger Woods in the final round at the Olympic Club.

Fifteen of the 25 newly-minted PGA Tour cardholders will be first-time PGA Tour members.

Here's the full list:

1. Casey Wittenberg, $433,453

2. Luke Guthrie, $410,593

3. Russell Henley, $400,116

4. Luke List, $363,206

5. James Hahn, $337,530

6. Shawn Stefani, $307,371

7. Robert Streb, $305,591

8. Ben Kohles, $303,977

9. Justin Bolli, $300,924

10. David Lingmerth, $287,148

11. Justin Hicks, $277,159

12. Paul Haley II, $263,841

13. Cameron Percy, $256,238

14. Andres Gonzales, $235,505

15. Scott Gardiner, $234,145

16. Lee Williams, $223,468

17. Darron Stiles, $213,031

18. Brad Fritsch, $212,168

19. Morgan Hoffmann, $207,540

20. Brian Stuard, $205,711

21. Andrew Svoboda, $203,717

22. Nicholas Thompson, $192,751

23. Alistair Presnell, $190,567

24. Doug LaBelle II, $186,320

25. Jim Herman, $182,001

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Golf World Monday: The PGA Tour's new feeder system

Monday, October 22, 2012

From the Oct. 22, 2012 edition of Golf World Monday:

By Ryan Herrington

The phrase "next logical step" was a popular one from Canadian Tour officials at last week's press conference announcing the PGA Tour would be taking operational control of the 42-year-old circuit and rebranding it PGA Tour Canada for 2013. Despite a proud history that saw the likes of Mike Weir, Steve Stricker, Chris DiMarco and Tim Clark compete in its events, the Canadian Tour faced crippling financial issues without assistance from Ponte Vedra Beach.

Photo by Getty Images

In the end, losing your autonomy is better than becoming extinct -- although the 133-yard hole-out eagle that won Eugene Wong (above) the Canadian Tour Championship in August would have been a memorable way to go out. Less discussed, however, is the strategic sense the acquisition makes for the PGA Tour.

As with the recently created PGA Tour Latinoamerica, which began its first season last month, the top five money leaders in Canada will earn status on the Web.com Tour.

The schedules for the two tours will complement each other, Canadian events (a minimum of eight are expected in 2013) to be played in the summer and Latin America stops in the fall. More importantly, they help establish a structured feeder system to funnel young international talent toward the United States -- and away from the PGA Tour's chief rival, the European Tour. Next logical step, indeed.

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PGA, Web.com Tours get closer on settling schedule changes

Monday, August 6, 2012

The Tour Championship is, at last, the final official event of the PGA Tour season -- starting in 2013. Yet many PGA Tour players will have another week of work ahead of them at that time next year. That's because the finale of the proposed three-tournament Web.com Tour series is going to be the following week.

Golf World has learned that the playoff series in which Web.com players and PGA Tour players vie for 25 PGA Tour cards is scheduled to end on Sept. 29, the week after the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Furthermore, that "playoff" event has a strong chance of being staged in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., at PGA Tour headquarters.

It's all part of evolving developments on the PGA Tour as it gears up for a set of sweeping changes to the sport starting next year, changes that include the commencement of a split-calendar season and the elimination of Q School as a direct route to the PGA Tour.

This year's Web.com Tour ends Oct. 28 with the Web.com Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, meaning there's work to be done to rearrange the junior circuit to finish just two weeks before the new PGA Tour season starts Oct. 10 at the Fry's.com Open.

"That is one of the real challenges," Bill Calfee, president of the Web.com Tour, said by telephone. "We have to cut the season by a month, which is proving to be difficult. But we're getting there."

Tour officials also are making progress in identifying the three sites for the playoff series, each which offers a $1 million purse. Those events will be open to the top 75 on the Web.com Tour and 75 more from the PGA Tour who finish 126-200 on the regular season FedExCup points list.

Calfee said five sites are under consideration, and he confirmed that existing events in Columbus, Ohio, and Ponte Vedra Beach are in the mix. The latter currently is the site of the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open presented by Planters at Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass.

"I don't think it would be any surprise that we'd love to have the season-ending event be here at PGA Tour headquarters and home to our sponsor, Web.com," Calfee said.

He added that officials of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational have approached the tour about hosting the first playoff event in mid-September. The six-year-old tournament is staged at Ohio State University's Scarlet Course.

As for the remaining contenders, not all are at existing sites. Web.com Tour sources told Golf World that one site under consideration is the Neediest Kids Championship presented by Under Armour at TPC Potomac at Avenal Farms in Potomac, Md. Geography might dictate the final selections.

"There was a push to have at least one event on the west coast, but the logistics are pretty tough," said one player. "The main idea is that you can't have three events all in the same geographic location. You want to give them different kinds of courses, different grasses, etc."

Calfee said no decisions on sites have been finalized, but an announcement could come in the next 5-6 weeks.

-- Dave Shedloski
Follow @daveshedloski

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