Money
How long is the path to the Korn Ferry Tour? How about 22,990 miles
In 2024, PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica will merge into one league called PGA Tour Americas. The tour will comprise 16 tournaments in South America, Canada and the United States. The video below offers an estimate of what the travel schedule will look like.
Last week, the PGA Tour announced that the two tours feeding the Korn Ferry Tour—PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada—are merging to form PGA Tour Americas in 2024. The schedule will look relatively similar: an early year swing through South and Central America and a summer swing through Canada, but top players will be able to play across both and earn one of 10 fully exempt spots on the Korn Ferry Tour, one step below the PGA Tour. The top two from the South American swing and the top three from Canada not otherwise exempt also will get conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour.
It's a well-defined path—if ultra-competitive—but players who choose it better be ready for long rides on little planes. (The video below offers a rough estimate of what the travel schedule would look like if you played in each event.) That 22,990 miles covers nine countries and would require more than $7,000 in plane fare—and that's assuming you fly directly point to point and don't go home in between. At the halfway point of this year’s PGA Tour Latinoamerica season, Conner Godsey leads with $52,898 in prize money, which means he's probably eating a lot of takeout and sleeping on some couches. Will Bateman led PGA Tour Canada last year with $119,920 in prize money. It was probably a loss-leader season, but it got him Korn Ferry status this year, where he has won $97,900 in eight events.