Web.com Playoffs

29 03 Sep 2014

Last week I posted a blog on the FedExCup Playoffs.

This week I will tell you about the Web.com Tour Playoffs.

There is no longer any “Q School” to get your PGA TOUR Card. The only way to earn a PGA Tour Card is to finish high in the process explained below. There will be 50 PGA TOUR Cards given out this year.

The Finals are the final four tournaments of the Web.com Tour season.

  •  Hotel Fitness Championship in Fort Wayne, Indiana
  •  Chiquita Classic in Davidson, North Carolina
  •  Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio
  •  Web.com Tour Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Each event has a purse of $1,000,000.  They feature a 36-hole cut of the top-60 and ties, which is the standard Web.com Tour cut.  The events are worth a minimum of 16 points for the Official World Golf Ranking, up from 14 points for regular season Web.com Tour events. The Web.com Tour Championship is worth a minimum of 20 points as the Tour’s flagship event, as in the past.

There are four ways to qualify for the Finals:

  •  Finish in the top-75 on the Web.com Tour’s regular season money list.
  • Finish the PGA TOURs regular season ranked 126–200 on the FedExCup points list. Not all players with this criterion will compete, as some are already exempt through other means.
  • As a non-member of the PGA TOUR, earn enough FedExCup points to place 126–200 on the points list.
  • Special medical exemptions.

Unlike the FedExCup Playoffs, the field does not get reduced each week during the Web.com Tour Finals. This eligible group stays the same throughout.

Prior to the Finals the Top 25 Money Earners for the season on the Web.com Tour through the WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by Kraft earn a PGA TOUR card for next season. They may participate in the Finals. Their purpose, besides winning some additional prize money, is to improve their priority standing among the 50 new card winners.  This process is explained below.  The list of the 25 new card winners can be found via the link below.

http://www.pgatour.com/webcom/stats/stat.109.html

In 2014 the determination of the priority ranking has changed. The top 25 from the regular season money list will carry their earnings to the Finals, competing just among themselves for priority on the final 50 person list for next season. The top 25 earners in only the four Finals events, not including the top 25 from the regular season, will also earn their PGA TOUR card. The priority rankings will then be determined by a “zipper method” with the top 25 in combined regular and Finals earnings taking rankings 1, 3, 5, … and the top 25 from the Finals only taking rankings 2, 4, 6, etc.  Here is how it works:

There are two lists of 25 players.

  •  One list is determined from the Web.com Season Earnings Leaders. This is the Top 25 Money Leaders for the season through the WinCo Foods Portland Open plus any earnings they generate in the four Finals events.  This list is prioritized by total earnings.
  • One list is the other players competing in the Tour Finals based only on what they earn in the four events in the Finals. This list is prioritized by their combined earnings in only the four Finals events.

For my example I will call the first group the “Money List” and the second group the “Finals List”.  Each list has a ranking of 1 through 25 based on earnings.  All 50 receive a PGA TOUR card for next season.

While the leading money winner from the Web.com season has fully exempt status, the other 24 from that category and those from the finals are given priority based on the “zipper method.”  The first name on the Priority List is #2 name on the “Money List”.  The second name on the Priority List is # 1 on the “Finals List”.  Next, # 3 on the Priority List is the # 3 guy on the “Money List” and then # 4 on the Priority List is the # 2 guy on the “Finals List” … and so on and so on for the remaining names.  The priority list is used in the first events on the PGA TOUR to determine in what order these players can get accepted into the field.  The list is re-shuffled after the Fall Swing and again twice more before the Nelson.

Interesting footnote …

One of the players getting his 2014-2015 PGA TOUR Card is Justin Thomas.  Justin is a past recipient of the Byron Nelson International Junior Golf Award.  He becomes the second Award winner to get his card and begin playing the PGA TOUR on a regular basis.  He joins his friend and fellow Award winner Jordan Speith on the PGA TOUR.

Congratulations Justin!

 

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Tim Gamso
Member
Salesmanship Club of Dallas