PGA Tour plans South America expansion 17/09/2010 |
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The PGA Tour is planning to take advantage of golf’s return to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 by expanding to South and Latin America.
The proposals include launching a new golf tour outside of North America.
The PGA Tour is due to meet officials from South America, Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico to discuss forming a new tour in the region that would likely serve as a feeder to the Nationwide Tour, the development tour in the US.
Jack Warfield, the PGA Tour vice-president of championship management, said: "The idea around this is to create a more consistent model, week-in and week-out, and to create a clear pathway for how players can elevate themselves to potential spots on the Nationwide Tour, and follow on to the PGA Tour.”
The new tour would consist of at least 12 events – with purses in the $200,000 range – with the top players on the year-end Order of Merit list earning Nationwide Tour status the following season, reports Inside the Games.
The tour would also award Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points, since Olympic eligibility for the 2016 Games is based on OWGR points.
The new tour would likely replace the current Tour de las Americas and would not start until at least 2012.
There are also plans to hold more Nationwide Tour events in South America in the coming years, especially since the tour’s contract with the PGA Tour of Australasia to co-sanction events has expired.
"We’re looking at a couple of new markets in South America," Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee told Golfweek. "That’s an area where we’re starting to spend more time.
"We’d ultimately like to have maybe five events down there, and kick the season off in a more meaningful way – really put some media behind a Latin American swing to kick off the season.
"That’s the plan, either next year or the year after."
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