Although a final decision doesn’t seem
imminent, last week’s season-ending meeting of the PGA Tour’s Player
Advisory Council was a step forward for a proposal that would
dramatically change the way players earn Tour cards.
Numerous versions of the proposal, which would create a playoff-like
race which would combine the top players from the regular-season
Nationwide Tour money list with the bottom of the PGA Tour money list
that would serve as the primary avenue to “Big League” membership, were
reviewed by the PAC, but the final product remains elusive.
“Everyone is interested in the Tour preparing
different proposals, different scenarios,” said PAC member Ben Crane.
“Are the top 10 players on the (regular season) Nationwide Tour money
list safe (to earn their Tour cards), should it be top 15? Do we go with
money, do we go with points?”
The potential volatility of a points race, similar to what is used
for the FedEx Cup playoffs, was a primary concern for players. A player,
for example, who finishes the regular Nationwide Tour season in the top
5 will likely be assured one of the 50 Tour cards at the end of the
three-event series. Similarly, it will be difficult to reach a consensus
on how to seed players from two tours for the “Finals Series.”
Although the year’s final Policy Board
meeting will be held after the Tour Championship there likely will not
be a final product before 2012, but Crane felt the circuit is moving
closer to a final product.
“We went into the meeting with an idea of what was going to be
presented and now we need to meet again,” Crane said. “We want to get it
right.”
