ORLANDO, Fla. – Details of the new PGA Tour qualifying series that will replace Q-School as the primary route to the PGA Tour won’t likely be finalized for another three months.
The PGA Tour policy board is scheduled to meet June 25-26 during the AT&T National in Bethesda, Md.
“We need to have it buttoned up by then,” said Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s chief of operations.
Q-School entry forms are mailed out shortly after that policy meeting.
While PGA Tour officials had to go back and tweak the FedEx Cup points system more than once to get it right, there’s a concerted effort to get the qualifying series right the first time. How to seed the 75 PGA Tour pros (Nos. 126-200 on the money list) and the top 75 Nationwide Tour pros in the new three-tournament qualifying series is part of the dilemma.
“The challenge is trying to relate performance on two different tours,” Pazder said. “Where is No. 126 on the PGA Tour money list in relation to the top Nationwide Tour players?”
As they faced with FedEx Cup points, there’s the issue of deciding how strongly to weigh regular season performance against the three-tournament finale. Pazder expressed a sense of urgency in getting the seeding system right immediately.
“This affects jobs, not retirement benefits or bonus pools,” Pazder said.