Harper Lin
Golf is a popular sport with a large following and an extensive professional scene. There are over 20 professional golf tours, each run by a Professional Golfers Association or an independent tour organisation. The PGA Tour, for example, organises most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments, including the Korn Ferry Tour, which acts as a second-tier feeder tour for aspiring golfers. The PGA Tour is also the organiser of the LPGA Tour, the dominant and most lucrative tour for female golfers. The LPGA of Japan Tour is the second richest tour, attracting many leading players. Other notable tours include the LIV Golf Series, the DP World Tour, the Challenge Tour, and the Web.com Tour.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of golf tours in the USA | More than 20 |
| Organizing body | Professional Golfers Association (PGA) |
| Examples of tours | The Masters, The Open, The Memorial, The Senior Players, The Canadian Open, PGA Tour Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, LPGA Tour, Epson Tour, etc. |
| Participants | Male and female golfers |
| Income | Top golfers can make up to 8-figure incomes in USD from tournament play |
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What You'll Learn
The PGA Tour
The roots of the modern PGA Tour stretch back to 10 April 1916, when the PGA of America was formed. Several prestigious golf tournaments offering prize money were established in America by 1916, including the North and South Open, the Metropolitan Open, the Canadian Open, the Shawnee Open, the Western Open, and the U.S. Open. These formed the initial schedule of what became the PGA Tour, with the addition of the PGA Championship in 1916. The UK's Open Championship, the oldest golf tournament in the world founded in 1860, became a PGA Tour event in 1995. All Open Championship wins dating back to 1860 were retroactively recognised as PGA Tour victories in 2002.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, various state open tournaments began, many organised by sections of the PGA. Tournaments recognised as PGA Tour wins from this era include the California Open, Connecticut Open, Florida Open, Maryland Open, Massachusetts Open, New Jersey State Open, New York State Open, Ohio Open, Oklahoma Open, Oregon Open, and Pennsylvania Open Championship. The legacy lives on with the modern PGA Tour as the Valero Texas Open dates back to this era of state opens on the tour.
In 1929, the tour, then known informally as "The Circuit" for PGA golfers, became more formalised with the formation of a tournament committee. In 1930, Bob Harlow was hired as manager of the PGA Tournament Bureau and worked to formalise a year-round schedule of tournaments. In 1945, Byron Nelson enjoyed a record-breaking year, winning 18 PGA tournaments out of the 30 he played, including 11 in a row. Both records are yet to be beaten. The Byron Nelson became the first PGA Tour event to be named for a professional golfer in 1968 and is played annually near Dallas.
In addition to the flagship PGA Tour, the PGA Tour also organises the PGA Tour Champions for golfers aged 50 and older, the Korn Ferry Tour for professional players who have not yet qualified for the PGA Tour, and PGA Tour Americas.
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LPGA Tour
The LPGA Tour, or Ladies Professional Golf Association, is a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite women golfers from around the world. It is the oldest continuing women's professional sports organisation in the United States, having been founded in 1950 at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kansas. The first LPGA tournament was the 1950 Tampa Women's Open, held in Tampa, Florida, and won by amateur Polly Riley. The LPGA Tour is the dominant tour for women's golf and is the main playing base for almost all the world's leading players.
The LPGA is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is an American organisation for female golfers, including club and teaching professionals. The LPGA Tour has tournaments in Canada, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and other Asian countries. The LPGA Tour also holds five tournaments outside of North America that are co-sanctioned with other professional tours. For example, the Ladies European Tour co-sanctions the Women's British Open, the Evian Championship in France, and the Women's Australian Open. The BMW Ladies Championship and Toto Japan Classic are also co-sanctioned but are held during the LPGA Tour's autumn swing to Asia.
The LPGA Tour has an annual qualifying school, similar to the PGA Tour, and golfers can receive full or partial playing privileges on the LPGA Tour depending on their finish in the final qualifying tournament. The LPGA also owns and operates the Epson Tour, formerly the Futures Tour, which is the official developmental tour of the LPGA. Top finishers on the Epson Tour receive playing privileges on the main LPGA Tour for the following year. The Epson Tour is the second tier of women's professional golf in the United States, although women can also compete against men on some mini-tours.
The LPGA Tour has a rich history, including notable moments such as Babe Zaharias becoming the first woman to compete in a PGA Tour event in 1938. In 2010, the LPGA changed its rules to allow transgender competitors, and the tour published a new policy in 2024 regarding eligibility to compete as female in their tournaments. The LPGA Tour also expanded its emphasis to include amateur golfers in 2018 by acquiring the Executive Women's Golf Association, now known as the LPGA Amateur Golf Association.
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Developmental tours
There are more than twenty professional golf tours, each run by a Professional Golfers Association or an independent tour organisation. These organisations are responsible for arranging events, finding sponsors, and regulating the tours. Most of the major tours are player-controlled organisations whose commercial objective is to maximise the income of their members by maximising prize money.
The Korn Ferry Tour, for example, is the second-tier feeder tour for the PGA Tour. Similarly, the Epson Tour (formerly the Futures and then the Symetra Tour) is the second-tier women's professional tour in the United States. Although there is little opportunity for women's developmental play on the professional level in the United States besides the Epson Tour, women are welcome to compete against men on some mini-tours.
The Challenge Tour is another example of a developmental tour. It is a stepping stone for the DP World Tour, with the top 20 golfers getting promoted.
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Senior tours
Senior golf tours are an increasingly popular aspect of the golfing world, providing opportunities for older golfers to compete and attracting sponsors and broadcasters. The PGA Tour Champions, originally the Senior PGA Tour and later the Champions Tour, is a prominent example of a senior golf tour. This tour is specifically for male golfers aged 50 and above and is a branch of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour Champions was established in 1980, inspired by the highly successful Legends of Golf event in 1978, which showcased the talents of some of the greatest older golfers of that time.
The PGA Tour Champions features a range of tournaments, including the Senior PGA Championship, which was founded in 1937 and stood as the sole high-profile tournament for golfers over 50 for many years. The tour's tournaments are typically played over three rounds (54 holes), with smaller fields of around 81 golfers. However, the five senior majors are played over the full 72 holes (four rounds) and have a larger field size.
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship, which was part of the season-ending playoffs until 2015, has since been played over 54 holes with no cut. The format of this event was changed in 2016 to a playoff-style format akin to the FedEx Cup on the main PGA Tour. Qualification for the playoffs is based on monetary earnings during the PGA Tour Champions season, with the top 72 players on the money list earning a spot in the first playoff event, the PowerShares QQQ Championship.
Another notable aspect of the PGA Tour Champions is the use of golf carts. In 2006, the Champions Tour Division Board voted to allow players to use golf carts during most events, excluding the major championships and certain other events such as pro-ams. The PGA Tour Champions also has a complex qualification process, with various criteria determining eligibility for different tournaments.
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Women's professional golf tours
The LPGA of Japan Tour is the second richest tour and retains many of its leading players. The LPGA of Japan also operates the Step Up Tour as a feeder for its main tour. The LPGA of Korea operates two mini-tours (Dream Tour and Jump Tour) that effectively serve as feeders for its main tour. The Epson Tour (formerly the Futures and then the Symetra Tour) is the second-tier women's professional tour in the United States and the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour. It has been known as the "Road to the LPGA" since 1999. The Cactus Tour, founded in 2005, is a lower-level tour that plays in the American Southwest.
In 2001, the U.S.-based Women's Senior Golf Tour was founded, featuring golfers aged 45 and over. In 2021, Sweden, where women's golf is the most popular, transformed its Swedish Golf Tour into the Nordic Golf Tour, operated in cooperation with the golf federations in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Women are also welcome to compete against men on some mini-tours. Leading female golfers can make incomes well over US$1 million per year, with some of the best golfers making up to 8-figure incomes in U.S. dollars from tournament play.
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Frequently asked questions
There are over 20 golf tours globally, with the USA being home to the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, and the LPGA Tour.
The PGA Tour (Professional Golfers' Association Tour) is the organiser of professional golf tours in North America. It is the most popular professional tour among male golfers and features lucrative events with a purse average of $8.5 million.
The LPGA Tour (Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour) is the most famous and lucrative professional tour for female golfers. It is based in the USA but attracts international golfers and comprises five annual major championships.
Other notable golf tours include the LIV Golf Tour, the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour), the Epson Tour, and the Challenge Tour.
