The fall series basically gives a holiday to the worlds top players, but for many on the tour it provides a chance to redeem themselves and make sure they regain their tour card.
In this series of seven events the players are fighting to secure a spot in the top 125 on the money list to regain their card. They can also regain their card with a win at any of the seven events. Otherwise they will have to return to qualifying school or play on the nationwide tour.
The following are the benefits a golfer can gain by playing the fall series (taken from pgatour.com):
- Tournament winners receive a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR and an invitation to the season-opening, limited field Mercedes-Benz Championship
- Mercedes-Benz Championship guarantees a head start on the following year's FedExCup points race and minimum prize money of $65,000
- Potential to finish in the top 30 on the money list, which would earn a spot in the following year's World Golf Championships-CA Championship, Masters and U.S. Open. The British Open invites the top 20.
- Opportunity to accrue valuable Official World Golf Ranking points and entry into the exclusive World Golf Championships events (the Accenture Match Play
- Championship invites the top 64 in the world the two weeks previous; the Bridgestone Invitational invites winners of tournaments with world ranking strength of field ratings of 115 points or higher).
- Coveted spots in the TOUR's invitational events like Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, The Memorial Tournament (both of which are the top 70 on the prior year's money list) and The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (top 80).
- Top 125 finishers will earn PGA TOUR cards for the next season, making them eligible for the FedExCup events, including invitationals such as Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Verizon Heritage, THE PLAYERS, and AT&T National.
- Head start on qualifying for 2009 Presidents Cup.
- Players also earn retirement plan credits
I am not particularly excited by it and don't give it much chance, but in this case I hope I am wrong.
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3 comments:
Yes, the almost year-round schedule was too much. Most other sports don't have that. Even as a nine-month schedule, it's still long compared to most sports. I don't buy the idea that the top players owe us something more.
It was just common sense for the Tour to go along with the wishes of the top players and try to give them a real off-season. That does make the Fall Series boring, but there wasn't anything the Tour could do about that.
Definitely golfers need a break, but the break only applies to the big names - that is my real issue with all this. The poor struggler's have to keep slogging away to secure their spot!
Yeah...golf seems to get a little boring at this time of year, but it does give the 'other' players a chance to make some money.
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