PGA Tour's Q-School Replacement Requires At Least Three Sentences To Explain

Doug Ferguson says the pieces "are starting to come together" for a plan to end PGA Tour cards from Q-School in the name of trying to legitimize (and fund) the Nationwide Tour.

The final pieces are starting to come together in a plan that would merge the top 75 players from the Nationwide Tour with the 75 players from the PGA Tour who failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. They would play a three-tournament series, and the top 50 would earn PGA Tour cards. The rest could go back to Q-school to try to earn status on the Nationwide Tour.

The current Q-School and Nationwide structures each requires one sentence.

Q-School: Write a check, survive three stages and you have a tour card.

Nationwide Tour: Finish in the top 25 and get your card.

Ferguson writes that policy board member Steve Stricker would like to see 10 spots at Q-School still saved for PGA Tour cards, but Stricker also partially endorses the tour's idea.

"I still think it would be nice if somebody had the opportunity to get a quick turn on tour. I believe, though, it's going to be better for a better player. It's going to bring out talent over a longer period of time. If I was a good player, I would love to have the whole year to prove myself for 50 spots."

Except that you work the whole year to prove yourself, yet your graduation status still comes down to a bizarre seeding and three-week window to ultimately prove yourself?  It's kind of like asking a student to gets straight A's just to take the final, which they also have to earn an A on just to get a diploma.

The top 25 from the Nationwide Tour money list - players who previously would have automatically earned PGA Tour cards - would be seeded No. 1 through No. 25. The next seed would be shared by No. 26 on the Nationwide money list and No. 126 on the PGA Tour money list. The PGA Tour player would be assigned the same money as his counterpart from the Nationwide Tour.

Some of the early calculations have shown that top 25 would be virtually assured of finishing among the top 50 to earn their cards; and that anyone winning one of those three tournaments also would be a lock to earn a card.

Virtually assured.

Have we already forgotten how the FedExCup models panned out and how many times the formula has been changed?

So I ask, if the season long play is considered better, then why would you open the door to a "virtually assured" situation?

Oh right, money.