Could The PGA Tour Be Onto Something Brilliant With College-To-Tour Concept?

Nice work here by Golfweek’s Brentley Romine to reveal some details of a PGA Tour plan to get in the business of connecting college golf with the various tours.

The plan is clearly in the early stages. And the PGA Tour’s acknowledgement quote (below) suggests they are looking for feedback on an ambitious plan to reward season-long college play with spots on various PGA Tours. We don’t know which tours or how many spots. But given the damage the wraparound season has done to men’s golf, along with the recent oddity of top college women playing LPGA Q-School mid-season, it’s refreshing to see a pro tour taking a proactive approach to the silly rush to turn pro.

Anything designed to encourage players to stay in school and develop their games and character should be celebrated. We’ve already seen too many young players fail because of immaturity, with more on the way in a sport that may be getting younger, but not that young!

The potential program, as outlined by Romine, could slow down the rush to turn pro for some and make aspiring players in college stick around longer.

“The PGA Tour has been working to develop a new program that will identify, prepare and transition top collegiate golfers to professional golf,” according to a Tour statement sent to Golfweek. “This program will be designed to reward season-long collegiate play with varying levels of playing access to tours operated under the PGA Tour umbrella, while upholding the principles and virtues of collegiate athletics.”

In other words, the best college golfers would be guaranteed status on one of several tours, ranging from PGA Tour China to the PGA Tour.

One Tour official with direct knowledge of the project called it “unprecedented.”

It certainly would be and if successful, the program could even impact the disastrous current system in the NBA.

We discussed today on Morning Drive.