The PGA TOUR has announced that three of the four Web.com Tour Finals tournaments in 2013 will be played on Nicklaus Design courses. The “Web.com Tour Finals”—held on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Courses at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind., and The Club at Longview near Charlotte, N.C., as well as the Nicklaus-redesigned Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio—will determine the 50 players who earn PGA TOUR playing privileges for the 2013-14 season and their eligibility positions under the TOUR’s enhanced qualifying system. A fourth event will be announced in the near future.
The Hotel Fitness Championship at Sycamore Hills Golf Club, played from Aug. 26 – Sept. 1, is the first in the new Finals series. Sycamore Hills is a top-100 design by Nicklaus that opened its doors in 1989. The land, first deeded by Andrew Jackson in 1835, is marked by generous fairways, peninsula greens, waste bunkers and white sand. Sycamore Hills was ranked 69th in Golf Digest’s 2011-2012 list of “America’s 100 Greatest Courses.” The Hotel Fitness Championship will benefit the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation.
The next host venue in the Finals’ series is The Club at Longview, the first Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in the Charlotte region and a layout that opened in 2003. The Chiquita Classic will be played there Sept. 2-8, with NASCAR legend Richard Petty serving as honorary chairman. The Charlotte Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is the primary beneficiary, with a portion of tournament proceeds earmarked for The First Tee of Charlotte and the Petty Family Foundation.
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, which is the third Web.com Tour Finals event, will be played Sept. 9-15 at the Scarlet Golf Course at The Ohio State University. The course was designed by Alister MacKenzie in 1931. Ohio State alumnus and Columbus native Jack Nicklaus renovated the course in 2006. Nicklaus restored the bunkers and lengthened the course to 7,455 yards. The Scarlet Course ranked seventh in Golfweek’s 2012 list of the Best Campus Courses. Proceeds will benefit Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
“With the introduction of this new qualifying process and four Finals events in 2013, the Web.com Tour is about to embark on the most exciting era in its 23-year history,” Commissioner Tim Finchem said. “The Finals will be the culmination of a season-long quest to secure a PGA TOUR card and will end the year in a new and exciting fashion. Beginning in 2013, the Web.com Tour will clearly be the pathway to the PGA TOUR.
“We are very appreciative of the support of Web.com, the three sponsors named today – Hotel Fitness, Chiquita and Nationwide Insurance — their host cities, venues and tournament organizations,” Finchem added. “We look forward to working with them to make the Web.com Tour Finals a big success next year and in the years to follow.”
“Web.com is coming on board at a very exciting time in the Tour’s history, not only for the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR, but golf in general. We are proud to be a part of such a significant development in the evolution of the Tour,” said David Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of Web.com. “We are looking forward to our participation as the players compete throughout the regular season to identify the
In July, Commissioner Finchem outlined details of the new qualifying system that will result in the 50 PGA TOUR membership cards being awarded through the Web.com Tour, beginning with the 2013 Web.com Tour season:
Eligibility for the Finals will be as follows:
- The top-75 money winners on the Web.com Tour money list at the conclusion of the Web.com Tour regular season.
- Players who finish 126-200 on the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup points list at the conclusion of the PGA TOUR’s regular season.
- Non-members who have earned enough FedExCup points based on their performance on the PGA TOUR to place them 126-200 on that points list.
The 50 PGA TOUR cards will be awarded as follows:
The 25 leading money winners on the Web.com Tour will be guaranteed cards at the end of the regular season.
Another 25 cards will go to those players who earn the most cumulative money in the four Finals events.
A Web.com Tour Finals money list reflecting earnings in the four Finals’ events will be in effect, with all players starting with $0. For those in the Finals, a player’s finish on the Finals’ money list will determine his position within the PGA TOUR priority ranking, which is used to form fields for TOUR events, with two exceptions. The Web.com Tour’s leading money winner during the regular season and the player who earns the most money during the Web.com Tour Finals will be fully exempt, meaning each is guaranteed a spot in PGA TOUR events the following season (excluding invitationals). Both will earn invitations to THE PLAYERS.
The 48 remaining players will be slotted next in priority after the top 125 off the FedExCup points list. The 2013-14 PGA TOUR season will start in October, 2013.
The field size for all four Finals’ tournaments is projected to be around 144 players, depending on overlap between players and other eligibility for the PGA TOUR. The tournaments will have purses of $1 million, with first prize being $180,000.
They will be 72-hole stroke-play events, with a 36-hole cut coming at the Web.com Tour’s standard 60 and ties.
Golf Channel will carry four-round coverage of all four events.
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