PGA Tour China
PGA Tour China is a China-based men's professional golf tour as part of the PGA Tour's global expansion. The tour started in 2014.
The United States-based PGA Tour started a new PGA Tour China in 2014, joining PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica as third-level tours.[1] Similar to the Canadian and Latin American tours, PGA Tour China offers a path to the Web.com Tour for top finishers and offer Official World Golf Ranking points to the top six finishers. The top five finishers on the Order of Merit receive promotion to the Web.com Tour, with the money leader fully exempt, and others can advance to the Web.com Tour Qualifying School depending on position. The top 50 players on at the end of the season retain PGA Tour China privileges.
On January 29, 2014, PGA Tour China announced qualifying procedures and a 12-event season to begin in April. Two 72-hole qualifying tournaments will be played in March. Each event has 132 players and will award exactly 20 full-time Tour cards and conditional cards to the next 20 plus ties. In the event of a tie, a playoff will determine the 20th and final qualifying spot. For its inaugural season, PGA Tour China gave exemptions to the top 70 according to the China Golf Association rankings. Each regular season event will consist of either 144 or 156 players. After the 40 qualifiers and 70 from the rankings, the balance of the fields will be filled through sponsor exemptions, Monday qualifying, and high-ranking players from the Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, and PGA Tour Canada.[2]
Zhang Lian-Wei, China's most successful professional golfer, hit the very first tee shot in PGA Tour China history.[3]
Midway during the 2015 season, the series was renamed Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA Tour China Series after Ping An Bank became the tour's umbrella sponsor.
Omega China Tour
The previous China-based tour, the Omega China Tour, ran from 2005 to 2009. It was created to encourage the development players who intended to move up to the Asian Tour or other major international tours, and also to help accelerate the development of golf in the People's Republic of China, following the sports reintroduction to the country in the 1980s, having been absent during the early communist era.
Launched by the China Golf Association in 2005, the tour began with four three-day tournaments, each with a minimum purse of US$100,000. This increased to six four-day tournaments in 2006, and then eight in 2007. It was initially planned to have ten tournaments in 2008, but this was not possible, and there were again eight events.
China has hosted some big money European Tour sanctioned tournaments, but at the launch of the Omega China Tour, the executive vice-president of the China Golf Association Jiang Xiuyun commented, "The future for golf in China – the real, long-term future – is not paying large sums to bring the world's superstars to play here. It is creating our own stars".[4] The Singapore-based World Sports Group was granted a five-year contract to organise the events. The Omega China Tour folded in 2009.
2016 season
The table below shows the initial 2016 schedule. "Date" is the ending date of each event. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament. All tournaments had a purse of ¥1,200,000.
| Date | Tournament | Winner | OWGR pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 May | St. Andrews Henan Open |  Dou Ze-cheng (1) | 6 |
| 29 May | United Investment Real Estate WuHan Open | Dou Ze-cheng (2) | 6 |
| 5 Jun | Cadillac Championship |  Alexander Kang (1) | 6 |
| 12 Jun | Lanhai Open |  Rohan Blizard (1) | 6 |
| 26 Jun | Sunning Estate Nanjing Zhongshan Open | Dou Ze-cheng (3) | 6 |
| 3 Jul | Ping An Private Bank Wanda Open |  Kim Tae-woo (1) | 6 |
| 4 Sep | Yulongwan Yunnan Open | Dou Ze-cheng (4) | 6 |
| 11 Sep | Chongqing Jiangnan NewTown KingRun Open |  Gunn Charoenkul (2) | 7 |
| 18 Sep | Pingan Bank Open | Charlie Saxon (1) | 7 |
| 6 Nov | Clearwater Bay Open | Daniel Nisbet (1) | 7 |
| 13 Nov | Putian Open | Kim Tae-woo (2) | 7 |
| 20 Nov | Zhuhai Hengqin Phoenix Tree Open | Charlie Saxon (2) | 7 |
| 27 Nov | Buick Open | Zhang Hui-lin (2) | 7 |
Web.com Tour qualifiers
The top five players on the Order of Merit earned Web.com Tour cards for 2017.
| Rank | Player | Country | Events | Prize money (CN¥) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dou Ze-cheng | China | 13 | 1,144,350 |
| 2 | Charlie Saxon | United States | 13 | 871,395 |
| 3 | Alexander Kang | United States | 12 | 597,575 |
| 4 | Kim Tae-woo | South Korea | 12 | 578,886 |
| 5 | Zhang Xin-jun | China | 11 | 504,675 |
2015 season
The table below shows the 2015 schedule. "Date" is the ending date of each event. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament. All tournaments had a purse of ¥1,200,000.
| Date | Tournament | Winner | OWGR pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Apr | Buick Open |  Josh Geary (1) | 6 |
| 17 May | Eternal Courtyard Open |  Chan Shih-chang (1) | 6 |
| 24 May | United Investment Real Estate Wuhan Open |  Justin Shin (1) | 6 |
| 31 May | Lanhai Open | Josh Geary (2) | 6 |
| 13 Sep | Pingan Bank Open | Eugene Wong (1) | 6 |
| 27 Sep | Cadillac Championship | Bryden Macpherson (1) | 6 |
| 4 Oct | Yulongwan Yunnan Open | Josh Geary (3) | 6 |
| 11 Oct | Lushan Open | Bryden Macpherson (2) | 6 |
| 18 Oct | Chongqing Jiangnan NewTown KingRun Open | Zhang Xin-jun (2) | 6 |
| 22 Nov | Nine Dragons Open | Chao Haimeng (1) | 6 |
| 29 Nov | Hainan Open | Zhang Hui-lin (1) | 6 |
| 6 Dec | Capital Airline – HNA Real Estate Championship | He Ze-yu (1) | 7 |
Web.com Tour qualifiers
The top five players on the Order of Merit earned Web.com Tour cards for 2016.
| Rank | Player | Country | Events | Prize money (CN¥) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryden Macpherson | Australia | 8 | 769,960 |
| 2 | Josh Geary | New Zealand | 9 | 747,230 |
| 3 | Zhang Xin-jun | China | 12 | 545,046 |
| 4 | Dou Ze-cheng | China | 12 | 483,813 |
| 5 | Eugene Wong | Canada | 11 | 454,768 |
2014 season
The table below shows the 2014 schedule. "Date" is the ending date of each event. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament. All tournaments had a purse of US$200,000.
| Date | Tournament | Winner | OWGR pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Apr | Mission Hills Haikou Open | Wang Jeung-hun (1) | 6 |
| 4 May | Buick Open | Sam Chien (1) | 6 |
| 18 May | United Investment Real Estate Wuhan Open | Brett Drewitt (1) | 6 |
| 8 Jun | Lanhai Open | David McKenzie (1) | 6 |
| 15 Jun | Earls Beijing Open | Zhang Xin-jun (1) | 6 |
| 10 Aug | Yulongwan Yunnan Open | Gunn Charoenkul (1) | 6 |
| 7 Sep | Chateau Junding Penglai Open | Todd Baek (1) | 6 |
| 14 Sep | Cadillac Championship | David McKenzie (2) | 6 |
| 28 Sep | Jianye Tianzhu Henan Open | Li Hao-tong (1) | 6 |
| 16 Nov | Nine Dragons Open | Jin Cheng (am, 1) | 6 |
| 23 Nov | Hainan Open | Li Hao-tong (2) | 6 |
| 30 Nov | CTS Tycoon Championship | Li Hao-tong (3) | 6 |
Web.com Tour qualifiers
The top five players on the Order of Merit earned Web.com Tour cards for 2015.
| Rank | Player | Country | Events | Prize money (CN¥) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Li Hao-tong | China | 12 | 967,788 |
| 2 | Zhang Xin-jun | China | 8 | 650,600 |
| 3 | Brett Drewitt | Australia | 12 | 585,196 |
| 4 | Sam Chien | United States | 12 | 573,951 |
| 5 | Todd Baek | South Korea | 11 | 535,920 |
Source[5]
Order of Merit winners
| Year | Winner | Earnings (¥) |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dou Ze-cheng | 1,144,350 |
| 2015 | Bryden Macpherson | 769,960 |
| 2014 | Li Hao-tong | 967,788 |
| 2009 | Kurt Barnes | 264,750 |
| 2008 | Liao Guiming | 375,125 |
| 2007 | Li Chao | 652,125 |
| 2006 | Zhang Lian-wei | 540,000 |
| 2005 | Li Chao |
References
- ↑ "PGA Tour to be part of new circuit in China". Golf Channel. 3 November 2013.
- ↑ "China Tour-PGA Tour China Series Announces First Portion of 2014 Schedule and Two Qualifying Sites". PGA Tour China. 29 January 2014.
- ↑ Livsey, Laury (17 April 2014). "Zhang Makes History by Hitting First Tee Shot on PGA Tour China Series". PGA Tour.
- ↑ "A Tour for China's Rising Stars". Asian PGA. 2005. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007.
- ↑ 2014 PGA Tour China Order or Merit