For those unfamiliar with the ‘Last Chance U’ series on Netflix, it does a great job of following some of the best college sportsmen in the cutthroat world of making it as a pro. The sports covered are usually football or basketball. The schools and municipalities in the documentaries are usually very poor. Some students live in trailer parks, some do not know their parents, some are illiterate, and some are one bad grade away from failing high school.
But they all excel on the sports field. It was an inside look into some of the lesser-known sportsmen, who may have had an easier path to the big league had they grown up in a different family, or a different county, or state.
Extra credit just got a little bit sweeter.
All D-I college golfers will now be competing for Pga Tour membership via @PGATOURU.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 14, 2022
Golf does not fit this sort of storyline. It has an attachment to privilege, where wealth goes a long way in putting people in the right places to get noticed. This is why we enjoy underdog stories that go against the grain – like that of Ian Poulter, a man of a working-class background who turned pro off a 4 handicap and went on to win Ryder Cups for Europe. Or Seve Ballesteros, whose family sold their livestock to gather together money to pit him against the best local kids in high-wager games.
The standard of college golf has only increased since the turn of the century, and despite wealth still carrying weight in the sport, it is arguably harder now to turn pro through the regular route of qualifying school. It’s brutal. The competition begins before college and only gets fiercer the closer you get to the big leagues.
View this post on Instagram
In a policy meeting on November 14th, an extra boost was added to the pathway to PGA Tour Membership, honing in on Division 1 Collegiate Golfers. The change is as follows:
- The No. 1 player in the final PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking will become a PGA TOUR member and eligible for all open, full-field events following the conclusion of the NCAA Championship. The Velocity Global Ranking includes seniors who meet eligibility criteria.
This means all D-1 college golfers are competing for PGA Tour Membership when they arrive as freshmen. They will be exempt into the Final Stage of Qualifying School and assured Korn Ferry Tour Membership as they earn FedEx Cup points and compete for a PGA Tour card. The player who finishes No. 1 in the Velocity Global Ranking is the senior with the best record over the final two years of his college career, and this would have included Jon Rahm in 2016, Collin Morikawa in 2019, and Sahith Theegala in 2020. Rahm has already reached World #1 and won the US Open, and Morikawa is a two-time major winner in less than ten appearances.
Another incentive given to the next generation heading for the PGA Tour, as well as treating freshmen like young professionals from the off. The decision will be celebrated by most, but also begs the question; did LIV Golf initiate this stream of changes?
It’s hard to argue against that, after the array of benefits that have been received by PGA Tour members since its inception. It is difficult to separate knee-jerk reaction from genuine improvement for the players and fans, and sometimes these policy changes seem to have a foot in both camps. It is in the interest of both LIV and the PGA Tour to concentrate on their future in the form of the best college golfers. In the same way, some companies hire from the best schools, these guys want to focus on the best colleges, and the top division golfers are all vying for attention as well as being closely monitored by the top executives on all professional tours.
Cover Image Via GolfWeek
