FILE PHOTO: Aug 25, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Scott Scheffler tees off on the 3rd hole during the first round of the TOUR Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
(Reuters) - The PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada will merge into a single circuit that will begin play in early 2024, the PGA Tour said on Tuesday as it offers a new pathway for golfers to move up the ranks.
The newly-branded PGA Tour Americas will stage 16 events across Latin America, Canada and the United States from February through September with 15 cards up for grabs on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour.
"We are thrilled about PGA Tour Americas and the role this tour will play in preparing players for the next step in their professional golf journey," Alex Baldwin, who oversees PGA Tour Americas, the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Q-School and PGA Tour University, said in a news release.
"PGA Tour Americas will be an extremely competitive tour aimed at identifying, developing and transitioning top-performing players to the next level as they ascend through the ranks and strive to reach the highest level of professional golf, the PGA Tour."
The first half of the season will be the Latin America Swing and include the top 60 finishers from both the 2022-2023 PGA Tour Latinoamerica points list and the 2023 PGA Tour Canada points list.
The top 60 players from the Latin America Swing move on to compete in the North America Swing from June through September with the top 10 on the season-long points list earning Korn Ferry Tour membership.
Five conditional Korn Ferry Tour cards are available to the top two finishers in the Latin America Swing and top three from the North America Swing in the case that they do not finish in the top 10 on the final PGA Tour Americas points list.
The schedule for the inaugural season will be announced in September with details regarding purses and points distribution to be released closer to the start of play in February.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)
