The PGA Tour “isn’t shy about trying new concepts when it comes to competition” and also “isn’t shy about early tweaks to those concepts,” according to Garry Smits of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. The Web.com Tour Championship, which begins its second edition today at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course, “will be another example -- along with the FedEx Cup, World Golf Championships and the wrap-around season -- of a revolutionary and often controversial idea by the Tour, followed by quick adjustments.” More changes “are likely to come as the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour work to refine an equitable process of qualification.” Web.com Tour President Bill Calfee yesterday said, “Without a doubt, this is a much better way to identify who should get a PGA Tour card. Not everyone likes it. Some like the old system. But that was the best system at the time. With the growth of the Web.com Tour, this is better.” Smits notes the contention is that eligibility for the PGA Tour "should be determined over a longer period of time than six rounds” (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 9/18).
TOO LONG: CBSSPORTS.com’s Kyle Porter wrote the PGA Tour’s new wraparound season “is what baseball would be like if you added four months to the schedule and had a month-long All-Star break.” Porter: “Nobody wants that -- and I don't think anybody wants year-round golf either. Yet, here we are just days away from a new season.” The Tour’s first wraparound season “felt like it lasted 10 years.” There is “no offseason fodder,” which is “one of the fun things about the NFL, NBA and even MLB.” All of that buildup for games “makes for a tremendous season.” It also is “still ridiculous to end as the NFL is starting.” However, the “intention of putting more prestige on fall events actually worked.” Jimmy Walker, Webb Simpson, Ryan Moore, Dustin Johnson, Chris Kirk and Harris English won fall events in ’13, which is “like the '27 Yankees” compared to Moore, Jonas Blixt, Tommy Gainey, Ian Poulter and Charlie Beljan being fall winners in ’12 (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/16).
