The PGA Tour's Champions Tour this morning announced "major revisions to its year-end schedule" for the '16 season, including the inclusion of a three-tournament playoff format, according to Steve DiMeglio of USA TODAY. The inaugural Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs will culminate with the "season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship to determine the champion." Two of the three events in the playoffs "are new tournaments." The Tour on Monday "announced the addition of the PowerShares QQQ Championship," which will be held in the L.A. area Oct. 24-30. The second new tournament is the "second event of the playoffs -- the Dominion Charity Classic on the James River Course of Richmond’s Country Club of Virginia from Oct. 31-Nov. 6." The playoffs will consist of the top 72 players on the money list heading into the L.A. event. The SAS Championship, the final event before the playoffs, will feature an inaugural Wildcard Weekend in which one player who "finishes in the top 10 of the SAS Championship but outside the top 72 on the money list will advance to the playoffs." The '16 Champions Tour schedule "includes 26 events with total prize money exceeding" $55M (USATODAY.com, 11/11). Champions Tour President Greg McLaughlin said the Tour next year will go with a "straight money list" instead of points to determine who makes the playoffs. McLaughlin: "We’ll convert to points for the playoffs, and then it’ll be double points for the playoffs leading into the final. We do a reset for the final Schwab Cup, and all 36 players will have a chance to win the Schwab Cup with a top-five similar to the FedExCup. If they win the tournament, they win the Cup” ("Morning Drive," Golf Channel, 11/11).
MIXING THINGS UP: In London, James Corrigan noted incoming European Tour Commissioner & CEO Keith Pelley is "poised to announce a raft of changes, including an overhaul of the Final Series." At the moment, the season’s finale "consists of four tournaments." But next year it "will be only three." The WGC-HSBC Champions event in China "will drop out" because of WGC qualifying restrictions. Pelley is also "expected to reveal a reduction in the Tour’s membership requirements to a five-event minimum, not including the majors or WGCs." At the moment, the "minimum is 13, including the majors and WGCs" (London TELEGRAPH, 11/10).
