For players with status on the PGA Tour's feeder tours -- Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Series China -- this year could well be a near total loss.
Last week, the Mackenzie Tour season was cancelled amid difficulties in players getting back and forth over the US-Canada border.
PGA Tour Latinoamerica had one event before the pandemic halting this season. PGA Tour Series China is still waiting to hold its Q-School. It's unclear if and when those seasons would be played.
In an effort to potentially fill the void, the PGA Tour reached out to players on these tours with the idea of creating a temporary mini-tour for these players to compete and earn money. In an email to players, obtained by Monday Q Info, the tour floated the idea of having a series of events held in a particular, t0-be-determined region of the United States.
Really interesting email sent to players of LA/Mackenzie/China players today from tour. Gauging interest in a US based mini tour played Aug thru Oct with field made of mostly members of those tours. 54 holes, multiple events played in area, 100K purses.
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) June 2, 2020
The tournaments would be 54-hole affairs, with cuts after 36 holes. The Tour said the purses would hopefully be approximately $100,000, which is a little more than half the purses they would expect to see on the feeder tours.
The events could be played in the Carolinas, a portion of Florida, Arizona or in Texas. That would still need to be determined.
It doesn't appear this concocted series would confer any Korn Ferry Tour status to leading money winners. The top five money winners on each of these tours earns Korn Ferry Tour status for the next season. However, the PGA Tour has chosen to freeze status for players on all the PGA Tour while combining the 2020 and 2021 Korn Ferry Tour years into a single season to determine 25 players who will earn PGA Tour status for the 2021-2022 season.
