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49-664: The Professional Golf Tour of India ( PGTI ), currently titled as the Tata Steel Professional Golf Tour of India for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tour for men based in India. The tour was formed in 2006, as the successor to the Indian PGA Golf Tour, which ran from 1997 to 2006. The PGTI serves as a feeder tour for higher level tours such as the Asian Tour . Many Indian players have become members of

98-499: A Professional Golfers Association or an independent tour organisation which is responsible for arranging events, finding sponsors, and regulating the tour. Most of the major tours are player controlled organisations whose commercial objective is to maximise the income of their members by maximising prize money. The larger tours have a tournament almost every week through most of the year. Each tour has "members" who have earned their "tour cards", meaning they are entitled to play in most of

147-526: A good number of tournaments were being played in a region each year, they were formalised into a "tour", which was supervised by a single organisation, although many tournaments continue to be run by separate bodies. The PGA Tour was the pioneer of the tour system, and its establishment date is not very clearly defined. The PGA of America was established in 1916. Lists of players with the most wins in each season are available from that year, and career win totals are based on results from 1916 onwards. However,

196-514: A higher tour. Some of the players will also play on other tours when they are able to, and others will be club or teaching professionals who play tournament golf part-time. In Europe there is a well-defined third tier of tours which are independently operated but offer promotion to the Challenge Tour for the most successful players. The four third level tours, known as the Satellite Tours, are

245-566: A particular tournament is not enough. A player must apply to the governing body of the sport to have amateur status reinstated. Historically, the distinction between amateur and professional golfers had much to do with social class . In 18th and 19th century Britain, golf was played by the rich, for pleasure. The early professionals were working-class men who made a living from the game in a variety of ways: caddying , greenkeeping, clubmaking, and playing challenge matches. When golf arrived in America at

294-810: A partnership with them and the PGA Tour . As part of the partnership, the leading player on the PGTI Order of Merit was given status onto the European Tour for the following season. Professional golf tours At least 95% of professional golfers make their primary income as club or teaching professionals rather than from competition. A small elite in the profession who obtain income from prize money and endorsements are called "touring professionals", "tournament golfers", or "pro golfers". The best golfers can make up to 8-figure incomes in U.S. dollars from tournament play. Including endorsement income, pro golfer Tiger Woods

343-436: Is affordable at public courses to a large portion of the population, and most golf professionals are from middle-class backgrounds, which are often the same sort of backgrounds as the members of the clubs where they work or the people they teach the game, and are educated to university level. Leading tournament golfers are very wealthy; upper class in the modern U.S. usage of the term. However, in some developing countries, there

392-570: Is also organized by independent regional tours. Leading female golfers make incomes well over US$ 1 million per year, more than most other women athletes other than top tennis players. There are currently seven first tier regional tours: The LPGA Tour is the dominant tour, and is the main playing base of almost all the world's leading players. It also has tournaments in Canada, Mexico, France, England, Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and other Asian countries. The LPGA of Japan Tour

441-530: Is as follows : In the 1990s the Japan Golf Tour was the third richest tour, but in recent years its number of tournaments has been steadily contracting from a peak of 44 in 1990 to 24 in 2007, and tournament purses have risen only slowly. The (U.S.) LPGA saw a substantial decline in financial rewards in the late 2000s; when its commissioner Carolyn Bivens was forced to resign by a player revolt in 2009, it had only 14 events locked in for 2010. Its 2010 schedule

490-638: Is not a well defined US-based third tier. The larger regional tours include the Swing Thought Tour , Gateway Tour , and the APT Tour there is a constantly changing roster of small "mini-tours". The term mini-tour is colloquial and not easy to define, with the larger regional tours carefully avoiding applying the term to themselves. Some of the smaller and lower cost tours prefer the term "developmental tour" asserting that real pro golf with large audiences and great financial opportunities for its players starts at

539-524: Is open to any registered professional who pays an entry fee. There are enormous differences in the financial rewards offered by the various golf tours, so players on all but the top few tours always aspire to move up if they can. For example, the PGA Tour , which is the first-tier tour in the United States, offers nearly a hundred times as much prize money each season as the third-tier NGA Pro Golf Tour . The hierarchy of tours in financial terms, as of 2024,

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588-515: Is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose said status. A golfer who has lost their amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated; a professional may not play in amateur tournaments unless the Committee is notified, acknowledges and confirms the participation. It is very difficult for a professional to regain their amateur status; simply agreeing not to take payment for

637-433: Is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pro", most of whom are teachers/coaches. The professional golfer status is reserved for people who play, rather than teach, golf for a career. In golf, the distinction between amateurs and professionals

686-486: Is still a class distinction. Typically, golf is restricted to a much smaller and more elite section of society than is the case in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Professional golfers from these countries are quite often from poor backgrounds and start their careers as caddies, for example, Ángel Cabrera of Argentina , and Zhang Lian-wei , who is the first significant tournament professional from

735-622: Is the second richest tour, and retains many of its leading players. The best players from the other tours usually move to the LPGA Tour at the earliest opportunity. The second tier women's professional tour in the United States is the Epson Tour (formerly the Futures and then the Symetra). Although there is little opportunity for women's developmental play on the professional level in the United States besides

784-538: The Asian Tour . In 1991 Ali Sher (a professional golfer) won the Indian Open, which made professional golf a much more attractive career option in India. The Professional Golfers Association of India was founded in 1988 and several additional professional events were founded in India in the 1990s. From 1997 to 2006, the PGA of India Tour was managed by Tiger Sports Marketing on behalf of the PGA of India. Total prize money for

833-629: The Canadian Tour became an associate member. The South and Central America based Tour de las Américas became the federation's second associate member in 2007. In 2009 the federation announced a major expansion, as the Tour de las Américas and the Canadian Tour became full members alongside nine new members. They were In 2011, the Tour de las Américas was effectively taken over by the PGA Tour, then, after

882-808: The OneAsia Tour , founded in 2009 as a joint venture between the PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Association, the Japan Golf Tour, the Korean Golf Association and the Korean PGA, used to offer world ranking points. The richest tour not offering ranking points was until 2011 the Korean Tour . The official development tour in Japan is the Japan Challenge Tour . Other regional tours include

931-817: The PGA EuroPro Tour , the Alps Tour , the Pro Golf Tour and the Nordic Golf League . Starting July 2015, the four Europe-based third-tier tours was accepted into the OWGR rankings. Below this level there are various minor professional tournaments, some of which are organised into series by national golf associations. In 2016, the Dubai-based MENA Golf Tour announced an affiliation with the Sunshine Tour and

980-520: The People's Republic of China . In various countries, Professional Golfers' Associations (PGAs) serve either or both of these categories of professionals. There are separate LPGAs (Ladies Professional Golf Associations) for women. Under the rules of golf and amateur status, the maximum value of a prize an amateur can accept is £700 or US$ 1000. Before the most recent increase in 2022, the maximum had been £500 or $ 750. The 2022 changes also significantly reduced

1029-537: The Professional Golf Tour of India , PGA Tour China and All Thailand Golf Tour . The United States and Europe have additional tours for players who haven't made it onto the Korn Ferry Tour or the Challenge Tour. At this level the prize money is partly funded by entrance fees and only the most successful players will win enough to do more than cover their expenses: the emphasis is very much on moving up to

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1078-931: The Web.com Tour (1990; originally called the Ben Hogan Tour and later the Korn Ferry Tour) and senior tours such as PGA Tour Champions (1980; originally the Senior PGA Tour and later the Champions Tour) and the Legends Tour (1992; originally the European Senior Tour) have been established to give more golfers the opportunity to play on a tour, and to take advantage of the willingness of sponsors and broadcasters to fund an ever-increasing number of tournaments. There are more than twenty professional golf tours, each run by

1127-561: The 2004/05 season was ₹ 30,500,000 ( US$ 698,260 at 31 December 2004 exchange rate). There were around 20 events in the season, including tournaments in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In October 2006 a group of leading Indian golfers including Jyoti Randhawa and Gaurav Ghei announced that they were setting up a new tour. This followed a dispute between the Professional Golfers Association of India and Tiger Sports Marketing,

1176-531: The All-India Amateur as the leading golf tournament in the country. Australian and five time British Open champion Peter Thomson used to stop over in India on his way from Australia to Europe, and he won the championship in 1964, 1966 and 1976. P. G. Sethi (an amateur) was the first Indian to win this tournament in 1965. In 1970 the Indian Open became part of the Asia Golf Circuit , the predecessor of

1225-658: The Asian Tour, while a small number have joined the world's leading two tours, the European Tour and the United States–based PGA Tour . The PGTI became a member of the International Federation of PGA Tours in 2009, but its events did not carry Official World Golf Ranking points unless they were co-sanctioned by tours that are included in the world ranking system. In July 2018, the OWGR announced that

1274-519: The Canada and Latin American tours. There have also been some well known sportsmen from other sports who, after retiring as wealthy men while still at an age when elite golfers are in their prime, have tried their luck as tournament golfers on the developmental tours, but none of them have made it into golf's elite so far. Examples include Ivan Lendl and Roy Wegerle . Two prominent professional athletes from other sports, however, have had modest success on

1323-699: The Epson Tour, women are welcome to compete against men on some mini-tours. At a lower level is the Cactus Tour , founded in 2005, which plays in the American Southwest . It expanded to hold 38 events in 2020, while the LPGA and Epson suspended play from April to August. Sweden , which is the European country where women's golf is most popular, had its own Swedish Golf Tour , established in 1986, since 2021 transformed to

1372-450: The Korn Ferry Tour level. Either way, below Korn Ferry Tour level there is little possibility of earning a living from the prize money alone and players compete to gain competitive experience. Some are employed as club or teaching professionals and play tournaments part-time, while some may have sponsors or family backing. After the new Korn Ferry Tour Finals was established in 2013, mini-tour purses have decreased and players have moved to

1421-408: The LPGA of Japan Tour enjoyed rapid growth in prize money in the early 2000s, and were less affected by the economic crisis than the U.S. LPGA. The International Federation of PGA Tours is an organization founded in 1996 to enable the world's leading tours to discuss common and global issues in professional golf. The founding members were In 1999 they were joined by the Asian Tour and a year later

1470-642: The Nordic Golf Tour, operated in cooperation by the golf federations in Denmark and Norway and Sweden . The LET Access Series , launched in 2010, is the developmental tour of Ladies European Tour. The LPGA of Japan operates the Step Up Tour as a feeder for its main tour, and the LPGA of Korea operates two mini-tours (Dream Tour and Jump Tour) that effectively serve as feeders for its main tour. The Moonlightgolf.com Tour in central Florida since 1992, offers women

1519-453: The PGA Tour, mainly because most of its tournament sponsors were locked in through 2010; there was media speculation that the expiration of those sponsorship contracts in 2011 would see substantial changes in the landscape of that tour. However, this speculation proved misplaced or at least premature, as the 2011 season was announced with only one less official money event than in 2010 , with virtually identical prize money. The Asian Tour and

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1568-547: The PGA of America. Similarly, the European Tour officially began in 1972, although it evolved from the British PGA circuit which merged with the Continental European circuit in 1977 before fully separating from the PGA in 1984. The dates of establishment of the other key tours include: LPGA Tour (1950); Sunshine Tour (1971), Japan Golf Tour (1973); PGA Tour of Australasia (1973), Asian Tour (1995). The Asian Tour

1617-584: The PGTI would receive world ranking points in its own right beginning in 2019. India's Royal Calcutta Golf Club was founded in 1829 and is usually regarded as the oldest outside the United Kingdom . In the early years Indian golf with dominated by British players and it was not until 1949 that Mohinder Bal became the first Indian to win the All-India Amateur Championship. The Indian Golf Union (IGU)

1666-644: The Tour de las Américas held its 2012 season, it was folded into the new PGA Tour Latinoamérica . In October 2012, the Canadian Tour agreed to be taken over by the PGA Tour, with a name change to PGA Tour Canada taking effect that November. The International Federation of PGA Tours founded the World Golf Championships in 1999 and sanction the Official World Golf Ranking . World ranking points are also awarded for good placings in events on three developmental tours: In addition, until 2017

1715-529: The cut receive any prize money, and only the top players take home significant winnings. The golf tour system evolved more by trial and error than by design. In the early days of professional golf, in each region of the world each professional tournament was established by a separate golf club, golf organisation or commercial sponsor. As the number of tournaments increased, the most talented professional golfers concentrated mainly on playing in tournaments rather than on club professional and golf instruction work. Once

1764-414: The end of the 19th century, it was an elite sport there, too. Early American golf clubs imported their professionals from Britain. It was not possible to make a living solely from playing tournament golf until some way into the 20th century ( Walter Hagen is sometimes considered to have been the first man to have done so). In the developed world, the class distinction is now almost entirely irrelevant. Golf

1813-439: The famous golfers who are eligible to compete in these events choose to do so, unless they are unable to for health reasons. A number of players win more than a million dollars in prize money each season, and once endorsements and other business activities are taken into account, a few of the "legends of golf" in this age group earn as much as any of the younger PGA Tour pros. The two main senior tours are: Women's professional golf

1862-475: The idea of a "tour" had not firmly crystallised at that time and several important developments came much later. Bob Harlow was named manager of the PGA Tournament Bureau in 1930, the first "playing pros" organisation was formed in 1932, and money lists are available from 1934. However the PGA Tour itself dates the formal establishment of the Tour to 1968, when the "Tournament Players Division" split from

1911-598: The main schedule, including two co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour and one co-sanctioned with the European Tour, plus seven events on the Feeder Tour, which debuted that year. In 2011 the tour co-sanctioned an event with the European Tour's developmental circuit, the Challenge Tour , for the first time. In December 2022, it was announced by the European Tour that the Professional Golf Tour of India had entered into

1960-451: The opportunity to develop through frequent low cost pro/scratch events. In 2001, the U.S.-based Women's Senior Golf Tour was founded, featuring golfers 45 and over. In 2006, it was rebranded as the Legends Tour and in 2021 The Legends of the LPGA. The LPGA of Korea now operates the Akia Tour, a four-event mini-tour for the same age group. Professional golfer A professional golfer

2009-491: The organisers of the PGA of India Tour. The BBC reported that it was not clear whether this tour would simply take the place of the existing tour, or whether rival tours might develop. In the event, the new tour, the Professional Golf Tour of India, took over as India's sole domestic professional tour, though Tiger Sports Marketing remained involved in other aspects of Indian golf. The PGTI's schedule expanded rapidly in its first few seasons. In 2010 there were twenty-five events on

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2058-412: The scope of competitions in which the prize limit applies. Before that time, the only competitions exempt from prize limits were hole in one contests. The 2022 changes took all competitions in which the player's score on a hole is not the primary goal, such as long drive and putting competitions, outside the amateurism rules. If an amateur accepts a prize of greater than this in a competition covered by

2107-480: The tour now known as PGA Tour Champions for golfers 50 and over. Former National Football League quarterback John Brodie won one tournament and had 12 top-10 finishes on that tour, and former Major League Baseball pitcher Rick Rhoden had three top-10 finishes. Upon reaching age 50, male golfers are eligible to compete in senior tournaments. Golf is unique among sports in having high profile and lucrative competitions for players of this age group. Nearly all of

2156-402: The tour's events. A golfer can become a member of a leading tour by succeeding in an entry tournament, usually called a Qualifying School ("Q-School"); or, by achieving a designated level of success in its tournaments when competing as an invited non-member; or, much rarer, by having enough notable achievements on other tours to make them a desirable member. Membership of some of the lesser tours

2205-583: Was founded in 1955 to take over responsibility for Indian Golf, which had previously been largely in the hands of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club. The sport was still dominated by amateurs at that point, but most of them were now Indian. In 1957 the IGU started a training program for caddies and professionals. In 1964 the Indian Open (open to both amateurs and professionals), was established and it soon replaced

2254-557: Was included into the world ranking system. Starting in 2018, the Sunshine Tour-affiliated Big Easy Tour was added to the world rankings. Three lower-level tours offer world ranking points and direct promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour for a top five finish on their Orders of Merit, but they are based outside the United States: PGA Tour Canada , PGA Tour China , and PGA Tour Latinoamérica . There

2303-416: Was preceded by the Asia Golf Circuit , which operated from 1962 until 1999. The term "circuit" is often used to describe groups of professional golf tournaments, either organised tours, which may or may not include "unofficial" events, or simply to broadly categorize events in a local area or wider region. As professional golf has continued to expand developmental tours such as the Challenge Tour (1986) and

2352-428: Was the highest earning sportsman for much of the first decade of the 21st century, according to Forbes magazine. But making a living from tournament golf can be difficult. Tournaments have entry fees and the associated costs of travel and lodging, plus the hire of a caddie . Moreover, most tournaments have a "cut" after the second of four rounds, meaning that only the top half or so continue play. Only those who make

2401-512: Was ultimately unveiled with 24 events, down from 34 as recently as 2008. The tour saw signs of recovery in 2012, with the addition of three new events, the sanctioning of a tournament in Australia , and the return of one tournament that had been off the schedule for a year. By 2014, the LPGA had largely recovered from its 2010 trough, with that year's schedule consisting of 33 events. The late-2000s economic crisis did not have an immediate impact on

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