A few nuts and bolts about the PGA Tour

A reader recently posed some interesting questions about the PGA Tour. There's simply not enough time or space to answer all the questions, but here are some "nuts and bolts" about the Tour.

This year there are 47 tournaments. Concurrent events are held opposite the three World Golf Championship tournaments, plus the British Open and Ryder Cup. There also are four events that comprise the FedEx Cup. PGA Tour golfers must play a minimum of 15 tournaments to retain their membership.

How many touring pros are there? It would probably be as easy to count the grains of sand on a beach, but just to give you an idea, 256 PGA Tour members cashed checks in 2007. Another 351 players earned money on the Nationwide Tour.

In the 2008 PGA Tour Media Guide, 166 players rate full biographies. Some of those are no longer active but merit the spot based on their accomplishments, such as Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. Another 46 players have brief bios along with 32 international players who are not PGA Tour members. The PGA Tour's membership roster for 2008 includes 78 international players from 19 countries.

How are the size of the fields determined for each tournament? There is no hard and fast answer, but 144 and 156 were popular numbers for 2007 tournaments. The size is partly determined by the individual tournament and partly by the amount of daylight available. Last year the size of the fields ranged from the 30 invitees who participated in the Tour Championship to 157 who played in the AT&T Classic in Atlanta. The Heritage had 132 players, including two amateurs. Incidentally, 41 amateurs played in PGA Tour or Tour co-sanctioned events last year.

Who gets to play? The PGA Tour has a 1 to 33 ranking system to determine who gets to play. Priority goes to winners of major championships, tournament winners, the top 125 on the previous year's money list all the way down to veteran PGA Tour members, if needed to fill the field, based in order of their standing on the career money list. One of the priority rankings includes players who finished in the top 10 in the previous tournament but are not otherwise eligible for the next event.

Graduates of the PGA Tour qualifying school and from the Nationwide Tour also have a priority ranking. But to reward good play, their standing is "re-shuffled" several times during the season based on performance.

There are a maximum of eight sponsor exemptions awarded to each event. From that, at least two must be PGA Tour members and two must come from qualifying school or the Nationwide list. An amateur who gets a sponsor exemption has to have a handicap of 0 or less. A tournament spot also goes to the player of the year or champion of the PGA of America section in which the event is played, and the Heritage offers two spots to Carolinas PGA section members through a qualifying tournament. Many of the full-field events offer a Monday qualifying tournament with four spots up for grabs.

LPGA volunteers sought

Volunteers for a variety of tasks are being sought for the LPGA's Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika, which will be played May 26-June 1 at RiverTowne Country Club.

Volunteers are asked to work a minimum of three 4-6 hour shifts, and those who do will qualify for a round of golf at RiverTowne. There is a charge of $55, which includes two tournament golf shirts, a tournament hat or visor, a volunteer badge good for all week and one tournament guest grounds ticket, good for all week.

Those interested should go to www.ginntribute.com, call Alexa Devine at (843) 881-2532 or e-mail smudevine@aol.com.

The 2007 Ginn Tribute was won by Nicole Castrale, who defeated world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa in a sudden-death playoff.

Muni wins Interclub

Charleston Municipal won the second Charleston Men's Interclub golf tournament played at Municipal, finishing with a score of 35. Coosaw Creek was second with 32 and Pine Forest and Wescott tied for third with 13 points.

James Scott of Municipal was the top individual with 15 points. Darrell Verdeck of Stono Ferry had 14 points, while Jim Lamm of Municipal and Jack Pitts of Legend Oaks had 11 points.

Coosaw Creek leads the overall standings with 24 points, followed by Stono Ferry with 23, Dunes West and Muni with 17 and Wescott with 15.5.

National Junior Golf Tournament

A NJGT's South Carolina Lowcountry 2008 Spring Tour event was played at Pine Forest Country Club. Winners included: Boys' 5-7 — Ryan Pitts, Mount Pleasant, 49; Jack Catalano, Mount Pleasant, 61. Boys' 8-9 — Kyle Spencer, Mount Pleasant, 84; Christian Salzer, Sumter, 90. Boys' 10-11— Lucas McNellis, Charleston, 86; Mathew Clark, Bluffton, 119. Boys' 12-13 — Wesley Long, Bluffton, 84; Thomas DeOgburn, Charleston, 99. Boys' 14-15 — Preston Johnson, Charleston, 89; Kyle Ergle, Mount Pleasant, 100. Boys' 16-18 — Blake Banks, Mount Pleasant, 86. Girls' 14-18 — Katelyn Dambaugh, Goose Creek, 96.

The Golf League

The Golf League will begin its 2008 Ryder Cup Spring League on March 24. The league has room for 48 two-person teams, and there will be separate leagues for Monday and Thursday nights. League play will rotate between Patriots Point, Dunes West and Charleston National. Contact Tom Koenig at (843) 425-3779 or go to www.thegolfleague.us.