More doors opening for Chinese tour's top talent

Korn Ferry Tour players who have qualified for the circuit via the PGA Tour Series-China will now have the chance to enter more tournaments.

As one of three PGA international tours, the Chinese circuit offers Korn Ferry Tour status to the top five finishers on its order of merit.

This week the PGA announced that those qualifiers, as well as those from the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, and the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, will have "enhanced playing opportunities" on the Korn Ferry Tour "with immediate effect".

"We have done extensive research, and we've looked at the international tour players' performances on the Korn Ferry Tour. It became very clear that these three tours have been producing so many good players that we had to improve their access into Korn Ferry Tour tournaments," said Rob Ohno, the PGA Tour's senior vice-president of international tours.

The PGA Tour's policy board voted in June to adjust playing spots in certain eligibility categories, beginning in 2020, to help facilitate this change. These modifications will improve the prospects of players getting into Korn Ferry Tour tournaments. The board ratified the changes on Nov 18.

"When we looked at the data, the international tour players were having comparable success with players who were earning Korn Ferry Tour membership via the qualifying tournament," Ohno continued.

"With these players coming off the international tours achieving at the next level and then on to the PGA Tour, the policy board approved the changes to reward them and improve their playing possibilities."

This season, alumni of the international tours comprised the majority of both the top 25(14) and the top 75 players (39) on the final points list.

"The international tours are doing exactly what they were intended to do when the PGA Tour created all three in successive years, beginning in 2012," added Ohno.

"These players are coming out of the international tours after playing in PGA Tour-caliber events only staged on a smaller scale, ready to play and ready to win, which we've seen them do.

"We are also watching these players, who just a few years ago were playing in Latin America, Canada and China, playing at the game's highest levels."

Next month's Presidents Cup will feature three players who graduated from the international tours－Li Haotong (PGA Tour Series-China) and CT Pan (Mackenzie Tour) on Ernie Els' International team, and Tony Finau (Mackenzie Tour) on Tiger Woods' United States team.

This year, 14 international tour alums won 16 tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour, which is the pathway to the PGA Tour proper. In the 2018-19 PGA Tour season, six alums (Adam Long, Martin Trainer, Keith Mitchell, Corey Conners, Pan and Nate Lashley) won six tournaments.

Already in 2019-20, alums Sebastian Munoz, Lanton Griffin and Tyler Duncan have won on the PGA Tour, while Joaquin Niemann, played extensively on PGA Tour Latinoamerica as an amateur, triumphed at The Greenbrier.

The PGA Tour Series-China mainly features Asian players, although members come from all over the world.

It is operated by the PGA Tour in partnership with Shankai Sports, and sanctioned by the General Administration of Sport of China.