LPGA Makes More Tour Cards Available to Futures Tour Players

The LPGA made a change to its constitution on Wednesday, and the result is that more golfers from the Duramed Futures Tour will earn LPGA Tour membership - although how many appearances on the LPGA Tour that translates into for graduates is not yet know.

In years past, the Top 5 players on the season-ending Futures Tour money list earned LPGA Tour cards for the following year. Beginning this year, that number expands to the Top 10 Futures Tour players.

But the LPGA is also changing the way it fills out tournaments, moving from designations of "exempt" and "non-exempt" to a ranking of priority status. Futures Tour graduates will have LPGA memberships, but those finishing 6-10 on the money list will have a lower priority status than those finishing 1-5.

Futures Tour grads 1-5 should get into every full-field LPGA tournament they wish to play in 2009. Grads 6-10 should get into some events, but may also choose to go through Qualifying School in an effort to improve their priority status.

A full explanation of the changes is available on the LPGA Web site.

The next change the LPGA should make is to institute an in-season "battlefield promotion" to any Futures Tour golfer winning her third tournament in one season, as the PGA Tour does for Nationwide Tour players. (Update: As The Constructivist points out in comments, the "battlefield promotion" is part of the priority status reorganizing. See the link in comments.)