PGA Tour China

PGA Tour China is a China-based men's professional golf tour as part of the PGA Tour's global expansion. The tour started in 2014. After a hiatus in 2017, the tour resumed in 2018.^[1][2] It is known as PGA Tour Series China.

The United States-based PGA Tour started PGA Tour China in 2014, joining PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica as international developmental tours.^[3] Similar to the Canadian and Latinoamerica tours, PGA Tour China offers a path to the Web.com Tour for top finishers. It also offers Official World Golf Ranking points to the top-six finishers at each tournament. The top five finishers on the Order of Merit at season's end receive promotion to the Web.com Tour. The money leader is fully exempt, while the other four players receive conditional status. Those who place second through tenth on the Order of Merit advance to the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament's final stage. The top-50 players on the Order of Merit at the end of the season retain PGA Tour China privileges for the following year.

On 29 January 2014, PGA Tour China announced qualifying procedures and a 12-event season to begin in April. Two 72-hole qualifying tournaments were played in March. Each event awarded 20 full-time Tour cards, and conditional cards to the next 20 players plus those tied. For its inaugural season, PGA Tour China gave exemptions to the top 70 according to the China Golf Association rankings. After the 40 qualifiers and 70 from the rankings, the balance of the fields were filled through sponsor exemptions, Monday qualifiers and eligible players from the Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, and PGA Tour Canada.^[4]

Zhang Lianwei, China's most successful professional golfer, hit the first tee shot in PGA Tour China history.^[5] South Korean teenager Wang Jeung-hun dominated the season's first event, the Mission Hills Haikou Open, winning by what is still a tournament record 10 shots.

Teenager Li Haotong won the final two events of the 2014 season, the Hainan Open and the Tour Championship – and three tournaments overall – to capture Player of the Year honors and full access to the Web.com Tour. Li later played on the European Tour, where he was an event in 2006. Another notable winner was China's Jin Cheng, a 16-year-old amateur who came from behind on the final day of the Nine Dragons Open to pass Lucas Lee. The victory by Jin is still the only time an amateur has broken through and won. Brett Drewitt finished third on the Order of Merit and also advanced to the Web.com Tour. After two seasons on that circuit, Drewitt earned his PGA Tour card for the 2016-17 season.

In 2015, New Zealand's Josh Geary won three tournaments, matching the win total of Li. But it was Australia's Bryden Macpherson who returned to China for the second half of the season after failing to qualify for the Web.com Tour Playoffs. Macpherson won twice and finished atop the Order of Merit for a return trip to the Web.com Tour in 2016. Midway during the 2015 season, the series was renamed Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA Tour China Series after Ping An Bank became the tour's umbrella sponsor.

Another teenager from China dominated the third season, in 2016. Nineteen-year-old Dou Zecheng defeated Zhang Xinjun in the season-opening Henan Open, and Dou just kept winning. He eventually captured four titles, setting a record for single-season earnings CN¥1,144,350. The University of Oklahoma's Charlie Saxon won two tournaments and finished second on the Order of Merit. Dou was prominently featured in a Fortune article that appeared during the 2016 season.^[6] The Tour also made history by hosting its first tournament outside of Mainland China, the Clearwater Bay Open at Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club in Hong Kong. In 2017, Dou became the first Chinese player to win on the Web.com Tour and graduated to the PGA Tour.

Omega China Tour

The previous China-based tour, the Omega China Tour, ran from 2005 to 2009. It was created to encourage the development players who intended to move up to the Asian Tour or other major international tours, and also to help accelerate the development of golf in the People's Republic of China, following the sports reintroduction to the country in the 1980s, having been absent during the early communist era.

Launched by the China Golf Association in 2005, the tour began with four three-day tournaments, each with a minimum purse of US$100,000. This increased to six four-day tournaments in 2006, and then eight in 2007. It was initially planned to have ten tournaments in 2008, but this was not possible, and there were again eight events.

China has hosted some big-money European Tour sanctioned tournaments, but at the launch of the Omega China Tour, the executive vice-president of the China Golf Association Jiang Xiuyun commented, "The future for golf in China – the real, long-term future – is not paying large sums to bring the world's superstars to play here. It is creating our own stars".^[7] The Singapore-based World Sports Group was granted a five-year contract to organise the events. The Omega China Tour folded in 2009.

2018 season

The table below shows the initial 2018 schedule. "Date" is the ending date of each event. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament. All tournaments except the Clearwater Bay Open had a purse of ¥1,500,000. For the Clearwater Bay Open, the purse is ¥2,000,000

Date	Tournament	Winner	OWGR pts
18 Mar	Chengdu Championship	Jeffrey Kang (1)	6
25 Mar	Chongqing Championship	Cao Yi (1)	6
6 May	Changsha Championship	Charlie Saxon (3)	6
13 May	Haikou Championship	Todd Baek (2)	6
10 Jun	Guilin Championship	Charlie Saxon (4)	6
17 Jun	Kunming Championship	Yeung Motin (1)	6
15 Jul	Yantai Championship	Joseph Winslow (1)	6
22 Jul	Qingdao Championship	Yuan Yechun (1)	6
29 Jul	Beijing Championship	Peter Campbell (1)	6
2 Sep	Suzhou Open	Richard Jung (1)	6
9 Sep	Qinhuangdao Championship	Nick Voke (1)	6
30 Sep	Macau Championship	Nick Voke (2)	6
7 Oct	Zhuhai Championship	Kevin Techakanokboon (1)	6
14 Oct	Clearwater Bay Open

2016 season

The table below shows the 2016 schedule. "Date" is the ending date of each event. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament. All tournaments had a purse of ¥1,200,000.

Date	Tournament	Winner	OWGR pts
15 May	St. Andrews Henan Open	Dou Zecheng (1)	6
29 May	United Investment Real Estate WuHan Open	Dou Zecheng (2)	6
5 Jun	Cadillac Championship	Alexander Kang (1)	6
12 Jun	Lanhai Open	Rohan Blizard (1)	6
26 Jun	Sunning Estate Nanjing Zhongshan Open	Dou Zecheng (3)	6
3 Jul	Ping An Private Bank Wanda Open	Kim Tae-woo (1)	6
4 Sep	Yulongwan Yunnan Open	Dou Zecheng (4)	6
11 Sep	Chongqing Jiangnan NewTown KingRun Open	Gunn Charoenkul (2)	7
18 Sep	Pingan Bank Open	Charlie Saxon (1)	7
6 Nov	Clearwater Bay Open	Daniel Nisbet (1)	7
13 Nov	Putian Open	Kim Tae-woo (2)	7
20 Nov	Zhuhai Hengqin Phoenix Tree Open	Charlie Saxon (2)	7
27 Nov	Buick Open	Zhang Huilin (2)	7

Web.com Tour qualifiers

The top five players on the Order of Merit earned Web.com Tour cards for 2017.

Rank	Player	Country	Events	Prize money (CN¥)
1	Dou Zecheng	China	13	1,144,350
2	Charlie Saxon	United States	13	871,395
3	Alexander Kang	United States	12	597,575
4	Kim Tae-woo	South Korea	12	578,886
5	Zhang Xinjun	China	11	504,675

2015 season

The table below shows the initial 2015 schedule. "Date" is the ending date of each event. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament. All tournaments had a purse of ¥1,200,000.

Date	Tournament	Winner	OWGR pts
5 Apr	Buick Open	Josh Geary (1)	6
17 May	Eternal Courtyard Open	Chan Shih-chang (1)	6
24 May	United Investment Real Estate Wuhan Open	Justin Shin (1)	6
31 May	Lanhai Open	Josh Geary (2)	6
13 Sep	Pingan Bank Open	Eugene Wong (1)	6
27 Sep	Cadillac Championship	Bryden Macpherson (1)	6
4 Oct	Yulongwan Yunnan Open	Josh Geary (3)	6
11 Oct	Lushan Open	Bryden Macpherson (2)	6
18 Oct	Chongqing Jiangnan NewTown KingRun Open	Zhang Xinjun (2)	6
22 Nov	Nine Dragons Open	Chao Haimeng (1)	6
29 Nov	Hainan Open	Zhang Huilin (1)	6
6 Dec	Capital Airline – HNA Real Estate Championship	He Zeyu (1)	7

Web.com Tour qualifiers

The top five players on the Order of Merit earned Web.com Tour cards for 2016.

Rank	Player	Country	Events	Prize money (CN¥)
1	Bryden Macpherson	Australia	8	769,960
2	Josh Geary	New Zealand	9	747,230
3	Zhang Xinjun	China	12	545,046
4	Dou Zecheng	China	12	483,813
5	Eugene Wong	Canada	11	454,768

2014 season

The table below shows the initial 2014 schedule. "Date" is the ending date of each event. OWGR is the number of Official World Golf Ranking points awarded for that tournament. All tournaments had a purse of ¥1,200,000.

Date	Tournament	Winner	OWGR pts
20 Apr	Mission Hills Haikou Open	Wang Jeung-hun (1)	6
4 May	Buick Open	Sam Chien (1)	6
18 May	United Investment Real Estate Wuhan Open	Brett Drewitt (1)	6
8 Jun	Lanhai Open	David McKenzie (1)	6
15 Jun	Earls Beijing Open	Zhang Xinjun (1)	6
10 Aug	Yulongwan Yunnan Open	Gunn Charoenkul (1)	6
7 Sep	Chateau Junding Penglai Open	Todd Baek (1)	6
14 Sep	Cadillac Championship	David McKenzie (2)	6
28 Sep	Jianye Tianzhu Henan Open	Li Haotong (1)	6
16 Nov	Nine Dragons Open	Jin Cheng (a, 1)	6
23 Nov	Hainan Open	Li Haotong (2)	6
30 Nov	CTS Tycoon Championship	Li Haotong (3)	6

Web.com Tour qualifiers

The top five players on the Order of Merit earned Web.com Tour cards for 2015.

Rank	Player	Country	Events	Prize money (CN¥)
1	Li Haotong	China	12	967,788
2	Zhang Xinjun	China	8	650,600
3	Brett Drewitt	Australia	12	585,196
4	Sam Chien	United States	12	573,951
5	Todd Baek	South Korea	11	535,920

Source^[8]

Order of Merit winners

Year	Winner	Earnings (¥)
2016	Dou Zecheng	1,144,350
2015	Bryden Macpherson	769,960
2014	Li Haotong	967,788
2009	Kurt Barnes	264,750
2008	Liao Guiming	375,125
2007	Li Chao	652,125
2006	Zhang Lianwei	540,000
2005	Li Chao

References

External links

• Official website