NGA Hooters Tour

The NGA Hooters Tour is a developmental men's golf tour in the United States. It includes approximately eighteen 72-hole events each year throughout the US South and Midwest. The Hooters Tour also runs a highly successful Winter Series called The Bridgestone Winter Series featuring 12 events and located in Central Florida, as well as a summertime Carolina Series featuring 19 events located mainly in Charlotte, NC & Myrtle Beach, SC. Entry fees range from $725 for the Winter and Carolina Series events, to $1200 for the regular tour events, and prizes are paid out primarily from those entry fees. Winter and Carolina Series purses are generally around $80,000 while regular tour purses are $200,000 guaranteed each week. All told, Hooters Tour players will tee it up for more than $6.2 million dollars in 2008.

Three men's pro golf tours based in the United States pay out more in prize money than the Hooters Tour. The greatest competition is in the highest-paying PGA Tour. The second-tier Nationwide Tour offers prizes smaller than the PGA Tour but attracts many up-and-coming golfers trying to obtain their PGA Tour cards. The Champions Tour, which is restricted to competitors over the age of 50, has prize levels between the PGA and Nationwide Tours. Using a baseball analogy, the Hooters Tour could be seen as AA (double-A), with the Nationwide Tour being Triple a (AAA) and the PGA Tour being the Majors.

Whereas the PGA TOUR corporation organizes its namesake tour, the Nationwide Tour, and the Champions Tour, the Hooters Tour is run by a separate organization with no affiliation to the PGA. The NGA Hooters Tour is a private company founded by T.C. "Rick" Jordan in 1988 and later sold to Hooters restaurant chain owner Bob Brooks in 1994. The Tour is headquartered in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Unlike the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour, for which prize funds are provided by sponsors, the bulk of the prize fund paid out in Hooters Tour events comes from player entry fees. Like poker tournaments, players are competing to win back their entry fees (and the entry fees from others). However, thanks in part to national sponsorship, Hooters Tour players actually play for 116% of their entry fees, while other developmental tours typically pay back only 75-80% of entry fees. In 2007 the total prize fund was over $3.6 million dollars, the leading money winner had earnings of $122,880, and 15 others made $54,000 or more. In addition in 2007, The Hooters Tour paid for their top 5 points leaders PGA Tour Qualifying School entry fees (Typically $4500 per person).

The 2008 schedule [http://www.ngahooters.tourgolfscores.com/gscode/tlist.cfm] features 18 events each with at least $200,000 in guaranteed prize funds. This is approximately one-fifth of the prize money available on the second-tier Nationwide Tour, which has over thirty events with prize pools of $475,000 to $775,000, and little more than one percent of that on the PGA Tour, which has forty-eight events with an average prize pool over five million dollars per event.

Each event in the Hooters Tour generally follows the same structure. Entry fees range from $1000 to $1200, depending on Tour membership, amateur status, and if one plays in the qualifier. A field of 168 players start on Thursday, playing one round of 18 holes each day. After two rounds, the top 60 players and ties continue on to the third and fourth round of play. Players that make the second-round cut are in the money, which ranges (approximately) from $900 to $33,566. The 168-player field is first filled by "exempt" members of the Tour. A player will usually be granted exemption by good performance in previous years (e.g. by being one of the highest money winners in the previous season) or by performing well during one of the four ranking schools held by the Tour each winter. Only the top 10% of players from the ranking school are fully exempt; the rest gain exempt status partway through the season. Ten players from a qualifier played the Monday before the event are also granted entry; less than ten if there are fewer than 16 players in the qualifier, but more players if there are open spots in the field. More detailed information on events, membership, etc. can be found in the Player's Handbook [http://ngahooterstour.com/pro/handbook.html] .

The Hooters Tour has helped more players acquire PGA Tour, Champions Tour, and Nationwide Tour cards than any other developmental tour, mainly because Hooters Tour events mirror PGA and Nationwide Tour events in that they are week long, 72 hole events, with pro-ams, and practice rounds. Like the PGA and Nationwide Tours, Hooters Tour players must wear long pants and walk (no carts), follow the same strict play and scoring rules, and exhibit professional conduct both on and off the course.

Former players on the NGA Hooters Tour

Major championship winners:
*Ben Curtis 2003 British Open
*John Daly 1991 PGA, 1995 British Open
*Jim Furyk 2003 US Open
*Lee Janzen 1993 & 1998 US Open
*Tom Lehman 1996 British Open
*Shaun Micheel 2003 PGA Championship
*David Toms 2001 PGA Championship
*Zach Johnson 2007 Masters ChampionOther golfers who have won at least one PGA Tour event:
*Chad Campbell
*Spike McRoy
*Vaughn Taylor
*Will MacKenzie
*Eric Axley
*Mark Wilson
*Boo Weekley
*Craig Perks

At PGA Tour Qualifying School 42% (11-26) of those players who earned their 2008 PGA Tour card played on the Hooters Tour.

25 of the 53 players (47%) who earned full exempt status on The Nationwide Tour have played on the Hooters Tour in the past.

All told, of the 169 players that competed in the 6 round final stage, an amazing 42% (71 players) have played on the NGA/Hooters Tour in the past.

All-Time win leaders

This is a list of golfers who have won four or more official money events.

The list is complete through September 2, 2007.

*Players with a yellow background have won 1 PGA Tour event.
*Players with a green background have won 2 or more PGA Tour events.
*Players with a purple background have won 1 Nationwide Tour event.
*Players with a blue background have won 2 or more Nationwide Tour events.
*Players in bold have won at least one major championship.

ee also

*Alps Tour - a third-level tour played in France, Italy and several nearby countries
*EPD Tour - a third level tour based in Germany
*PGA EuroPro Tour - a third-level tour based in the United Kingdom
*The Quicksilver Classic - Tournament part of Hooters Tour

External links

* [http://www.ngahooterstour.com/ Official site]