Golfing great Tom Watson says the abolition of Qualifying School in America from next season is robbing young players of their “dream”.
Australians Steven Bowditch and Matt Jones were among 25 golfers on Tuesday to secure playing rights to the lucrative US PGA Tour in 2013 after surviving six gruelling rounds of Q-School in California.
But they will also be the last, with players no longer able to gain a card for the US PGA Tour via the three-stage qualifying system.
Instead, from 2013 and beyond, a player can only earn promotion to the main tour by finishing inside the top 25 on the second-tier Web.com Tour money list.
“This new (system) of qualifying for the US Tour is wrong,” said Watson, one of the headline acts for this week’s Australian Open in Sydney.
“Give the guy a chance just once a year to get on the tour.
“It’s hard to get there. They’ve got the Web.com qualifying way, there’s 25 guys there who qualify … but still give a guy a chance to still qualify for the tour.
“Give them the dream.”
The 63-year-old eight-times major winner also fears the new system runs the risk of weakening rival tours.
“It doesn’t give the foreign players a chance to go qualify for the American tour,” Watson said.
“Now they have to play a year on the Web.Com Tour. Now they’ve got to say: ‘I’ve got to make a choice. I’ve got to play an American tour one way or the other.
“If I don’t make it, I’ve got to play a year of the Web.com Tour to make it on the PGA Tour’, and I think that’s wrong.”
Australian Open tournament director Trevor Herden understands Watson’s concerns but doesn’t believe the new system will mean fewer Aussie youngsters making it to the PGA Tour.
“Here’s the thing – there’s always been a way to get onto the tour,” Herden said.
“The players that are always major contenders for tour cards, eight times out of 10 a lot of them have been able to get invites into major tournaments, of which I think they’re still allowed to get seven invites.
“If you look at it from an Australian’s point of view, a young player’s point of view, I would think just like the Q-School that’s going on now, you can go over and somehow get on for a Web.com card and have a year playing Web.com and finish in the top 25.
“The avenue is still open, but I guess now the avenue is now a link to the US Tour by Web.com, not necessarily to walk on the world stage immediately.
“Is that a bad thing? Probably not in most cases.”