NGA Hooters Tour

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The NGA Hooters Tour is a third-level men's golf tour in the United States. It includes approximately thirty 72-hole events each year throughout the US South and Midwest. Entry fees average around $600, and prizes are paid out primarily from those entry fees.

Four 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. The Gateway Tour offers a level of competition similar to the Hooters Tour, is likewise primarily funded by player-paid entry fees, but offers more events and a larger total prize pool. Using a baseball analogy, the Hooters Tour could be seen as AA (double-A), with the Nationwide Tour being 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 and the Gateway Tour are run by a separate organizations. 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). In 2006 the total prize fund was over $3.4 million dollars, and the leading money winner had earnings of $102,000 (compared to the 2006 Gateway Tour money leader who won just under $155,000). The 2007 schedule [1] 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 $500 to $950, 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 $600 to $20,000. 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 [2].

The Tour claims to have 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.

Major championship winners:

Other golfers who have won at least one PGA Tour event:

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