Every professional golf tour.
12 major, developmental, women's, senior, and international tours. The full professional pipeline: from the PGA Tour and LPGA at the top, through Korn Ferry and Epson developmental, to the international tours abroad.
Men's Major Tours
3 toursPGA Tour
The premier men's professional golf tour in the world. ~45 events per season across the U.S. and select international stops, culminating in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Tour Championship.
FedEx Cup is the season-long points race that determines tour champion.
DP World Tour
The European-based premier men's tour (formerly the European Tour). Co-sanctions selected events with the PGA Tour. Season culminates in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Critical pathway for non-U.S. players to PGA Tour membership via top-10 Race to Dubai finish.
Top-10 finish on the Race to Dubai earns PGA Tour membership.
LIV Golf League
LIV GolfSaudi Public Investment Fund-backed men's golf league launched in 2022. Team-based, 54-hole no-cut format, 14-event regular season. Negotiations with the PGA Tour over a unified ecosystem remain unresolved years after the 2023 framework agreement; LIV continues as a stand-alone competitor with its own qualifying via LIV Promotions.
Team format + 54 holes + no cut, radical departure from traditional tour structure.
Men's Developmental Tours
2 toursKorn Ferry Tour
The official PGA Tour developmental tour. Top 30 in season-long points list earn PGA Tour cards for the following season. Korn Ferry Q-School and Finals are the primary pathway from amateur/mini-tour status to the PGA Tour.
Top 30 finish = PGA Tour card. The fastest route to the big tour.
PGA Tour Americas
Combined Latin America + Canada developmental tour, launched 2024 (merger of PGA Tour Latinoamérica and Mackenzie Tour). Top 10 in season-long points earn Korn Ferry Tour membership.
Top 10 = Korn Ferry Tour membership.
Women's Tours
3 toursLPGA Tour
The premier women's professional golf tour. ~35 events per season worldwide. CME Group Tour Championship is the season-ending event; Race to CME Globe determines season champion.
Ladies European Tour
LETEuropean-based women's tour, partnered with LPGA in a strategic alliance. Top finishers can earn LPGA Tour membership via co-sanctioned events.
Epson Tour
The official LPGA developmental tour. Top 15 in season-long money list earn LPGA Tour cards for the following season. Critical step from college / mini-tour to LPGA.
Top 15 = LPGA Tour membership.
Senior Tours
1 toursInternational Tours
3 toursAsian Tour
The primary men's tour covering Asia. International Series events have purses comparable to mid-tier PGA Tour stops. Pathway for Asian-region players to global tour visibility.
Japan Golf Tour
JGTJapan's premier men's professional tour. Strong domestic golf market in Japan supports a robust schedule with significant purses; many JGT players are top-100 OWGR.
Sunshine Tour
Southern Africa's primary men's professional tour. Co-sanctions select events with the DP World Tour. Historic pipeline for South African pros (Player, Els, Schwartzel, Oosthuizen).
How the tours differ
The biggest split among these tours isn't prize money, it's format. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour, and most of the international tours run 72-hole stroke play with a cut after 36 holes. LIV Golf runs a fixed-roster, no-cut, team-plus-individual format that looks nothing like the others on the list. The U.S. Open is the one event that lets an amateur walk straight into a tour-caliber field; see our U.S. Open qualifying guide for how that works.
A player's route onto any of these tours almost always runs through a developmental tour or Q-School first, sometimes while still carrying amateur status into a sponsor exemption. See Q-School and mini tours for the pipeline below these tours.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf?
All three are men's tours with world ranking points, but they run different models. The PGA Tour is the deepest and richest U.S.-based tour, cut-based stroke play, membership earned through the Korn Ferry Tour or Q-School. The DP World Tour is its European-based counterpart with a similar cut-based structure and its own qualifying school, plus a cooperation agreement that sends its top finishers into PGA Tour membership. LIV Golf is a separate, PIF-backed league with a fixed 13-team roster, no cut, and a shotgun-start format; LIV players are not PGA Tour or DP World Tour members.
How does the Korn Ferry Tour relate to the PGA Tour?
The Korn Ferry Tour is the PGA Tour's own developmental tour, not a separate organization. The top 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list each season earn PGA Tour cards for the following year, and a player who wins three Korn Ferry events in a season is promoted mid-year. It's the primary pipeline onto the PGA Tour.
What's the relationship between the LPGA Tour and the Epson Tour?
Same structure as the men's side. The Epson Tour is the LPGA's official developmental tour; the top 15 finishers on the Epson Tour's season-ending Race for the Card points list earn LPGA Tour cards for the following season. The Ladies European Tour (LET) runs alongside both as Europe's women's tour, with its own qualifying pathway and a cooperative relationship with the LPGA.