Qualifying system approved for Champions Tour events

It just got harder for golfers who aren’t former PGA Tour players to get into Champions Tour events. Sort of. But if they get in them and do well, it will pay off.

The PGA Tour Policy Board approved on Monday a new qualifying system for the 50-and-over tour.

Under the new system, a player will have unlimited access to weekly qualifying events if he meets one of the following criteria:

-- Finishes top-30 and ties at the National Qualifying Tournament

-- Past winner of either a PGA TOUR or Champions Tour official event

-- Veteran Member (100 PGA TOUR cuts made or 100 Champions Tour top-48 finishes or a combination totaling a minimum of 150)

-- Finishes 75th or better on the Prior Year Money List

-- Finished in the top six in the PGA Section-run “Pre-Qualifier.”

Yes, a pre-qualifier, run by each local PGA Section, will be played sometime the week prior to the Champions Tour event. A maximum of six spots in the qualifier will be available out of the pre-qualifier. One of the six players may be designated by the Section.

Out of the qualifier itself — which will be played on Monday or Tuesday of tournament week — nine spots will be available in that week’s event. So doing well in the year-end National Qualifying Tournament means a little less.

In a related decision, Champions Tour Tournament Regulations will be amended to grant any player, not otherwise eligible, a spot in the next open, full-field tournament if he finishes 10th (including ties for 10th) or better in a Champions Tour event. PGA Tour events have a similar rule.

“This new system was designed to give more players more opportunities to taste success on the Champions Tour,” Champions Tour president Rick George said in a press release. “We have increased the number of individual tournament qualifying positions from two to nine, which is almost 12 percent of the field.”

In the event a qualifier wins a Champions Tour event, he will be granted a 12-month exemption and be added to the field of those tournaments he enters.

In 2007, a standard 78-player field will be comprised of 30 available players each off both the Prior Year Money and All-Time Money lists, four players via the Career Victory Category and five Sponsor Exemptions (two restricted/three unrestricted), in addition to the nine qualifying spots.

The National Qualifying Tournament will be played at the TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs from Nov. 15-18. The Finals will be four rounds instead of six, with a cut to the low 70 and ties after two rounds. Players may be 49 years of age to enter, but must turn 50 prior to the Tour’s 10th open, full-field tournament of the ensuing season.

The top-10 finishers from the PGA Senior Club Professional Championship (formerly top five) are exempt into the National Finals. The top 30 and ties will be eligible for weekly qualifying events.

Applications for the National Qualifying Tournament will be available on July 14. Players can log on to championstour.com or call PGA Tour national headquarters at 904-280-2485.

Santos-Ocampo ties for 6th in junior event

Naples’ Carl Santos-Ocampo struggled to a 77 and finished tied for sixth at the American Junior Golf Association’s First American Title Junior Classic in Lutz on Thursday.

Santos-Ocampo, a former Community School of Naples golfer who will play for Notre Dame, entered the final round of the 54-hole event in contention after a second-round 67. Adam Long of Defiance, Mo., shot a 73 for a 212 total, seven shots ahead of Santos-Ocampo.

In the girls division, Michelle Shin of Cape Coral shot a 3-under-par 69 to finish seventh at 220, five shots behind Lindy Duncan of Plantation. Naples’ Courtney Figueroa had a 79 and was 14th at 231.