2006 PGA Results/Schedule

There are 49 events in 44 weeks, including one team event with no prize money, so there are 48 events with prize money. Most members of the tour play between 20 and 30 tournaments in the season. The geography of the tour is determined by the weather. It starts in Hawaii in January and spends most of its first two months in California and Arizona during what is known as the "West Coast Swing," and then moves to the American Southeast for the "Southern Swing." Each swing culminates in a significant tour event. In April, tour events begin to drift north. The summer months are spent mainly in the Northeast and the Midwest, and in the fall the tour heads south again.

In most of the regular events on tour, the field is either 132, 144 or 156 players, depending on time zones. After two rounds, there is a cut where the top 70 players and ties will advance to the next rounds and earn money. The winner usually receives 18% of the total purse.

The 2006 season is below. The status designations shown in the table are explained in the next subsection. The major championships are shown in bold. The numbers in brackets after the winners' names show the number of career wins they had on the PGA Tour up to and including that event.

• Majors: The four leading annual events in world golf. The British Open is the only PGA TOUR event played outside of the United States and Canada.
• World Golf Championships: A set of events co-sanctioned by the International Federation of PGA Tours which attract the leading golfers from all over the world, including those who are not members of the PGA TOUR.
• Special: The "special" status of the The PLAYERS Championship is based on the fact that it is the only event apart from the majors and the World Golf Championships which attracts entries from almost all of the world's elite golfers. Official recognition is given to its unique position in the sport by the Official World Golf Rankings, which allocate it a fixed number of points (which is 20% less than for a major), whereas the number of points allocated to "regular" events is dependent on the rankings of the players who enter each year, and is only determined once the entry list is finalized. It is increasingly referred to by the media as the "Fifth major". There is talk of making THE PLAYERS Championship an official major.
• Small field: The season starts and finishes with two elite events for fields which are about 30-strong instead of the usual 150 or so.
• Team: A United States team of 12 elite players competes in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup in alternate years. The Ryder Cup is arguably the highest profile event in golf, outranking the majors. The Presidents Cup is less well established, but is still the main event of the week when it is played. There is no prize money in these events, so they are irrelevant to the money list.
• Regular: Routine weekly tour events. The "regular" events do vary in status, but the table does not indicate which of them are more prestigious because this is a subjective matter. The relative status of the events is not based on the size of the prize fund to a very large degree, as this doesn't vary much. Some of the other factors which determine the status of a tournament are:
  • Its position in the schedule, which influences the number of leading players that choose to enter.
  • Its age and the distinction of its past champions.
  • The repute of the course on which it is played.
  • Any associations with "legends of golf". Four events in particular have such associations:
    • The EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the only current event named after a golfer (Byron Nelson).
    • The Bank of America Colonial, closely identified with Ben Hogan.
    • The Bay Hill Invitational, closely identified with Arnold Palmer, and played at a resort he owns; in 2007, the event will be renamed the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
    • The Memorial Tournament, founded by Jack Nicklaus, played on a course he designed, and annually honoring a selected "legend".
• Invitational: These events are similar to the regular ones, but have a slightly smaller (around 100-110 players), selective field. The top 70 on the previous year's money list are fully exempt into invitationals, as well as past champions of the event, and an increased amount of sponsor's exemptions. Invitational tournaments include the Bank of America Colonial, the Bay Hill Invitational, the Verizon Heritage, the Memorial Tournament and others. The tournaments usually do have an association with a golf legend, or in the case of the Verizon Heritage, a famous course.
• Secondary: Events which are played in the same week as a higher status tournament and therefore have weakened fields and reduced prize money. They are often considered an opportunity for players on the bubble (near or below 125th or 150th) in the money list to move up more easily or to attempt an easier two-year exemption for winning a tournament.

There are also a number of events which are recognized by the PGA TOUR, but which do not count towards the official money list. Most of these take place in the off season (November and December). This slate of unofficial events (which includes the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge, the Franklin Templeton Shootout, the Skins Game, etc.) is referred to as the "Challenge Season" or, less approvingly, the "Silly Season".