PGA Tour University was launched in 2020 to offer a clear pathway to the professional game for some of the best men’s college golfers.
The system ranks players based on their average performance in eligible tournaments, with the top golfer at the end of the college golf season earning a coveted PGA Tour card.
There is little to separate the top four in the rankings at this stage of the 2024/25 season. Auburn’s Brendan Valdes leads the way, with University of North Carolina’s David Ford and Arizona State duo Jose Luis Ballester and Preston Summerhays completing the top four.
They are all playing in this week’s Williams Cup at Eagle Point Golf Club in North Carolina, and, as first reported by Cameron Jourdan of Golfweek, the top three were grouped together for the first round.
Valdes entered the tournament in fine form having finished runner-up at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational earlier in the month, although the man who beat him was Ford, who will be looking to chase the leader in the PGA Tour University standings down this week.
As for Ballester, he's also on a great run after finishing T2 in September's Sahalee Players Championship before winning the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational later in the month. Earlier in the year, he became the first Spaniard to win the US Amateur.
There is still plenty of time left in the season regardless of the outcome of this week's event, which concludes on Tuesday, with the next recipients of a PGA Tour card not being confirmed until after the 2025 NCAA Division I Championship on 28 May.
However, the grouping offers a golden opportunity for the frontrunners to make a statement as the battle for a place on the PGA Tour continues.
Whoever does earn the PGA Tour card will become only the third player to achieve it via PGA Tour University.
That’s because, to begin with, the player at the top of the standings at the end of the season earned a Korn Ferry Tour card, but the stakes were raised considerably in 2023 when the prize for finishing top was changed to a place on the PGA Tour.
Texas Tech senior Ludvig Aberg became the first player to gain a spot on the PGA Tour straight out of college when he topped the standings after that season’s NCAA Division I Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona.
He was followed by Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen, who turned professional in June after taking the top spot for the 2023/24 season.
For those who ultimately miss out on first position at the end of the season, PGA Tour University offers other routes to the professional game, with those placed between second and 25th earning either a Korn Ferry Tour card or membership of the PGA Tour Americas.
