13 February 2008, St Andrews, Scotland: Beginning in 2008, the top ranked players in the R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) will receive an exemption into the Second Qualifying Stage of the PGA European Tour Qualifying School. The three highest ranked players in the WAGR Top 10 at the end of week 34 (Sunday 24 August 2008), who have entered Q-School, will be exempt into the second stage.
Peter Dawson, The R&A’s Chief Executive, welcomed the move, commenting, “The standard of play in the amateur game worldwide goes on improving and I am delighted that the R&A rankings have provided a means for this to be recognised by the European Tour in its qualifying process.”
Keith Waters, the PGA European Tour’s Director of International Policy, said "We congratulate The R&A on developing an effective method of ranking the best amateurs around the world. The European Tour is happy to recognise the World Amateur Golf Ranking and welcomes the best amateur players to the Tour’s Qualifying School".
The World Amateur Golf Ranking was launched in January 2007 and is produced by The R&A as the global eligibility standard for entry into The Amateur Championship and as a service to amateur golf worldwide. The ranking is a weekly table of playing performance for the world’s top 1500 amateur players in 600 ranking events.
ENDS
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