The PGA Tour is the elite tour, played mostly in the US and run under the direction of the company with the same name which also operates the Champions Tour for players over 50 and the developmental Nationwide Tour.

At the end of each year the top 125 money-winners on the PGA Tour receive a Tour card for the following season, which gives them exemption from qualifying for most of the next year's tournaments.

Although the US Open was first staged in 1895, it wasn't until the mid-1920s that a series of events, which came to be recognised as a tour, developed, with tournaments on the West Coast in Florida and Texas. A recognised schedule was first introduced by the players in 1932.

The PGA Tour has only been around in its present form since 1968, when the leading American golfers broke from the PGA of America and started their own organisation.

In 2007 considerable changes were made to the structure of the PGA Tour, which was felt to be suffering as a result of players easing off at the end of the busy mid-summer period, when three of the Majors are played in relatively quick succession.

The Fedex Cup, a points-based competition awarding substantial financial prizes for season-long performance, was introduced, along with the Fall Series, where players towards the lower end of the rankings try and gain the necessary prize-money to remain on the Tour for the following season.

These changes saw several dramatic alterations to the timings of several prestigious PGA Tour events during the year.