FUTURES Tour

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The FUTURES Tour, known for sponsorship reasons as the Duramed FUTURES Tour, is the second-tier women's professional golf tour in the United States. It began in Florida in 1981 as the "Tampa Bay Mini Tour," but has since become a national tour that has been designated as the "official developmental tour," of the main U.S. based professional women's golf tour, the LPGA Tour. Duramed, a pharmaceutical company, became the tour's title sponsor in 2006.

Players come from around the world to compete on the FUTURES Tour. In recent years, a particularly strong contingent of players has come from South Korea.

1 Promotion to LPGA
2 2007 Schedule and results
3 Historical tour schedules and results
4 The Big Break
5 External links

[edit] Promotion to LPGA

The five leading money winners at the end of the season earn full membership in the following season's LPGA Tour. Starting with the sixth-ranked player at the end of the season, ten additional Duramed FUTURES Tour players who are not already members of the LPGA, automatically advance into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, bypassing the sectional qualifying tournament. There is no "performance promotion" on the Duramed FUTURES Tour as there is on the Nationwide Tour, in which a player who wins three events in one season is given automatic entry onto the PGA Tour for the rest of the year.

FUTURES Tour graduates include LPGA tournament winners Laura Davies, Cristie Kerr, Christina Kim, Lorena Ochoa, Grace Park and Karrie Webb.

[edit] 2007 Schedule and results

The number in parentheses after winners' names show the player's total number of official money, individual event wins on the FUTURES Tour including that event.

Dates	Tournament	Location	Winner
Mar 9-11	Lakeland Duramed FUTURES Classic	Florida	Lori Atsedes (7)
Mar 16-18	Greater Tampa Duramed FUTURES Classic	Florida	Liz Janangelo (1)
Apr 13-15	The Power of a Dream Golf Classic	Texas
Apr 20-22	Louisiana Pelican Classic	Louisiana
Apr 27-29	Jalapeno Golf Classic	Texas
May 4-6	IOS Golf Classic	Texas
May 18-20	Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City Championship	Kansas
June 1-3	Aurora Health Care Championship	Wisconsin
June 8-10	Horsehoe Casino Golf Classic	Indiana
June 14-17	Michelob ULTRA Duramed FUTURES Players Championship	Illinois
June 22-23	Duramed Championshp	Ohio
June 29-July 1	Team WLF.org Golf Classic	Illinois
July 13-15	CIGNA Golf Classic	Connecticut
July 20-22	Alliance Bank Golf Classic	New York
Aug 3-5	Havenwod-Heritage Heights Golf Classic	New Hampshire
Aug 10-12	Betty Puskar Golf Classic	West Virginia
Aug 17-19	Hunters Oak Golf Classic	Maryland
Aug 24-26	The Gettysburg Championship	Pennsylvania
Sep 7-9	ILOVENY Championship	New York

[edit] Historical tour schedules and results

2006 Duramed FUTURES Tour

[edit] The Big Break

Many of the contestants on The Golf Channel's The Big Break III: Ladies Only, which aired in the Spring of 2005, played on the FUTURES Tour, including Danielle Amiee, who ended up being the show's overall champion. The other players from the show that played on the Futures Tour were Jan Dowling, Valeria Ochoa, runner-up Pamela Crikelair, and LPGA veteran Cindy Miller. Show co-host Stephanie Sparks played on the FUTURES Tour from 1996 to 1999.

The Big Break V: Hawaii, which aired in the spring of 2006, included six additional FUTURES Tour competitiors: Dana Lacey, Ashley Prange, Kim Lewellen, Kristina Tucker, Becky Lucidi and Jeanne Cho. Prange won the competition; Cho was runner-up.

The Big Break VI: Trump National, broadcast in the fall of 2006, included six more FUTURES Tour players: Rachel Bailey, the individual winner of the 2002 Sunbelt Conference Championship at New Mexico State University; Bridget Dwyer, a member of the 2004 NCAA Women's Golf Championship winning team at UCLA; Ashley Gomes, the 2004 WAC Player of the Year and individual winner of the 2004 WAC Championship while at San Jose State University; Sarah Lynn Johnston, the 2004 Southern Conference Player of the Year and individual winner of the 2004 Southern Conference Championship while at Furman University; Kristy McPherson, a three-time NCAA All-American First Team selection and two-time individual winner of the SEC Championship while at The University of South Carolina; and Briana Vega, who holds North Carolina State University's scoring records for 18-holes (68) and 54-holes (216).