The FUTURES Tour, known for sponsorship reasons since 2006 as the Duramed FUTURES Tour, is the developmental tour in women’s professional golf in the United States and is part of the LPGA.

The Futures Tour was founded in Florida in 1981 as the “Tampa Bay Mini Tour”, officially became the FUTURES Golf Tour in 1983 and in 1999 become a national tour designated as the “official developmental tour,” of the U.S. based professional women’s golf tour, the LPGA Tour. Grace Park, Marilyn Lovander and Audra Burks were the first players to receive automatic LPGA Tour exempt status by finishing one, two, and three on the FUTURES Golf Tour Money List. Duramed, a pharmaceutical company, became the tour’s title sponsor in 2006.

On July 18, 2007, the LPGA announced that it had acquired the FUTURES Tour effective immediately, “bringing women’s professional golf now under one umbrella.” Previously the FUTURES Tour had operated as a licensee of the 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.

Schedule

Link To Duramed Futures Tour 2008 Tournament Schedule

Top Five Players

1. Mindy Kim was born in Seoul South Korea on July 5th 1989. Mindy turned professional in 2007 and so far in 2008 Mindy has two great victories under her belt Mercedes-Benz of Kansas city Championship and Aurora Health Care Championship.

2. Vicky Hurst Competed in two U.S. Women’s Open Championships (2006, 2007). Named the 2008 AJGA Rolex Player of the Year. Two-time Rolex Junior First-Team All-American selection and has a sister, Kelly, on the Florida women’s golf team. Ranked No. 1 in the Polo Golf Rankings after three AJGA victories and eight top-10 finishes in 2007.Was a U.S. Open qualifier and advanced to the round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Won The PING Invitational by five strokes, the last event on the AJGA calendar in 2007.Earned berths in 2007 for the Canon Cup East Team and PING Junior Solheim U.S. Cup Team.>Graced the cover of Golfweek prior to the Duramed FUTURES Tour season debut.

3. M. J. Hur

4. Leah Wigger Recorded twenty top-10 finishes in collegiate competition, including one win, while at the University of Virginia. Four-time NGCA Academic All-American selection (2004-2007). Runner-up at the 2005 NCAA East Regional and the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships. Runner-up at the 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship. Winner of the 2006 Women’s Eastern Amateur Championship. Competed in the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open Championship.Winner of the 2007 Harder Hall Invitational. Current member of the LPGA Tour (2008).

5. Jessica Shepley Winner of the 2001 Ontario Junior Ladies’ Golf Match Play Championship. Winner of the 2001 Ontario Ladies’ Amateur Golf Championship. Two-time Southeastern Conference (SEC) All-Conference First Team selection while at the University of Tennessee (2002, 2003). Finished fifth individually at the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship. Finished fourth individually at the 2003 and 2004 SEC Championship. Two-time NGCA Academic All-American Honorable Mention selection (2003, 2004). Quarter-finalist at the 2004 Women’s North and South Amateur Championship. Competed in the 2006 CN Canadian Women’s Open.