The story
Announced in early 1989 by PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman, the "satellite tour" was formalized by the PGA Tour in 1990, originally named the Ben Hogan Tour, sponsored by the Ben Hogan Golf Company. Hogan's company intended to spend $15 million for the tour's first three seasons. "It's very important for me to re-pay my dues," said the aging Hogan.
The first season of 1990 had 30 events, and the typical event purse was $100,000. The fields were intended to consist of 132 golfers. Late in 1992, Nike acquired the title sponsorship and it became the Nike Tour for seven seasons (1993–1999). Buy.com was the next title sponsor with the tour being titled the Buy.com Tour for three seasons (2000–2002).
Nationwide Insurance became the tour's next title sponsors for the start of the 2003 season, with the tour being renamed the Nationwide Tour. After 9+1⁄2 seasons as the Nationwide Tour, Web.com was announced as the new title sponsor in late June 2012. The 10-year sponsorship deal was effective immediately, and the tour's name was changed to the Web.com Tour mid-season. In June 2019, the PGA Tour announced a 10-year deal with Los Angeles–based consulting firm Korn Ferry to replace Web.com as the tour's sponsor.
The vast majority of tournaments have always been hosted within the mainland United States. In 1993 the tour reached beyond those boundaries for the first time, with the Monterrey Open in Mexico. It was an annual fixture on the tour schedule until 2001. The following season, the tour added PGA Tour of Australasia co-sanctioned events in Australia and New Zealand, and the Canadian PGA Championship in Canada. A tournament in Panama was added in 2004, and the tour returned to Mexico in 2008. The tour has also visited Colombia (since 2010), Chile (2012–2015), Brazil (2013–2016), the Dominican Republic (2016–2017) and the Bahamas (since 2017).
From Wikipedia’s article on Korn Ferry Tour, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4