I am extremely disappointed in how WGT has handled the Virtual Tour since the twitch playoff debacle in 2014. The premise of what the Virtual Tour was SUPPOSED to be was fantastic in my opinion! Being a Legend at the time, I was excited to see all those top players gunning to make the top 4 and possibly fly to Florida to play to LIVE! However, in typical WGT fashion, the execution and planning were poorly managed. Last years Virtual Tour was a far cry from 2014's build up to the playoffs but they at least held quarterly matches to make things somewhat interesting and a bit more competitive for the upper tiers.
This year's Virtual Tour has been downright wretched! Most notably, cutting purses in half, dropping the quarterly "major" this month from three rounds to two rounds, and the biggest head scratch of them all ... offering a one month crown to the winner! I don't see the relevancy of giving out a crown; is there a professional tour somewhere out there that awards crowns to the winners?
I sincerely hope WGT will explore new ways to make the 2017 Virtual Tour a true season long competition versus the one-and-done monthly "cash grab" it has evolved into today. How about holding a "Q School" Qualifier towards the end of this year and allowing the top XX (pick a number) finishers in the Champion tier to move into the Tour Champion tier and compete in a LEGIT (since they claim to have this new security sweep software in place now) season long competition.
I would venture to guess most would even be open to seeing a purse cut in the Tour Champion tier in favor of a TRUE year-long competition. Just my two cents anyway ... I would certainly like to hear what other top players think, along with some other suggestions to potentially improve it for 2017.