of the players will also play on other tours when they are able to, and others will be club or teaching professionals who play tournament golf part-time. In Europe there is a well-defined third tier of tours which are independently operated but offer promotion to the Challenge Tour for the most successful players. The four third level tours, known as the Satellite Tours, are the PGA EuroPro Tour, the Alps Tour, the Pro Golf Tour and the Nordic Golf League. Starting July 2015, the four Europe-based third-tier tours was accepted into the OWGR rankings. Below this level there are various minor professional tournaments, some of which are organised into series by national golf associations. In 2016, the Dubai-based MENA Golf Tour announced an affiliation with the Sunshine Tour and was included into the world ranking system. Starting in 2018, the Sunshine Tour-affiliated Big Easy Tour was added to the world rankings. Three lower-level tours offer world ranking points and direct promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour for a top five finish on their Orders of Merit, but they are based outside the United States: PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour China, and PGA Tour Latinoamérica. There is not a well defined US-based third tier. The larger regional tours include the Swing Thought Tour, Gateway Tour, and the APT Tour there is a constantly changing roster of small "mini-tours". The term mini-tour is colloquial and not easy to define, with the larger regional tours carefully avoiding applying the term to themselves. Some of the smaller and lower cost tours prefer the term "developmental tour" asserting that real pro golf with large audiences and great financial opportunities for its players starts at the Korn Ferry Tour level. Either way, below Korn Ferry Tour level there is little possibility of earning a living from the prize money alone and players compete to gain competitive experience. Some are employed as club or teaching professionals and play tournaments part-time, while some may have sponsors or family backing. After the new Korn Ferry Tour Finals was established in 2013, mini-tour purses have decreased and players have moved to the Canada and Latin American tours. There have also been some well known sportsmen from other sports who, after retiring as wealthy men while still at an age when elite golfers are in their prime, have tried their luck as tournament golfers on the developmental tours, but none of