Reason for the wraparound season, I think
Tour school starts in October and goes into early December; it's 3 stages long and spaced out with about 3 weeks between stages/tournaments. So, once the Tour Championship is complete, in October, i.e. end of the season, they used to have what was called the "silly season" before the Tour would start up in January with the Tournament of Champions in Hawai'i. The "silly season" was a bunch of random tournaments with no real purpose, some of which were team tourneys, etc. The Tour decided to change their season as pro golf prospered, thanks to Tiger. Now these tourneys have more meaning as they're included in the entire tour season.
I'm not thrilled by this either, but that's how it's evolved. Golf is more global than ever, now year-round.
Ryan Blaum is another Duke grad on tour this year, fyi.
Go Streels and Go Ryan!!!
Duke "4 years of Q-school is not a fun thing" taylor