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Tournament Format Discussion

• tibbets 1,043 Posts

  Wed, Jan 21 2009 12:47 PM

   You're probably going to run into some difficulties in February regarding the advent of the full 18 holes at Kiawah.  It would really mess things up if, in the middle of this 'tournament', the format changed.  Not to mention that no one will have played those additional 9 holes to that point, and you run into all kinds of issues.  You might want to consult WGT as to the timeframe of their 18 hole release, whether 'front-9 only' or 'back-9 only' options will be provided in addition to the 'full 18', etc.

  Edit: Add to that new tier and clubs too, which are also scheduled for release around the same time.

• seveking 983 Posts

  Thu, Jan 22 2009 5:55 AM

   Much as some people would love this tournament to run into all sorts of complications, I don't think this will be a problem. We will continue to play the first nine for the early rounds and we'll play two rounds of the first nine holes for the last rounds. We can start playing eighteen holes in March.

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Thu, Jan 22 2009 7:55 AM

  I don't think they'd tell me the release date if I asked them.  They're usually pretty good at keeping things under wraps until the right time.  I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask though.  I could try to ask for an NDA :D

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Sat, Jan 24 2009 4:30 PM

  A lot of you have been suggesting incorporating stroke play into the tournaments.  Since the January tournament started I've spent a lot of time mulling over how to get it work.  I'd thought of various things such as screen shots, threesomes and some other things.  Inevitably, no matter how much I thought about it, I would always come back to the main concern.  What was to stop someone from submitting their best round out of 50 tries?  If people are doing that then I might as well just use scoring average because wouldn't 'qualifying' just become a microcosm of the top 10 anyway?  I had all but dismissed the idea of qualifying as unfeasible.

  I was reading over some particularly good feedback from JaimePBPro on the Feb sign up sheet and it finally hit me like a ton of bricks.  Weekly Stroke Play.  The WGT offers a free weekly stroke play tournament every single week of the year.  Qualifying for the 'major' events (big tourneys 4 times a year like in January) is now feasible and it's just about the best solution that could exist, save one problem.

  Pros:

  Weekly tourneys are free.  It's a guaranteed one-time shot.  Perfect for qualifying rounds.  It might even increase participation in the weekly tourneys.

  Cons:

  Not everyone can play the weekly tourneys.  Anyone from a country that is not included on the official WGT list needs to qualify in another manner.  In order to do 18 holes, qualifying must start 2 weeks in advance.  Would a top 10 player eat a 35 in a weekly or skip our tournament altogether?

  Thoughts?

• seveking 983 Posts

  Sun, Jan 25 2009 4:18 AM

   Obviously you're going to say I'm only saying this because I'm spanish, but the main problem, as you have already said, is that non american, german, british or canadians can't play the weekly Tournaments. Of course, all this would be great if WGT let us play even if it's only for fun, without the prizes, but for some reason I don't know (and they don't seem to be willing to tell) we can't play the tourneys.

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Sun, Jan 25 2009 3:31 PM

  No, I expected objections from internationals, that's why it's in the cons.  Don't worry I'm not gonna do something like this without covering all the bases first.  We just need to figure out another manner in which international players can qualify.

  Eligibility for the weeklies is currently limited to American, Canadian, German and U.K players.  January's tournament included only 5 players from outside of that region.  It wouldn't be terribly difficult to just play with these players 1 on 1 for 18 holes and record that score as their qualifying score.  If I had 2 or 3 more assistant directors, it becomes that much easier.

  I don't mind personally qualifying 5-10 people.  I just don't want to qualify 64+ people. :D

• seveking 983 Posts

  Sat, Jan 31 2009 4:33 AM

   There have been many suggestions as for what to do to qualify for the "Majors", and here goes another one, so that, when the moment comes, we have various options to choose from.

  I suggested at the begginning of the January Tournament creating a league table based on Match Play Results: one point for each game you win plus one point for winning the whole tourney. I suggested it simply as something to add to the fun, so we could compare our usual stroke play results with the match play results. Now, however, I think we could this as an instrument to qualify people into the Majors.

  There would be five different league tables based on the results of the five different tiers. If we wanted, for example, a 32 man Major, then the top six from each league table would qualify plus the two seventh place players who have most points. When we play a Major, all the players return to zero points and we start again.

  The main two problems I can see with this system, and I can't really find a solution to them (maybe somebody will) is that players average will move around. This means they will also change tiers from one month to the next, and they will be on two different league tables: therefore, their points will be spread around these two leagues and they will have less chances of qualifying.

  The second problem is that the number of participants from one month to the next might also change, and the number of tiers would have to change too.

  Can anyone think of any solutions to this, or is my six paragraph comment completely useless? :)

• Typhooncj 9 Posts

  Sat, Jan 31 2009 10:25 PM

  I'd like to help ya with the set ups but being a truck driver, my time is very limited.

  as for the tiers and after last months tourney, 2 would be good enough.. under 70 and 70+ averages. 

  If i was able to help with set ups, I'd go for a 4 day stroke play tourney, just to see if that would work. maybe 50-60 to start with cuts as in real games.  

  also, what would be interesting is moving the pin placement on the greens once in a while. I wonderif that could be done without to much trouble. most of us are getting use to these now and it might make things different for some of the 30-32 game players. 

  p.s.  thanks for all you do...its been fun. and its also one game my wife doesnt *** at me playing...lol!!

   

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Tue, Feb 3 2009 1:32 PM

  Alright, so now we have a free montly WGT International Open.

  That opens a lot of doors for us and you can fully expect there to be a stroke play qualifier for April's major that will utilize March's International Open.  Let's cross our fingers we have a full 18 by then.

   

  To answer your questions, seve. I think you can solve both of those problems by locking people in.  Folks would have to remain in the tier they started in for the duration of the season.  They would also have to know that signing up means full participation for the designated length of time is expected of them.

• TitleistPro 94 Posts

  Wed, Feb 25 2009 7:23 AM

  Just to suck up........thank you nivlac for all of the hard work that you do to make playing on here more pleasurable.  

  It is greatly appreciated.  I enjoy playing in your sponsored tournaments (even tho I didn't make it past the first round  LOL)

  Keep it up and thank you again, 

  God Bless, 

  TP