Reply To: Final Round Grouping

[Tommy Briggs]

I absolutely agree there is a value to playing with the leaders in the final round if you are one of the leaders. I also absolutely agree there is a value to knowing how the entire field is doing if you are competing for the lead in your flight. However if you are going to ignore the rest of the field and focus on winning within the final round group you are playing with, you are probably going to find yourself wondering what happened when you are passed by someone behind you.

If you really want to focus on winning your flight we (the WA) needs to use something like Golf Genius, which is used for Fridays Championship round, for the entire tournament. This app allows you to see how the whole field is doing in real time, not just the scores of the group you are playing with. The FSGA in Florida now requires it for all events so you are able at any time to see where you stand in real time.

Regarding the skins games, we figured it out for last years WA and the past two March Championships, it is really not a big deal, unless someone wants to make it a big deal. And as my friend Bob has stated, this is a golf tournament not a skins game, the focus should be on the tournament not the skins game. Whoever runs the game tees off last and collects the money on the first day. The first three days have already been paid out by Thursday morning, so all we are talking about is figuring out the skins for the last day. Again if you are running the game tee off last or work with someone to collect cards until the final group comes in.

I think many of you are missing Scott’s point. Yes there are millions of tournaments that arrange for final round groupings based on the leaderboard. There is not ONE single tournament that is doing it with 3,500 plus golfers competing in over 40 separate flights. A PGA event has 70 or so golfers that need to be notified. They have a portal to find their tee times. Most USGA or state sanctioned events have a field of around 144, and maybe 4 – 5 flights. How do you insure 3,000 to 4,000 golfers and over 40 flights are notified what time they tee off the next day? By Text? What if my phone gets lost or my battery dies? By email? What if I don’t have access to my email when I am in Myrtle Beach. How do you insure EVERYONE has received the notification of their tee time, which is going to arrive after 6:00 in the evening the night before.

I have won my flight twice in the last 5 years, and top 5 finishes in two additional years so I speak with a little experience and an obvious commitment to winning. I agree I am going to play some shots differently if I know where I stand against the FIELD, I am not making decisions based on how the other two or three players in my group are doing. Too many times I have lost tournaments to someone 4 – 5 shots back, or won tournaments when I was 4 – 5 shots back on the final day.

I wish I was able to play this year and I will return in 2022, but until then play well my friends, fairways and greens for all of you.