THE PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE
Introduction:
The President’s Challenge will be an individual handicapped stroke play tournament open to all members of the APL golf league. The tournament shall be conducted throughout the season (concurrent with regular flight play) with the intent that the championship round shall be played during the September APL golf league tournament.
Definitions:
Match – nine-hole stroke play competition between two golfers
Round – two nine-hole matches or one eighteen-hole match
Home course – course used by a golfer for normal flight play (see Rule 8)
Rules:
1. Unless otherwise stated, standard APL Golf League Rules apply.
2. All play is individual stroke play.
3. Current APL League handicap indices will be used to calculate match handicaps.
4. A tournament secretary will oversee the administration of the tournament.
5. Tournament seeds will be determined by indices at the close of registration.
a. Lowest starting index will be number one (highest) seed, second lowest starting index will be number two seed, etc.
6. Registered golfers will be broken up into four brackets based on seeds.
a. Seeds one through four will be first seeds in their bracket, seeds five through eight will be second seeds, etc.
b. In the event of an uneven bracket, “play in” matches shall be used to reduce the field to an even bracket (see Appendix A)
7. “Play in” matches will be between the two lowest seeds (highest indices) in a given bracket.
a. The play in match shall be in the bracket with the first seed with the lowest index.
b. In the event that more than one play in match is required, the next play in match shall be in the bracket with the first seed with the second lowest index, the third in the bracket with the third lowest index, and the fourth in the bracket with the fourth lowest index.
c. There should not be more than one play in match in any bracket.
8. A golfer’s home course shall be the one used for normal flight play
a. If a golfer plays in more than one flight at different courses, he or she must indicate at the time of registration which course will be considered their home course.
b. Tournament only golfers (TOGs) must select one of the flight courses as their home course.
9. Each round should consist of two golfers playing two nine-hole matches to make an eighteen-hole net score.
a. The first match should be at the higher seed’s home course.
b. The second match should be at the lower seed’s home course.
c. Upon mutual agreement, the two participants of a given round may choose to complete their matches in any order or at any course in order to complete them in a timely manner.
10. Overall winner shall be determined by an eighteen-hole stroke play match (Championship Match) between the four bracket winners.
a. The Championship Match shall take place at the APL Golf League September Banquet Tournament.
b. Tournament entry fees will be used to by the League to subsidize Championship Match registration fees for the four bracket winners.
c. The final foursome may elect to play the Championship Match at another mutually agreeable course but the League will not cover the fees for this match.
Tie break procedures:
In the event of a tie at the completion of a round, the following tie break procedure shall be used:
1. Low net “away” score RELATIVE TO PAR. If both golfers have the same “home” course, this step will be skipped.
2. Combined net score of lowest handicap (“hardest”) holes at each course. If still tied, repeat procedure with successively lowest handicap holes.
3. Coin toss. Coin flipped by higher seed, called by lower seed.
4. Additionally, the participants may choose to skip the coin toss (or any of the other steps) and settle the tie by any mutually agreed upon manner IF TIME PERMITS.
Etiquette, practices and procedures:
Normal APL rules and regulations shall apply to all play. This tournament is expected to be a fun event and provide an opportunity to play courses that a golfer may not normally play and to meet other members of the league. It should be treated as such.
This tournament shall be open to all flight golfers and tournament only golfers with an established handicap but will require each golfer to take an ACTIVE role in ensuring that they play their matches in a timely manner. To that end, ONLY GOLFERS WILLING TO MAKE THE EXTRA COMMITMENT TO PLAY THE EXTRA MATCHES SHOULD PARTICIPATE. The brackets and schedule will be available on the APL golf league website as with a regular flight but this tournament is outside the normal operation of the league flight play and as such, the onus for scheduling individual matches shall fall to the individual participants. The tournament secretary will be expected to inform participants of their opponent for the next round and monitor rounds which appear to be falling behind schedule.
As a general guideline, the golfers participating in a particular match shall agree on a time and day to play and it shall be up to the “home” golfer to schedule the tee time at the “home” course. Matches can be played on any day of the week as long as the participants agree. Participants are encouraged to be flexible with scheduling to ensure smooth completion of all matches. Proactive communication will be essential in making this tournament a success. A round may start as soon as a pairing has been determined by the bracket. No reseeding shall take place between rounds.
Depending on the number of participants, the expectation is that a round (two nine-hole matches) should take on the order of three to four weeks to complete. With the bracket system and starting with a field of sixty four (64) participants, this expectation would allow the final foursome to be determined in twelve (12) to sixteen (16) weeks. In the event that the original field contains more than this number, the expected time for a round shall be reduced to two to three weeks or the bracket scheme may be altered to accommodate the additional numbers such that play is completed in time. Play-in rounds could also be reduced from two nine-hole matches to one if necessary.
The tournament secretary is expected to monitor progress of the matches and enter scores into the website as needed. As a courtesy to the tournament secretary, when a match is scheduled, the “home” golfer should inform the tournament secretary that a match has been scheduled so that he or she will know when to expect the card. The “home” golfer shall also be responsible for ensuring that the signed match card is sent to the tournament secretary. Cards can be sent to the tournament secretary through the normal means (interoffice mail, scanned and emailed, etc).
Again, this is expected to be a fun event and provide an opportunity to play different courses and meet new people and it should be treated as such.
Appendix A: Play in matches.
Ideally, the number of registered golfers will be divisible by four to make for the same number of golfers in each bracket. This will most likely not be the case. For example, if there are thirty three participants, three brackets will have eight golfers and one bracket will have nine golfers. To resolve this uneven bracket, the two lowest seeded (highest indices) golfers will play one round (two nine-hole matches) to determine which golfer is the eighth seed. The loser of this round is out of the tournament.
Figure 1 is an example of an uneven bracket.
Figure 1 - Uneven bracket
In this example, Paul and Brian have the two highest handicap indices and are therefore the two lowest seeds. Paul and Brian will play to determine which one of them will continue on in the tournament. Suppose Paul and Brian play their 18 holes and Paul shoots a combined net 76 and Brian shoots a combined net 75. Brian wins and moves on to play top seeded Annika. This is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - Bracket after play in match