Dear Linda,
I am here to bother you again but first many thanks for your
help to all my previous requests.
We had concluded our two-day stroke play competition a few
days ago. And this question has been bothering me if we did it right. We did
the USGA tiebreaker system which is: last 9, last 6, last 3 and so on only on
the 2nd game.
What would be the most fair and equitable tiebreaker for
this situation?
Two players tied for first place and below are their net
scores:
Player 1 = 73 & 73 for 146
Player 2 = 75 & 71 for 146
Thanks so much again for your help.
Lou from Daly City, California
Dear Lou,
I understand why you are having second thoughts. One
competitor played slightly better the first day, and the other made a small
improvement on the second day. They played to a tie, and you are uncomfortable
awarding a championship to the fellow who was fortunate enough to have his
better round on the second day.
I am sympathetic to your discomfort, and I have a
recommendation for future tournaments:
First of all, the Committee needs to decide in advance of the tournament how a tie
for first place will be broken, and it should publish that decision. If the
Committee informed the players that the USGA-recommended tiebreak (back 9–6–3) would
be used for the scores on the second day, there should be no question about
your procedure.
However, I would not recommend a match-of-cards tiebreak for
first place in a championship tournament. These two men finished in a dead
heat, and they deserve to settle the competition on the course. Depending on
your particular circumstances, you can have an 18-hole playoff, a hole-by-hole
playoff (the first player with the lower score on a hole wins, commonly called “sudden
death”), or a three-hole playoff followed by sudden death. These are the most
common choices for a playoff. For my tournaments, I prefer the three-hole
option, as it is relatively quick and strikes me as a fair resolution.
Whatever your decision, don’t forget that each player is
entitled to his handicap strokes in a net tournament. If you choose to match
cards, use the net score for the
back nine, back six, etc. If you have a three-hole playoff, you will total each
player’s net score for the three
holes. In sudden death, each player’s score includes his handicap strokes for
each hole played.
Linda
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