HISTORY
DATES ANNOUNCED FOR
2010 MATCH PLAY
The stableford qualifying round for The Championship will be played on Sunday, October 24, with the 16 top scorers progressing to November's (7th, 14th and 21st) match play rounds.
With the exception of November 7 (11.00am), all Sundays have a 12.30pm tee time. Players must report to the starter at least 30 minutes prior to tee time.
Tournament entry fee and prize money will be confirmed on qualifying day.
NOTAH KELLY III WINS
WORLD SERIES XXII
Notah Kelly III has become the 4th player to achieve the coveted home and away double with his World Series victory. During the tournament, Kelly and his playing partner, Edwardo Romero, posted a tournament 4BBB record score of 46 points.
Runner-up Kenny Crenshaw played good, consistent golf all week, emphasised by his win and second placing in the individual events.
Grantief Goosen filled 3rd place. His return to form seemingly helped by the temporary passing of his putting yips - to those watching him putt.
2010 WORLD SERIES NAMED
"LOVE THE PRESIDENT" TOUR
The week of golf will be known as the "Love the President" tour in recognition of the instant mass appeal of our new leader, Davidson Love III. Only weeks after assuming control of the ESG&EC, he has received acceptances from XIX (19) members to play on the Central Coast, a new tournament record.
Approval rating figures supplied by Big Jack Daley, a close advisor to the president, show Love's popularity has reached unprecedented levels, peaking at CXV (115)% in some areas of south-western Sydney. Mr Daley said, "As much as these figures may surprise some, they have been independently audited by Edwardo Romero, a renown numbers man. I think some of the club's powerbrokers backed the right trojan horse in the presidential race."
The Championship is the ESG&EC's second major tournament. Once famously described in Federal Parliament as "combining the pomp, ceremony and tradition of a British royal coronation with the raucous behaviour of German beer hall patrons", the tournament continues to draw record fields and healthy crowds to the challenging Cooks Peninsula links course, the R&A Marrickville.
The popular event has been revamped in recent years under the watchful eye of the Earlwood Comite d'Organisation Des Jeux De Printemps Competition (The Committee). 2003 saw the start of some much needed change with the tournament successfully pushed back a month to avoid the encroaching October sporting crush of finals football and the Melbourne spring racing carnival. The introduction of the highly transparent Dickworth-Lewis system the same year created stand alone and criteria-based handicaps for each of our two majors (this event and the World Series of Golf). In 2004, an October stableford qualifying round, seeding the day's top 16 scorers through to the November match play rounds, was added to the tournament. This simple improvement streamlined opening day and readily accommodates all playing numbers.
EVENT FORMAT
The Committee confirms the tournament dates mid-June after consultation with R&A officials and the ESG&EC astrologer. It is accepted that, where possible, the tournament will have a set schedule - the qualifier to be held the Sunday after the October long weekend and the match play rounds on three consecutive Sundays commencing the weekend after the Melbourne Cup. The semi-finals are set down for the Friday afternoon prior to the final unless both players agree to a change. With that one exception, competitors are not permitted to vary the tournament's nominated times or dates.
The qualifiers meet this way for the Round of 16: Match 1 - Players ranked 1 and 16, Match 2 - Players 8 and 9, Match 3 - Players 5 and 12, Match 4 - Players 4 and 13, Match 5 - Players 3 and 14, Match 6 - Players 6 and 11, Match 7 - Players 7 and 10 and Match 8 - Players 2 and 15. If a qualified player withdraws from the tournament before the match play rounds commence, the highest ranked non-qualifier will be invited into the field and seeded at no.16. All players ranked below the scratched player will move up one position. Once the match play rounds have commenced, no replacements are allowed and a match will be forfeited if a player is unavailable.
The second round of match play comprises Match 9 - winners of matches 1 and 2, Match 10 - winners of matches 3 and 4, Match 11 - winners of matches 5 and 6 and Match 12 - winners of matches 7 and 8.
The first semi-final, Match 13, is between the winners of matches 9 and 10, and second semi-final, Match 14, is between the winners of matches 11 and 12. The two semi-final winners meet in Match 15, the Championship Match.
THE RULES OF GOLF
All ESG&EC events are subject to the rules of golf. If something unusual occurs during your round, the best advice the Committee can give is to consult with your playing partners, both as a matter of courtesy and to check on your proposed course of action, before moving, dropping or playing your ball. On qualifying day, the low marker in each group will be the nominated rules official for his playing partners. If the low marker himself is to be the subject of a contentious decision, the group may check with his counterpart in another group for a ruling.
SCORE CARDS
Players are not permitted to score their own cards on qualifying day - the card, with the players name and handicap clearly shown, must be marked by someone else in the group. The marker must check the player's score after each hole and is responsible for "recording the gross number of strokes at each hole where the player's net score earns one or more points". The Committee is asking experienced markers to also note the number of points scored on the hole as well. If a ball is picked up before the hole is completed, a "w" (for wiped) or "-" is to be recorded as the gross score and "0" or "-" in the stableford points column. On completion of the round the marker must sign the card and return it to the player. The player must check that the gross number of strokes recorded for each hole is correct, sign the card and return it to the tournament starter. It will be the starter's responsibility to ensure that the allocated stableford points and totals are correct.
HANDICAPS
All ESG&EC tournaments are played under the Dickworth-Lewis handicapping system. The system imposes two restrictions on The Championship - the maximum individual handicap is 34 and, since the R&A is a Par 60 course, albeit the toughest and most scenic Par 60 in the land, no match shall have a handicap difference of greater than 27.
MATCH INDEX
The match index does not necessarily refer to the difficulty of each hole but rather attempts to provide an even distribution of stokes during a match. Linking the match handicap (the difference between the handicaps of the two players) to the match index gives you the holes on which the player with the higher handicap will receive a one (or if the match handicap is greater than 18 then a two) shot reduction from his score.
STROKE INDEX
Any ties in the stableford qualifier will be decided by the following count back - last 9 holes, last 6 holes, last 3 holes and last hole.
MATCH PLAY CONCESSIONS
Conceding is a feature of match play. Players may concede their opponent to have holed out with their next stroke and the ball may be removed by either player with a club or otherwise. A player may concede a hole or a match at any time prior to the conclusion of the hole or the match. Concession of a stroke, hole or match may not be declined, nor withdrawn.