ESG&EC Match Play Championship

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 Comite d'Organisation Des Jeux De Printemps Competition.  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, a stableford qualifying round was added to the tournament and the top 16 scorers were seeded through to the match play rounds.  This simple improvement has streamlined opening day and readily accommodates all playing numbers.

The Comite d'Organisation 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-final matches are set down for the Friday afternoon prior to the final unless both players and President Love III (Ret.) 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.

All ESG&EC events are subject to the rules of golf.  If something unusual occurs during your round, the best advice the Comite d'Organisation 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.

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".   Experienced markers can also note the number of points scored on the hole.  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.

The ESG&EC uses the world renowned Dickworth-Lewis Handicapping System for all tournaments.

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 one in the land, no match shall have a handicap difference of greater than 27.

You can view the handicaps for the next tournament by selecting from the left column menu on this page.

The stroke index is traditionally drawn up by numbering the holes in the order of difficulty to achieve par.  However clubs usually like to spread the strokes fairly evenly over the two nines so if stroke index 1 is in the first nine holes, stroke index 2 should be in the second nine holes, and so on.  Strokes beyond 18 may be allocated in the same or different order to the first 18.

Any ties in the stableford qualifier will be decided by the following count back - last 9 holes, last 6 holes, last 3 holes and and finally hole-by-hole from the 18th hole.

The match index does not refer to the difficulty of each hole but rather attempts to provide an even distribution of strokes 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 stroke, or if the match handicap is greater than 18, two strokes.

A match which ends all square will be played off hole-by-hole until someone wins a hole.  The play-off starts on the hole where the match began and handicap strokes should be given/received on the same holes as per the first 18 holes.

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.