NCAA News Archive - 2004

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Golf committees rate festival involvement better than par


Aug 16, 2004 3:26:48 PM


The NCAA News

The Division II Men's and Women's Golf Committees praised the inaugural Division II National Championships Festival held in May, citing an enhanced student-athlete experience at the six-championship event.

The committees during their recent meetings in Indianapolis discussed the four-day festival held in Orlando, Florida, and supported the idea of future festivals. The only drawback some of the men's committee members noted with this year's event was the relatively remote location of the golf course on which the men's tournament was staged. Though committee members praised the course itself, they noted that the time it took to transport student-athletes to and from the venue (about a 30-minute drive up highly traveled Interstate 4) detracted from some of the festival features.

For example, because of early tee times, some student-athletes were unable to fully enjoy the opening ceremonies the night before. Committee members, in fact, suggested that some of the opening-night attractions be moved to the closing ceremonies in the future to allow more inclusive participation from the student-athletes in attendance.

In addition to discussing festival feedback, the Division II Men's Golf Committee discussed, but ultimately rejected, the idea of a cut after the second or third round of the finals. Though the cut is used in the Division I men's tournament to trim the field, primarily to allow for the best final-day experience for the majority of tournament participants, Division II committee members reasoned that their 20-team championship field does not pose the same time-management challenges as the 30-team field in Division I.

The men's committee also voted to adjust pairings for the 2005 championships to accommodate bracket expansion from 18 teams and 12 individuals to 20 teams and five individuals.

In other actions, the men's committee:

  • Forwarded recommendations for 2005 regional sites to the Division II Championships Committee.

  • Tabled selections for the 2006 finals sites, pending solicitation of additional bids.

  • Approved automatic qualification for 16 conferences.

  • Recommended Doug Warrick, athletics director at the University of South Carolina at Aiken, as committee chair, replacing Grand Canyon University Athletics Director Keith Baker, whose term on the committee expires in September.

    Women's committee actions

    The Division II Women's Golf Committee reaffirmed an earlier modification in the regional format that moves the practice round from Monday to Sunday and the competition days from Tuesday and Wednesday to Monday and Tuesday. The group also recommended regional sites for 2005 and forwarded those selections to the Division II Championships Committee for consideration.

    Women's golf committee members also revisited the 25 percent rule under the Division II regionalization policy, which calls for teams to conduct at least 25 percent of their regular-season competition against Division II in-region teams to be eligible for selection to the championship. The committee is asking the Division II Championships Committee to approve an alternative beginning with the 2005-06 season that allows teams to attend five tournaments hosted by in-region Division II teams that have a field of at least five Division II in-region teams. Committee members believe this allows Division II teams more flexibility in meeting selection requirements when many of the tournaments in which they participate can be populated largely by Division I teams.

    In other actions, the women's committee:

  • Recommended to the Division II Championships Committee that the advice rule revert to the current USGA standard that allows one coach to advise student-athletes from anywhere on the course (as opposed to the fairway only).

  • Recommended Doug Palmer, associate athletics director at the University of West Florida, as committee chair, replacing Minnesota State University Mankato Associate Athletics Director Susan Reinders, whose term on the committee expires in September.


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