If you think watching Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open was exciting, wait until the Division I Men’s Golf Championship rolls around next spring. At its meeting in Colorado Springs earlier this month, the Division I Men’s Golf Committee discussed the implementation of recommendations it made last year, which will overhaul the way the championship is conducted.

Last spring, the committee put forward a proposal to modify the format of the 2009 championship. This year, teams competing in the championship played 54 holes before the field was cut to 15 and the top six individuals before the final round. After the fourth day of competition, team and individual national champions were crowned.

Next year, an individual champion will be determined after 54 holes of play and the top eight teams will move forward into a match-play format. The team with the lowest score after three rounds will play the team with the eighth-lowest score, No. 2 will play No. 7 and so on until a national champion is determined.

While there are no immediate plans to broadcast the match-play portion of the event, television coverage was part of the discussion during the committee’s 2007 meeting and was introduced again as an option during this year’s meeting.

“Match play has enjoyed tremendous success in the Ryder Cup and our committee hopes that spectators and television will enjoy the excitement generated by this form of scoring,” said Oklahoma State Director of Athletics Mike Holder, who also serves as committee chair.

In the event of a tie between players, half-points will be awarded to their respective teams. If a match finishes tied 2.5-2.5, all five players from each team will go out to one hole and the lowest cumulative team score will advance.

Regional play will change significantly during next year’s championship, as three regions will expand into six to create more postseason opportunities. With 141 players competing at each regional event this year, two waves of players were needed on each course – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Beginning next year, each of the six regionals will host 75 players and there will be just one wave of players, which will be repaired at the conclusion of each round.

“The regional tournaments were expanded from three sites to six sites to reduce the impact of weather on the event.  All of the contestants will now be playing in the same wave and in similar weather conditions,” Holder said.
Additionally, the committee has recommended that teams must be among the top 30 nationally-ranked programs to receive consideration for a regional berth on their home course. While those teams in the top 30 are anticipated to make it out of those regionals to the national competition, the committee believes that lower-seeded teams have not earned home-course advantage and should be placed in other regions.

The committee also recommended that the championship start date move back one day, so that practice rounds begin on Memorial Day and actual competition commences Tuesday. The intent of the recommendation is to take hold by 2010.

Another topic of discussion during the committee meeting was the slow pace of play that characterizes championship competition. The committee seeks to increase the pace, as rounds this year sometimes approached six hours in length. 

Finally, the committee voted to allow the use of range finders during regionals and finals and also decided not to allow coaches in carts during championship play.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Holder has finished his term as committee chair. Charlotte Senior Associate Director of Athletics Darin Spease will take over in a leadership capacity.