A directive from the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that allows more sports to abandon regional allocations in favor of at-large berths for championship selections (see story, page 10) will have an effect on the Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Committees.

Both groups held their annual meetings recently — the women’s committee just before the cabinet meeting and the men’s just after — and both will begin working toward implementing the new policy by the 2008 championships.

The cabinet stated that sports sponsored by more than 30 percent of the membership should fill their championship brackets with at-large selections after teams from automatic-qualifying conferences have been placed in the field. Previously, many individual-team championship committees have employed a regional-allocation system in lieu of at-large berths.

Both the men’s and women’s golf committees favored the commitment to the at-large philosophy, though neither has had time to incorporate the policy into the selection process. Selections will not change for the 2007 championships.

Men’s committee Chair Mike Hermann, athletics director at Towson University, said his group will evaluate options throughout the coming year and develop selection details for the at-large system during the committee’s annual meeting next summer.

"This most recent move by the championships cabinet sends us into the direction of at-large selections once the automatic qualifiers have been identified," he said. "The golf committee agrees that this approach is in the best interests of the championship."

The women’s committee also will begin planning for the at-large system by 2008.

Men’s committee members also recommended sites for the 2010 and 2011 finals and the 2008 regionals and are awaiting approval from the Championships/Competition Cabinet’s administrative committee.

In other action, the men’s committee agreed to allow regular-season formats that pair five-person teams to qualify for selection purposes as long as no USGA rules regarding advice are violated.

The women’s committee agreed to use the Golfstat Web site to gather results used for selection purposes, thus making the selection process completely transparent for the membership. Previously, the information Golfstat posted was slightly different from what the committee used for selections.

 Division I Men’s Golf Committee

• Voted to preclude the use of "range-finders" at regionals and finals. The USGA handles range finders as a local rule, but the men’s golf committee decided they were not appropriate for use in championship play.
• Voted to allow coaches to use motorized carts at the championships.
• Deleted the regional won-lost record from the selection criteria, in light of the shift from regional allocations to at-large selections.
• Agreed to a change in seeding at the finals that relies on the Golfstat rankings after regional play rather than a team’s finish at the regionals. Golfstat will provide a post-regional ranking that the committee will use to take the top 15 and place in the first wave for championship play. The next 15 teams will be placed in the second wave.
• Formed two subcommittees to work with the Golf Coaches Association of America on two concepts: (1) examining possible formats (match play, for example) that may make the national tournament more appealing for television; and (2) studying whether the membership would favor a permanent site for either regional or finals competition. Both ideas will be discussed at the GCAA convention in January and reviewed again at the golf committee’s annual meeting next year.
• Agreed to seek permission to conduct an in-person meeting for championship selections.