After successfully debuting a match-play format at the last year’s championship tournament, the Division I Men’s Golf Committee is making only slight adjustments to the way future championships are conducted.

The match-play system introduced at the 2009 Division I championships moved away from the longtime four-round, stroke-play format to three rounds of stroke play for seeding purposes, followed by a three-round, match-play tournament among the top eight seeds.

Those final eight teams played quarterfinal and semifinal matches on one day, followed by the two finalists competing on the next day for the team title. For the 2010 championship, the quarters and semis will be conducted on separate days, essentially calling for each round of that eight-team bracket to have its own day.

The three-day finals format was approved for 2009, but officials at the host Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, wanted to stick with the days that had been identified when  the bid was accepted (which was before the new format was adopted).

Committee Chair Darin Spease, who talked about the success of the format right after the championship, said the additional day provides a better experience for the finalists.

“While having to play two rounds in one day during a match-play format isn’t too terribly difficult – college players are accustomed to playing 36 holes in one day as it is – we want to provide the best championship experience we can,” said Spease, the senior associate athletics director at Charlotte.

Spease said committee members also discussed whether to expand the number of teams competing in that final bracket from eight to 16. Proponents obviously like the additional opportunities that doubling the field would provide, but others think an expanded finals field may dilute the event. While expanding to 16 may have merit, committee members voted to retain the eight-team finals field for now.

Review of waves

The golf committee also talked about tee times during its summer meeting in Indianapolis. Currently, the top 15 teams tee off in the morning during the third round of stroke play, followed by teams 16-30 in the afternoon. Some in the golf community want the committee to flip the waves on that third day, thus giving teams lower in the standings a “rallying” chance of advancing to the final eight – or at least having a better experience that late in the tournament.

In other words, Spease said, those teams entering the final round of stroke play with reduced chances of making the finals can at least play in the morning and post a score that the leaders would have to beat, rather than play in the afternoon with their fate essentially sealed.

A preliminary survey of coaches showed a majority favoring that approach, but a vocal minority supports protecting the top teams with preferred tee times. Spease said the committee will continue to gather feedback on the matter at the coaches convention this year and could implement the change for the 2010 tournament if there’s enough support.

Committee members did recommend a seeding change regarding regional winners, suggesting that regional champions be included in the first wave that includes the top nine seeds.

Other highlights

In other action at the committee’s annual meeting, members:

• Praised the new regional format that provides for six tournaments of 75 golfers rather than the previous three regionals with 141 golfers. Committee members like the flexibility the new format affords regional hosts, particularly related to weather.
• Also praised the new checkpoint pace-of-play policy (a timing system that requires golfers to be on a certain hole in a given time), but the committee would like more communication from the head rules officials to the volunteers manning the checkpoints.
• Recommended that the stipend allocated to regional hosts be increased from $16,667 to $20,000, effective with the 2011 regionals.
• Noted that the bid cycle for the 2012 and 2013 championship finals will begin this fall.
• Recommended that the head rules official at each regional receive a $750 stipend.