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Reader's Forum Question: The Ford Championship at Doral was suspended in the middle of the second playoff hole because of darkness. If poor conditions or sunset are nearing, should tournaments use par-3 holes for playoffs? Should the current criteria for stopping a tournament - that at least one participant deems it too dark - be continued or should tournament officials set a time when play is to be stopped? Is there ever a situation on the PGA Tour when sharing a title is appropriate, as happened on the European and Australasian Tours last year? Your Responses: The current system seems to work reasonably well. When one has worked to get to the point of a playoff for a tournament win, darkness should not be the determining factor in who wins. And NO, there should not be multiple winners in a tournament. With the size of the purses involved today, the players should always be willing to re-arrange their schedule to accommodate a playoff, and playing to completion should always be required. Bill M. Why not just start one hour earlier? J. Paige Anyone who has ever played golf in twilight conditions, similar to last night at the FORD Championship, knows how difficult it is to read the line of a putt and how it affects your depth perception. Add to it the circumstances of being a well respected championship, the size of the purse, Mercedes Championships qualification, Presidents Cup & Ryder Cup points, and the fact that at 47 Scott Hoch may not get too many more opportunities to win on the PGA TOUR,and Scott made the correct call. Even though it wasn't popular with some of the fans that were on hand, some of which probably had too much to drink. There are only a few events a year where daylight limits the length of a playoff so the current plans work well. The decision to play or stop under the rules of the game in this type of circumstance must reside with the competitor. Outside of weather conditions extending a playoff beyond the Monday or even Tuesday of the following week, there should never be sharing of the title. Hal I've played golf until darkness many times and reading greens in the approaching darkness with long shadows is very difficult. Scott Hoch had the option to putt or not and he made the right decision. I would have rather seen the conclusion last night like everyone else, but I was able to watch the conclusion this morning. The PGA tour should not do anything different... they have the playoff holes picked in advance and that's fine. There's no need to play on the par 3 holes in the interest of time. However, the PGA tour could plan ahead for playoffs a little better. They always try to conclude the golf tournament by 6pm for the TV schedule, but when sunset is at 6:27pm that doesn't leave much time for a playoff. I think they should plan to conclude regular tournament play an hour before sunset to allow time for a playoff. As for sharing a title, that's not a good idea. I can't recall the exact reason why those two titles were shared... was it because of darkness? If so, all of the tours need to conclude the tournament a hour before sunset to allow time for a possible playoff. All they have to do is send everyone out onto the course a half-hour earlier. G. Konold 1) No M. Pajak The current method is perfect.... If a player deems it to be too dark to continue playing then suspend play till the next day. It certainly worked for both players on the first overtime hole... and remember the title of such a prestigious tournament may mean more to Hoch than the money! E. Greensides The tournament should be conducted iaw PGA rules and or officials/players consent. I feel a tie is in order if it doesn't. Keep the tied players from qualifying for other tournaments i.e. Masters, tournament of champions etc. Other sports have ties with an overtime. If tied after the OT, then players tied after the OT period will be ruled the winner. W. Russell The fans who were shouting at Hoch and Furyk and Doral for not finishing the playoff on Sunday were venting at the wrong people. They should have turned their wrath on the TV booth. It's TV that dictates a finish only 27 minutes before sunset, hardly leaving enough time for a playoff. TV=The Villains! L. Richels This whole system is WRONG! Some time ago, you asked opinions about having ties... I answered in the affirmative! Now, we have a situation where one participant in a playoff decides that he can't "see the grain of the grass" and says he don't want to play any more today! An ideal situation for a "TIE" ! But, PGA officials allowed this halt in play, disregarding the fact that the crowd witnessing the tournament showed it's anger at the halt in play.... and allowing the play to continue the next morning at 8 am. Why was it wrong to have a tie? PGA officialdom had decided against any future ties, they allowed play to be halted on a 2nd playoff hole, when the policy should have been either play it off NOW, or play none of it off until the next day! What gives? They (PGA officials) could see that the light of day wouldn't last very long! They shouldn't have begun the playoff. Who's to blame for this fiasco, the PGA? the player who quit for the day, Scott Hoch? Not, I'm sure, the paying public who didn't get to see what they paid good money for, that's for sure! Not a good situation, at all! Once started, but not finished, the result should have been a TIE! C. Dzarnowski I think we are too obsessed with "who is the winner" and the need for it to be a single person. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having co-champions. If there happens to be a tie at the end of regulation play, you have co-champions. If you add playoff holes to the tournament, what you have are tournament co-champions and a post tournament play winner. If a player couldn't beat ALL the other players in the regular tournament, why should he/she be the only champion? For the financial side, split first & second money (or 1,2,3, etc.). The extra trophy costs are miniscule in comparison to prize money, total revenues, etc. H. Bursi I think that the best way to avoid delaying the crowning of a champion until Monday, is for the Tour to have in place a rule that requires the tee times to be set up in a fashion which allows the final group to complete regulation play at least an hour before sunset. This guarantees time to play 3, 4 or perhaps even 5 playoff holes before darkness sets in. I agree with the current criteria for stopping play. I live in Florida, and I couldn't believe that they even started the second playoff hole, it was getting dark that fast. And never, ever should a title be shared. Ties are for hockey, not golf! J. Stammer Is a par 3 necessary? No. Who should make the call to stop play because of darkness? I do not believe this decision should be left to the involved players. There are many obvious reasons. one reason is that the player who is away does not like the read of the putt, or as it happened last Sunday Hoch and his caddy did not agree on the line. The rule makers should set the standard for termination by using a light meter constant. Sharing the title, this question has already been asked by you and answered. Again, I say no. I believe no was the majority's view. Let's hope it remains so. J.J. Box
Opinions expressed in Reader's Forum are those of the individual letter writers and not of The Wire, its staff or its editorial board. Letters are edited to remove spelling and grammatical errors where possible, and The Wire staff reserves the right to edit for space. |