Points to Ponder I

In a mass e-mail sent out to all tour members on Monday, tour commish extolled this edict:

"In my Jackie excel file I wrote total score of majors plus 6 best scores. This has been unanimously changed to total score whether you make it or not (sorry Tom but you would've lost anyway). We have to be fair to those who come out every two weeks so it will be total score at the end."

In a follow-up communique he stated:
"Initially we said that we would take the points from the 4 majors plus 6 best other rounds to make up the total points. Since we have a total of 13 rounds, this means that you can miss 3 rounds or if you play all 13, you can count out your worst 3 rounds. Since some of our members are doing well (John Choi), they are purposely missing rounds knowing it will make no difference in their total score.

So I decided to change it so that we take points from all 13 rounds."

Tour members chimed in to record record numbers of message board postings on countless JMT websites. FTF reporters threw out these lines of ponderment:

1. Jackie's statements suggest that playing on the tour is some kind of chore. This writer has always preferred a round of golf to doing dishes or ironing. I would've ventured a guess that ALL tour members would choose to be on the course for each and every event, and when a member misses- it's only due to unavoidable circumstances... FTF reached John for comment on this point:

FTF: Did you purposely choose to skip Maples of Ballentrae because you were doing well in the standings?

John: Heck no. I love golf. I love being out there with all the guys (and Margy). There are very few things that would stand in the way of me playing week in and week out. The truth is i'm surprised i've been able to make it out to 5 events so far- after the 3rd or 4th round this year- every time out's been a bonus! Definitely not sitting out events because of points or standings- i'd choose to play in between events if i could.

2. Peter JD Park ruminates:

" Wow, Wow, wow, this is a huge change.
I don’t know if this is fair either…"

Peter's probably aware that the 4 major sports leagues in N.A. have board of governors meetings in the off-season to discuss possible rule changes. They do this because it would be unfair to change the rules in the middle of the season.

3. Jackie suggests that the rule change is a way to be fair to players who show up every 2 weeks. If a player is able to be at every single event- don't they benefit from having the luxury of dropping their 3 lowest scores? Players who miss events are forced to count gooseeggs and have the additional pressure to play well at every single event. In a follow-up posting FTF will analyze who stands to reap the benefits of this absurd rule change.

The question lingers whether or not this will have an impact on tour members views on the league. John states:

"Absolutely not. This is the bush league of all bush leagues and that's part of the charm. We knew that going in and wouldn't have it any other way. Jason set the standard in attitude- `don't get mad- work harder and get even'. I had no illusions of winning on the tour-but now i'm motivated- I'll win despite playing fewer events than anyone not named Tom or D Young! As for Jackie- he's shrewd. You just can't get mad at someone named Jackie Moon. If you're thinking about it- don't bother. It can't be done. Believe me- i've tried."

And so the league survives its latest potential scandal...