Top Pros Registering for NTs

[sprintermatt]

The PDGA will convey the amount of spots reserved by touring pros 12 hours before registration goes live so they can adjust the numbers for online registration for "the masses".

Touring cards don't give you much. I have had one the last two years, and it has only allowed me to do two things that I'm aware of. Vote for Hall of Fame and POY/ROY, and register for the Vibram Open... as they hold a few spots for touring card players. I believe they are the only tournament to do so. They actually listened when the PDGA created the rule that NTs should hold spots for Touring Card Holders, and did not simply subtract the ones already registered, they hold spots that are to be used in the sole purpose of a touring player who wants to play but did not get in via another method.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

The current expectation of players is that if you raise entry fees then that money will be paid out to the players.

To allow tournament more funds from entry fees to pay staff requires a mindset change from the players and the PDGA. That's a completely different derailment.

This is the exactly the scenario where it can be done. Too many people already think they are getting a great value. Raise the entry fee $50-$100, I bet it would still sell out. Put most of the money towards improving the tournament (maybe matching baskets?), coddle the volunteers, actually pay those who are most involved and if there is any money left over, add to the payout.

Raising entry will not solve the problem
Qualifiers Will

By raising the entry fee the tournament will naturally have less demand. But there are already 50+ banging on the door to get in. Does it matter to your bottom line whether those extra entry fees did not get into the tournament because of space or choice? Sure, have qualifiers too, but also increase your revenue. Also, requiring a qualifier for participants who are already donating there entry fee will cost those particular "dead money" individuals more than $50 and more time.

Not sure I buy that the Memorial is the "closest we have to a professional event" line. Seems pretty disrespectful of the USDGC, Vibram Open, Glass Blown, etc etc etc
.

I didn't mean to diminish any other tournament. I was trying to convey that there are not many tournaments that have more history as an NT. The tournaments you listed would be in the same category.

 

[cjdiscgolf]

Bottom line.

If 274 people know when registration starts and how to do it, it's pretty clear it's obvious.

 

[The Hammer]

Why is it up to the PDGA?

The PDGA doesn't run tournaments. Local organizers do. Yes, the bigger events get a lot more support from the PDGA (particularly majors and NTs), but those events don't happen without the locals creating the event in the first place.

If there is really a demand for more invitation only events, people need to start creating them or converting existing events.

Good point. I agree.

 

[juju]

Here is why I think this is good for the game. Less top pros bitching in front of spectators, more regional pros who are enjoying their vacation. More merch sold since top pros don't have any disposable income.

 

[JC17393]

Simple solution. If you are not 970 which is the line to play open, you don't get to play open in National Tour or Majors! I understand some people want to play open for the experience, and that does fatten up the purses for top pro's but at the same time, if your top players are getting left out of the biggest tournaments because of the online registrations it hurts the sport. You want to showcase your best talent, not anyone can register for a PGA Tour golf event, it has reserved spots, and that seems to work well as their winning purse is almost $1,000,000 every week.... Top players bring in top sponsors which grow the sport. Amateur rated players should play amateur rated divisions in NT's and Majors while Professional rated players should play Professional rated divisions. As a 1010+ pro, I am not asking for handouts, and I am in the Memorial field, I am just asking for ratings to actually mean something, the system is there, why do we not use it?

The bolded is patently false. Open is open. There is no minimum rating, period. Pro is a choice in this sport. We don't have the numbers to do it any other way.

There is no chance of a sustained pro tour if we limit it to just players with X ratings. Hell, we barely have a pro tour with anyone being able to participate. Time and growth is the only thing that's going to change that, not implementing arbitrary rules and restrictions.

And the comparison to the PGA Tour absolutely falls flat. They don't allow just anyone to enter because there is so much demand by qualified players to fill those events, they don't have to let anyone in. They also have immense outside sponsorship and paying spectators that fund pretty much 100% of those multi-million dollar purses. Player entry fees for those events are typically donated to event charities or pay the staff/hosts. They don't need the "donators" to bump the purse the way we do. Until we get million dollar sponsors, that's just the way it is.

 

[discgman]

http://www.pdga.com/las-vegas-anyone

So when this fills even though the registration start date is ON THE FRONT PAGE OF PDGA.COM, who will complain?

Nobody because its an A tier even genius. We are talking about a National Tour that is suppose to showcase the best in the world and are playing for a points title. Try to keep up.

 

[discgman]

The bolded is patently false. Open is open. There is no minimum rating, period. Pro is a choice in this sport. We don't have the numbers to do it any other way.

There is no chance of a sustained pro tour if we limit it to just players with X ratings. Hell, we barely have a pro tour with anyone being able to participate. Time and growth is the only thing that's going to change that, not implementing arbitrary rules and restrictions.

Actually the 970 rating is in the PDGA guidelines. It establishes which divison a person would or should play. There are also ratings for other divisions. Next year you will see the 970 rating dividing line used as to how one can register for a tournament in the National Tour. Which should be for every NT so that you have an actual reason to keep up your rating.

 

[discgman]

Here is why I think this is good for the game. Less top pros bitching in front of spectators, more regional pros who are enjoying their vacation. More merch sold since top pros don't have any disposable income.

Yea that makes a lot of sense with the ams playing the same weekend. :wall:

 

[AndyJB]

There are a lot of A - tiers that hold spots for Touring Pros. The Zoo Town Open in Missoula, MT has done it for the last five years, at least. If those kind of events can do it, surely National Tours can.

 

[Thumber]

970 is the cut off for playing Am1, not for playing Open

 

[burdphil]

I believe this discussion is total BS. So what if a few pros didn't get in. It's your own fault if you miss out on registration.

I'm pretty much tired of pros crying when they screw up and wanting the PDGA to come up with a fix.

Maybe if you miss out the next time you will be ready....

It's more than just "a few pros." These are some of the top names in the game... ex-World/USDGC/Euro champs, top 10 players, and probably the second and third best players in the world right now...

Avery Jenkins (Waitlist #25)
Karl Johan Nybo (Waitlist #35)
Nikko Locastro (Waitlist #8)
Pasi Koivu (Waitlist #34)
philo brathwaite (Waitlist #16)
Ricky wysocki (Waitlist #20)
Shasta Criss (Waitlist #36)
Simon Lizotte (Waitlist #32)
steve Brinster (Waitlist #12)
Jessica Weese (Waitlist #18)

If I'm throwing down $$$ to sponsor this NT event, I'm super pissed that Wysocki and Lizotte are sitting on a freaking waiting list. Everybody cries about "growing the sport" and getting more media coverage for larger events in order to draw in sponsors, and then they don't let several of the top players in the world into an NT...? So stupid.

And here's a news flash... THE TOP PLAYERS IN ANY SPORT ARE SUPPOSED TO GET PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT. Imagine if the US Olympic committee started holding one day online sign-ups for anybody who wanted to run the 100 meter dash. "You're time in the 100 was 1:43:02, but you signed up first and payed your $200 so you're going to the Olympics!" That's what this is like.

What they should do is have a week-long sign-up period and base who gets accepted strictly on rating. If Wysocki signs up on the last day, then whoever was the lowest rated player on the accepted list would get bumped out. Goodbye 868 guy, here's your refund, you've been replaced by 1047 guy. Hope you were smart enough to not make travel arrangements until after the sign-up period closed. And if 868 guy doesn't like getting bumped, then he needs to improve his rating before next year...

 

[7ontheline]

Its called Open, not Pro. As in Open to all.

That's what we got.

The Memorial also has a stranglehold...How about the PDGA lets Las Vegas have the NT every other year? [/B]

LOL. You, Innova, can make anything you want happen. If the Memorial is so popular just call it a WGC event like the PGA denotes top events then make Vegas another NT event. Hell, make all the current NTs WGC events and accept bids for locations to compete to host the new NTs.

 

[JC17393]

Actually the 970 rating is in the PDGA guidelines. It establishes which divison a person would or should play. There are also ratings for other divisions. Next year you will see the 970 rating dividing line used as to how one can register for a tournament in the National Tour. Which should be for every NT so that you have an actual reason to keep up your rating.

Keep dreaming on them putting a minimum rating on the NT. Doing so would kill the tour more than it would help it. There simply aren't enough players to sustain it.

And those guidelines you found are only that...there is nothing official or binding about those guidelines in the least. Players above 970 are not required to play Open. Players below 970 are not restricted at all from playing Open.

 

[JC17393]

970 is the cut off for playing Am1, not for playing Open

It's the cut off for pros playing MA1...amateurs above 970 can play MA1 all they want.

 

[Thumber]

It's the cut off for pros playing MA1...amateurs above 970 can play MA1 all they want.

That's what I meant

 

[Mr. Anderson]

A lot of people are suggesting to implement a tiered entry system based on rating. How about having based on division. Since Open is all inclusive, give people a week to sign up. If the tournament doesn't fill with Open players in the first week, make a Masters division. People who are already signed up for open and are old enough to play in the Masters division can choose to move to the Master's field.

 

[rhatton1]

What majors do that?

It is up to the TD to decide. The only NT I've ever played had reserved spots for tour card holders.

The entire Euro Tour and European majors have staggered entry by ratings. It works perfectly.

Some events of which have shown disc golf live on prime time National TV in more than one country.

It's a good idea to make sure your top pros are playing when the television cameras are on.

As much as I'd love to think someone wanted to watch me throw into a tree, they probably wouldn't, McBeth launching a perfectly executed drive or canning a 50' putt on the other hand? Maybe.

If you want an event to showcase a sport and drive growth then make sure your top players are there to show it off.

It's a joke that a national tour event which is part of a series to crown a national champion does not have a place for the best players in the country within 2 hours of registration opening.

First come first served should stick to the dinner queue not a national sporting event.

 

[cjdiscgolf]

Avery Jenkins (Waitlist #25)
Karl Johan Nybo (Waitlist #35)
Nikko Locastro (Waitlist #8)
Pasi Koivu (Waitlist #34)
philo brathwaite (Waitlist #16)
Ricky wysocki (Waitlist #20)
Shasta Criss (Waitlist #36)
Simon Lizotte (Waitlist #32)
steve Brinster (Waitlist #12)
Jessica Weese (Waitlist #18)

If I'm throwing down $$$ to sponsor this NT event, I'm super pissed that Wysocki and Lizotte are sitting on a freaking waiting list.

Let's see, Discraft is the main sponsor of this event.

Let me look and see how many of those guys are discraft players...

oh wait....THERE ARE NONE. That's right.

 

[JohtoVillage]

Great discussion here!

According to the 2014 PDGA Touring Pros, 10 spots are held until 2 weeks before the event. IF 2015 touring pro status doesn't change and Nikko meets the qualifications then the Memorial should have 10 spots for him

I would still like to get this clarified by Chuck. Since there are more than 10 touring pros registered as it is now, are those 10 spots gone? Or is it 10 spots in addition to whoever registers? I only ask because if its ten additional spots then this issue could be solved.

I actually run the Ledgestone Insurance Open NT sponsored by Discraft and we expect to add $40,000+ to the pro purse. I know registration is going to go quickly and after seeing this I want to avoid any issues with registration. Ledgestone is actually sponsoring live coverage of the Memorial and we are opening registration after the Memorial.

At this point in time I tentatively plan to open registration on 3/2/15 at 6PM CST for anyone registered above 990 for MPO division only. I will probably use the most recent ratings date when determining that rating cutoff.

I then expect to open registration for everyone else on 3/5/15 at 6PM. Registration will take place at www.iregisteredonline.com and registrants will need to have a profile setup on that site to register.