The Basics
Match play
was actually the original form of golf as it started in Scotland many centuries
past. It is highly different from Stroke Play in that rather than you against
the course, or you against a fellow competitor somewhere on the course that you
may never even see, it is you one-on-one against your opponent, battling it out
hole by hole.
In Stroke
Play, no matter how well you are doing, it isn’t until everyone is finished and
scores are tallied do you know if you won or lost. The strategy is simple –
play your best game. In Match Play, you win or lose or tie a hole against your
opponent and it is done. Move to the next one. Playing strategies are all
important, and you don’t have an individual score for the day. In this way,
Match Play is a more highly competitive game.
Match Play
continues to be a fun part of the Beijing Golfers Club experience, and this
year we welcome DragonAir as a sponsor. The winner will receive airline tickets
courtesy of Dragon Air.
Match Play
for 2008 has started, and the first rounds are to be completed by May 25th.
Click Match Play Match Play
Ladder to see how the players are paired. Read on to find valuable
information about Match Play, registration and rules.
Registration
Any member of
the Beijing Golfers Club can register for Match Play. Registration is free, and
all you need to do join is send an email to golf@pavillionbeijing.com. We can
take up to 128 players for Match Play.
Player
Seeding
The Match
Play players are placed on a ladder in a single-elimination tournament. In
other words, if you win a match you move to play the winner of another match,
and if you lose then you are out of the tournament. The ladder is seeded with
16 players that performed well in the previous year. It is based on a
combination of their standings in the previous year’s Match Play competition,
Order of Merit points won in the previous year, and their current handicap. It
is designed to assure that these players to not compete directly in the early
rounds. All other matching of players is done by computer random selection. In
other words, whether you are seeded or not, who you play in the first round is
completely at random. If the ladder is not completely filled (meaning less than
64 players), then the lowest seeded players will not play the first round.
The seeding
of players is as follows:
|
1-4
|
Top 1-4 players from last year’s
Match Play
|
|
5-8
|
Top 1-4 players from last year’s
Order of Merit
|
|
9-12
|
Lowest 4 handicaps
|
|
13-16
|
Top 5-8 players from last year’s
Order of Merit
|
If a player
qualifies for seeding by multiple criteria, then the better seeding position is
used. If a player from the BGC Order-of-Merit rank of 1-8 is not participating
in the 2008 Match Play, then the place will move down the Order-of-Merit
ranking list, to a maximum of 30. In the unlikely event that this does not fill
the seeding, the vacant seeding will be filled based on the lowest handicap
criteria until all 16 seed positions are filled.
Choosing
the course and the time
You and your
opponent must agree to a time and place to play the match, and you should begin
trying to arrange a date as soon as you know who your opponent is. As long as
you can reach an agreement then there is no restriction as to where or when you
play, as long as you complete the match prior to the dates set forth in the
tournament schedule. The time and place is generally based on what is
convenient for the players, but familiarity with courses can often give an
advantage to one player or the other. Considering that most of the BGC members
are working folks, you should be fair that when discussing possible dates to
compete, weekend play should be offered if one player can only play during
weekdays.
Although you may do so, because of the difference between how Match Play and
Stroke play tournaments are played, we do not recommend that you play Match
Play rounds during regular BGC events. It is up to you if you want to keep 2
scorecards and post both the Match Play result and file your score for the BGC
competition on the day. However, please be reminded you cannot use conceded
puts for your Match Play as this would invalidate the score for the BGC normal
event. If you plan to play your match at a regular weekend event, please kindly
inform BGC of that upon registration, so that we can help you with a suitable
tee-time and pairing with others.
The player named first in the starting list has the principal responsibility to
contact the Committee in case of any questions or disagreements.
What if you cannot agree?
The Committee
will not get involved in arranging dates, so it is up to the players to work it
out. If despite reasonable attempts to find an agreeable date and time you are
unable to find one that works for both players, then you have two options:
1)
One
player wins by default. In this case you have decided a winner without playing
the match. This option is generally used when one player is able to offer
several dates for playing the match but the other player cannot accommodate any
of the playing dates suggested. Otherwise a player offers to withdraw. Write
the Committee stating the winner.
2)
If
you both made an earnest effort to find an agreeable date but just can’t make
it work, inform the Committee stating that you are both unable to play the
match. The winner of the match will be determined by “Lucky Draw”.
Tees
While you can
agree to play from any tee, we recommend that all matches are played from the Club
Tees. That is the red tee for all lady players, and for the men it depends
on the course. Here is a list of the Club Tees for some of the courses often
played by the BGC:
|
Beijing Country Club
|
White Tees
|
|
Beijing Golf Club
|
White Tees
|
|
Beijing International Golf Club
|
White Tees
|
|
Huatang International
|
White Tees
|
|
Jinghua Golf Club
|
Blue Tees
|
|
Grand Canal
|
Blue Tees
|
|
Win River
|
White or Blue Tees
|
|
Orient Tianxing
|
Blue Tees
|
|
Orient Pearl
|
Blue Tees
|
Handicaps
According BGC
local rules, you will use your current handicap index, rounded off, as it is on
the day of the match. You can confirm yours and your opponents’ handicap by
going to www.ehandicap.net and entering the club name “bgc”, and the member
number or name. If there is any dispute about handicaps, they must be resolved
prior to the match being played. Your full handicap applies in Match Play. For
the BGC, the maximum handicap allowed for men is 27, and for women the maximum
handicap is 36.
When playing
the round, the higher handicap player will get strokes for the difference in
the handicaps. For example, if player A has a handicap of 12, and player B has
a handicap of 16, the difference is 4, and the higher handicap player will get
one extra stroke on the holes with index 1 through 4.
Reporting
and moving up the ladder
At the end of
each match, report the results by email to golf@pavillionbeijing.com so that
the ladder can be updated. If you do not play the match, or do not report the
results prior to the day following the last tournament date, then the winner
will be determined by random draw.
Gimmes?
Concessions?
Unlike Stroke
Play where each hole must be played out completely, putts can be “conceded” in
Match Play. While gimmies are illegal in the rules of golf, in match Play if
you wish to let the putt go (whether 3 inches or 30 feet), you can “concede”
the putt. In the end, it is effectively a gimmie, but they can only be offered
– they should never be asked for. Once you offer a concession, you cannot take
it back, even if your opponent plays anyway. So if it is really a short putt
and you want to concede it to keep the game moving along, go ahead. But it is
your choice always.
You can also
concede a hole. If you know there is no way to win or tie the hole, you can
concede the hole and proceed to the next tee box. Concessions are not required
and you can hole out, but if you already lost the hole anyway, just concede,
pick up and move on. Remember, total strokes are irrelevant. You win, lose or
tie each hole and nothing else carries on to the next one so there is no
advantage to playing on if you already lost the hole.
Rules and
Penalties
Although the
basic rules of golf apply equally to Stroke Play and Match Play, some rules and
penalty assessments are different. Where in Stroke Play most infractions result
in 2-stroke penalties, in Match Play they result in your opponent requiring you
to replay the shot (hit it again) or the loss of the hole. Here are some common
examples of differences in the rules:
- In
Stroke Play competitions you forfeit the match if you do not show up and
miss your tee-time. In Match Play, you can be a little late, but you are
penalized. If you do not show up at the designated tee-off time, you will
forfeit the first hole, but you can pick up at the second hole. If you miss
the second hole then you forfeit the match.
- While
we promote “Ready Golf”, in Stroke Play it is a matter of etiquette not to
play out of order, but in Match Play your opponent can require you to replay
a shot if you hit out of order. This is because the strategy of play is
determined by where the balls lie at the moment. If you hit well, but out
of order, you can bet your opponent will enforce the rule it and you will
be hitting again. (This happened to Annika Sorenstam during the 2003
Solheim Cup. She drained a chip from the short side of the flag and since
her American competitor was further, on the green, she required Annika to
replay and of course she missed that one.)
·
Too
many clubs (more than 14) in Stroke Play is 2-strokes per hole where the breach
occurred - up to 4 maximum. In Match Play it is loss of hole for each hole
where the breach occurred, up to 2 holes.
·
Grounding
a club in a hazard is a 2-stroke penalty in Stroke Play, but loss of hole in
Match Play
·
Hitting
an unattended flag stick in Stroke Play is a 2-stroke penalty, playing the ball
where it lies. In Match Play it is loss of hole.
·
In
stroke play, teeing off from outside the teeing ground (the teeing ground is
between the tee markers and up to two club lengths behind the tee markers)
results in a 2-stroke penalty. In match play, there is no stroke penalty, but
your opponent can cancel your shot and require you to replay it.
·
Hitting
an opponent (or his equipment) is never a good thing, but it happens. In stroke
play, if your ball hits a fellow-competitor or his equipment (if it is
accidentally stopped or deflected by the same), its rub of the green. In match
play, you have the option to replay the shot.
·
Hitting
a ball at rest on the green is also different: In stroke play, if your putt
strikes another ball on the green, you get a 2-stroke penalty. In Match Play
there is
no penalty.
In Stroke
Play there is a penalty if a player fails to be forthcoming of an infraction
when aware of it, whether made by him or witnessed made by another. In Match
Play, however, a player is free to overlook an unintentional breach made by his
opponent. Be aware that an inadvertent breach in Match Play cannot be contested
once play starts at the next hole.
A key element
of Match Play is that you may not play two balls and choose one based on a
later ruling; in Match Play the opponent’s strategy can only be based on a
single ball in play. Therefore play must continue with that same ball and if a
ruling cannot be made at the time, then the status of the hole (win/loss) will
be determined afterwards when a ruling determination can be made.
Scoring
In Match
Play, you keep track only of how many holes you have won or lost more than your
opponent. For example, if you have won 4 holes, your opponent has won 2, and
you tied all others (tied holes are not counted), then you are up-2 and your
opponent is down-2. When a Match Play round is finished, there is no tally of
the total number of holes won, lost or tied – just how many the winner is “up”
over his opponent. In fact, a Match Play round does not need to go a full 18
holes. For example, if you have won 4 more holes than your opponent and there
are only 3 holes left, you have already won since even if your opponent wins
every other hole you cannot lose. The match is over with you winning 4-3 (up-4
with 3 holes left).
So how can
someone win 4-2? This is often confusing, since it seems that a win should be
when a player is up one more than the number of holes left, but consider what
happens when one player is up by exactly the number of holes remaining. In this
case the leader is said to have taken the match “dormie”, which is the point
where the match can be tied but not lost. Here is an example: Say you are 3-up
with 3 holes to go, you took the dormie because while it is possible to tie if
your opponent wins each remaining hole, you cannot lose. If you win the next
hole, you win 4-2, meaning you are 4 up with 2 holes left to play.
Strategy
Strokes are
meaningless in match play beyond the net strokes for the hole being played. It
does not matter how many strokes it takes to hole out in order to win the hole.
You win the hole if you hole out with less net strokes than your
opponent. Therefore, your strategy on the hole depends on what your opponent is
doing. If your opponent is in trouble on a particular hole, you can play that
hole conservatively. If your opponent is doing well on a particular hole then
you may need to be more aggressive. If it is all or nothing, it may be
necessary to try that “Tiger Woods, out of the bunker, under the shrubs, hook
around the tree try to hit the green 1 in a 1,000 chance” because otherwise you
will lose the hole anyway. In Stroke Play you would never make such a move –
well, let’s say you probably shouldn’t.
It is not you
against the course but you against your opponent, head-to-head, hole by hole.
If you set out to play your “best game”, you will likely lose in Match Play.
The worst that can happen from a bad shot is that you lose a single hole. There
are 17 others. On a given hole, your bad shot on the fairway can just as easily
be offset by your opponent’s bad shot out of a green-side bunker, at which
point you are squared again. Play the hole, not the course, and you have a chance.
Higher
handicappers also have reasonable chances against low handicappers in Match
Play. When a player with a 20 handicap plays against one with a 9, on holes
with indexes 1-11 if the 20-handicapper double-bogies the holes, the
9-handicapper must par to win. The 20-handicapper can play conservatively, only
trying for double-bogie while the 9-handicapper must play aggressively for par.
Understanding this can give the higher handicappers a real advantage when
playing against a low handicap payer that plays a less consistent game.
