Golfers boycotting Chicago City Amateur

Vincent Militante wrote:

To Ed M, if you were one the players that shot his temperature then it took forever to play. If you shot low 70s the pace of play was fast!!!

Vincent,if the golfers in front of you play in 5 and a half hours then what you shoot is irrelevant, you are going to play in 5 and a half hours.

If you have $150 and have a handicap under 25 you can play in the chicago city am. The qualifiers and cuts eliminated the weaker player but it was still quite affordable to play at $65. Last year 190 players tried to qualify. Nobody Knows what player will be playing in this year's version of the city am. It's a championship that is supposed identify the best player that week. I think other big cities are laughing at us that we have this kinda format. And Ed M they will be playing in 6 and half hours this year because you'll have 25 handicappers in the field all 3 days!!! If you want to include everyone that has that high of a handicap run a seperate handicap division! I don't think Hacker Joe that hasn't broken 80 this year is going to win or would really want to play.

I remember that all the low scores when off first the Friday and Saturday. Sunday the low scores when off. I play all everyday in under 4 hours. So perhaps you were in the group that shot in the 80s those days. I remember that we flew around the course the last day.

Golf tournament = sign up, show up, get the ball in the hole 54 times and try to do it in fewer strokes than everybody else. Everything else is just insignificant details.

Vincent Militante wrote:

I remember that all the low scores when off first the Friday and Saturday. Sunday the low scores when off. I play all everyday in under 4 hours. So perhaps you were in the group that shot in the 80s those days. I remember that we flew around the course the last day.

I also played in the early groups on the weekend. I have no idea why you'd want to act like somehow I'm a bad player because I don't have a problem with the new format..it's sort of silly.

Give me a break!!! The boycotting players are mad that the weaker players are no longer covering their weekend greens fees. I've never played in the past, but it sounds like $65 got you anywhere from one to four rounds. A great deal if you made the cut and played 4 rounds, pretty expensive if you didn't qualify.
My quick math :
4 Greens Fees:$98
4 Small Range Balls:$26
Total:$124
So it costs an extra $26. I agree completely this is too high. There should be some loyalty shown and the price could easily be in the $100 range. Casper may have dropped the ball trying something more inclusive, but boycotting your own major tournament over a lousy $20. Again, give me a break.

Ed M wrote:

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I also played in the early groups on the weekend. I have no idea why you'd want to act like somehow I'm a bad player because I don't have a problem with the new format..it's sort of silly.

Sorry if thought I was making you out to a bad player. My group played fast and whomever was ready hit regardless of who was away. Don't take offense, none was intended!!!

Hey, "Give ME a Break". If you haven't played in the past then you obviously have NO idea what you're talking about. These tournaments were and are supposed to INCLUDE everybody that feels like they can play in a "real" tournament at an affordable RATE. NOT somebody that can just afford it. There was a qualifier because of so many entries. To get in the tournament you usually had to shoot 80 to 85. If you're shooting over a 85 on jackson park maybe it's not the greatest idea to play in a scratch tourney. Try a handicap tourney and I think that that 85 shooter would have a better time and might win something.$150 is just too expensive for some people. In this economy to jack up the price to almost 3 times the original is a joke.

I've played this tourney over the past eight years and this was the best run tourney I've seen. The CDGA was even out there and all the officials were dressed up in slacks and sport coats. To be honest it seemed like a regular ole amateur tourney you would see on the weekends with range balls, lunch, door prizes, etc. The course was in great shape! The fairways and greens were lush and other than a few spots that were either flooded for awhile or burnt out, the course was great. They redid the clubhouse a bit too and the best score today was a couple 66's. I can see why people might complain about the $150 but it's still worth it. Plus, all the good players will get more than that back in prize money anyway. Pace of play was no issue because the leaders tee off first. We played in 4-4.5 hours and the group in front of us was 2 holes behind.

The rough was pretty long too and because we played in the rain it was wet and penial. Without the rain and the slow group we would have finished in 3.5 hours.

I agree with Just Played. The course was in great shape compared to years past. It was nice to see rules officials and a number of staff and officials throughout the course keeping things running smoothly. Lastly, to Vincent and everyone else spouting off about fast play and the best golfers winning etc., I was extremely happy to see that the pins were not tricked up two paces from the edge of the green or cut into ridiculous slopes taking all skill out of the scoring and extending rounds with numerous three and four putts and making good shots irrelevant because of inevitable 3 putts. I also think the quality of players was the best it has ever been. It always amazed me the so many of the guys that "qualified" in years past couldn't break 100 for the first two official rounds when they couldn't choose to play with there buddies. The qualifier was a joke.

Thanks for sitting out guys, you just made it speedier by several groups. Enjoy your skins game.

City Am Player wrote:

I agree with Just Played. The course was in great shape compared to years past. It was nice to see rules officials and a number of staff and officials throughout the course keeping things running smoothly. Lastly, to Vincent and everyone else spouting off about fast play and the best golfers winning etc., I was extremely happy to see that the pins were not tricked up two paces from the edge of the green or cut into ridiculous slopes taking all skill out of the scoring and extending rounds with numerous three and four putts and making good shots irrelevant because of inevitable 3 putts. I also think the quality of players was the best it has ever been. It always amazed me the so many of the guys that "qualified" in years past couldn't break 100 for the first two official rounds when they couldn't choose to play with there buddies. The qualifier was a joke.
Thanks for sitting out guys, you just made it speedier by several groups. Enjoy your skins game.

You are welcome!!! bring your game to our skins next friday and see why we avoided the City AM! There were lots of good players playing at Jackson this weekend but our guys are equally as good. It was our choice, are you going to spend $200.00 to play in the Midwest AM?

Forgot to mention the IPGA was out there with the CDGA helping Billy Casper run the tourney. I really think you guys missed out on a great event. Again, I understand the complaint about the higher entry fee but $60 was way too low for what we got in the past and you should be thankful that you had the opportunity to play for that price in the past. I think $120 is a good entry fee, cut out the tee prizes, and I wouldn't mind seeing a cut for the last day.

Thanks for sitting out??? Buddy, you didn't have some of the best players in this version of the city am. I am a 2 time champ of this event and I know of 5 other past champs that didn't play and one of the guys won this event 5 times. I guess you first time guys are now experts. Put your money where your mouth is. It's JACKSON PARK!!! You guys make it sound like you just played Bethpage the day after the Open. I'm laughing at your lack of knowledge. This year there were only 80 players! I would say half of those guys are new players that probable heard about this tournament on the Score or in the paper. Last year 190 tried to qualify.

Weed out the Weak wrote:

Thanks for sitting out??? Buddy, you didn't have some of the best players in this version of the city am. I am a 2 time champ of this event and I know of 5 other past champs that didn't play and one of the guys won this event 5 times. I guess you first time guys are now experts. Put your money where your mouth is. It's JACKSON PARK!!! You guys make it sound like you just played Bethpage the day after the Open. I'm laughing at your lack of knowledge. This year there were only 80 players! I would say half of those guys are new players that probable heard about this tournament on the Score or in the paper. Last year 190 tried to qualify.

Christ what a crybaby. Sounds like 80 players had a good time, played in a well run tournament and didn't miss you or Vinny. We'll all be thrilled when your "skins" game is over on Friday so we can quit listening to you whine. I'm sure your "gallery" will include a couple of guys from Turf Care waiting for you to get out of the way and 4 or 5 squirrels. Be sure to post your scores on the crapper stall "leader board" for all to enjoy.

Losers.

Why pay attention to this guy. The tournament probably was probably well run. What the objection was the no cut and high price!!! I wonder if Sam Sneed will pony up the $200 to play in the MidWest? I ran into a former Midwest Champion today who is playing the City AM and says no way he is playing in the Midwest. As for Sam Sneed, he is a proably hack if not come out and play in the skins game on friday at Indian Boundary test your skills. Or maybe he is scared he will hit the 4 or 5 squirrels that will be watching???

I played in the tournament as well. By far the best run event I have played at Jackson Park in 20 years. Well worth the money and I feel bad for you guys who decided not to play. By the way, last year there were less than 100 people who tried to qualify. Where are you getting 190 from?
They haven't had that many qualifyers in at least 12 years. Well worth the money. Look around the country and you find these similiar tournaments costing much more with much less give back. We were all spoiled for a long time and we need to acknowledge that fact. I hope you come back next year. I know its really not the money for 90% of you guys. Skip a couple days at Caldwelll and the money is there. Put 50 cents in a jar everyday til next year. Whatever it takes. One less hour at the casino...I could go on. You couold have played and at least see how it went. You would have been surprized. There were many good players, new and veterans. The tourney was a great success without you but could have been better with you.

190 from the tournament director Adam K!!!Having played in the Northeastern AM, North South, no tournament is that expensive!!! Espeically one played on a course like Jackson Park. I am sure that tournament was run swimmingly. Look at the big Amateur tournaments run around here such as Joliet AM, North Shore AM, Morris,Pine Hills, etc., all are less expensive and the field is really quality. Ours was never about the money but about having a qaulifier and a cut. Let's see how many of you show up for the Midwest AM at $200 and no cut? Granted we Jackson was in great shape for Jackson Park!!! Otherwise you couldn't shoot scores in the low 60s. No one is questioning the tournament conditions, just the way it was run!!! It is over now and let's see how many show up for the Midwest. Instead of putting money in a jar, we could have all the fringe players come up to our skins and play. This way we could increase the skin pot so we could play in the Casper tournaments next year. We play weekends at Caldwell and on friday's at Indian Boundary. Come out and play!!!!

Having one good hole isn't a golf tournament though. Golf is about consisent play, not skins, unless maybe your are playing match play. The last three groups had standard bearers and they worked their butts off to pump water outta the fairways and bunkers Saturday morning. We are just asking you guys to try it, that's all. We want to play in an even better tourney next year. Congrats to Bryan Rusin for winning another tourney. He played the most consisent golf and deserved to win.

One more thing...the IPGA was so impressed by the tourney, set up, and quality of play that they granted an exemption to the winner for the Illinois Open for at least three more years.