NCAA Div. I Approves Match Play for 2009 Championship

[Harry Longshanks]

I am a big fan of college golf, both men's and women's, and I follow my team pretty routinely on GolfStat when they play. I even went to the Men's Regionals in May and watched the (somewhat pathetic, but better than nothing) streaming video coverage of Nationals.

So I was interested when I heard that the NCAA was changing the format of the Men's National Championship. Starting 2009, the teams will play 54 holes of stroke play with the traditional best 4 of 5 scores. After 54 holes, the individual champion will be crowned and the field will be cut to the top 8 teams, which will advance to match play with seeding based on the 54 hole stroke play scores.

Personally, I love match play and I wish there were more televised match play events. I realize that cutting the field eliminates the possibility of final day heroics for a team, but frankly, I think its rare for the standing to change so much on the final day of stroke play as to significantly alter the outcome. As best, a team usually moves up a few notches. I think the excitement of match play far outweighs any potential downsides. It's just too bad its not a true bracket system instead of a points system. But the time required for that would be impractical, and it doesn't really advance the "team" concept of college golf.

Now if we can just get them to televise the event . . .

GolfWeek Story

[Thrash13]

Yeah, they have been talking about this for awhile, and there have been a lot of mixed reactions to say the least. Most of the reaction I've heard is a "if it's not broke, don't fix it" response, and I can see the point of that opinion. However, match play is awesome, and it will provide the NCAA Division 1 National Championship with a little extra spark for the future. I would have been fine with it staying the old format, and I'm also fine with it changing up a bit.

Like you said, the most important thing is getting it televised or covered better online. The coverage at NCAA.com was ok, but it would be a lot better on ESPNU or something of that nature. There really isn't any reason to give it a chance anyway.

[Harry Longshanks]

Like you said, the most important thing is getting it televised or covered better online. The coverage at NCAA.com was ok, but it would be a lot better on ESPNU or something of that nature.

And this is where I have issues with the Golf Channel. They are a network devoted to a single sport. And they don't broadcast a number of national championships: NCAA (men's or women's), comprehensive amateur championships, publinx, etc. Why not? The Golf Channel should cover . . . wait for it . . .

golf . So if GolfWeek can manage a video feed, why not TGC? As for ESPN... well, apparently poker, spelling bees, and lawnmower racing (Yes, you read that right. I turned on ESPN one evening to discover competitive lawnmower racing.) are sports worth broadcasting, but not the national golf championships.