"So the next time I hear players or media tongue-waggers squawking about how Turning Stone CEO Ray Halbritter was going to cost some pro a spot in the field and a chance at continuing his career, I am hereby hitting mute."
/Steve Elling and Scott Michaux debate the question of CEO Ray Halbritter entering and withdrawing from his own Turning Stone event this week. Elling comes down on the side of letting the guy play, and I have to say his reasoning is an eye opener:
The week of the British Open, another so-called "opposite event" was held in Reno. A total of 126 players showed up to play in what was a 132-man field last year. Last week, the Greenbrier event went off a man short of a full field because there were no alternates around when Steve Marino withdrew before hitting a shot on Thursday morning. Four alternates made it into the field earlier in the week, but the next two players who entered, alternates Kirk Triplett and Marco Dawson, never showed up. So the next time I hear players or media tongue-waggers squawking about how Turning Stone CEO Ray Halbritter was going to cost some pro a spot in the field and a chance at continuing his career, I am hereby hitting mute. If this parade of partially exempt veterans and second-tier guys want to play so desperately, then they can at least bother gracing the tournament site with their magnificence, no?
Did anyone write about the non-full field in Reno? It's kind of shocking that with so few playing opportunities that there are suddenly not enough people to fill a field?