May 31, 2006

WESTERVILLE, OH — In today's modern, technologically advanced world, information is craved instantaneously. The masses thirst for stories the moment something breaks. What once took hours or even days to deliver the who, what, where and when of a story now requires just seconds to be transferred to media outlets.

Thanks to communication tools like the Internet, a simple click of the mouse is all anyone needs to receive a plethora of knowledge.

And the Carl Spackler Open is one of the rare golf trips in America using the information evolution.

Next week, the tournament relies heavily on the wireless Internet connection that ties directly into the mammoth Poststats.com database. Exactly 236 scorecards will be entered into the system and 4,212 scores plus long putts will be organized, sorted, and reported in about 5 seconds.

Brian Long and Greg Garrett, Vice Presidents of Online Scoring will handle the large volume of information with a team of 10 golfers and 5 laptops. Using an expedited scorecard entry process, the team will enter each scorecard into the computer in about 20-30 minutes. Then double check total strokes of each golfer for complete accuracy.

"The Neuse Golf Club, Clarion Hotel and even the Flying Saucer watering hole have high speed wireless connections," said Greg Garrett. "That clearly makes things very flexible."

Besides recording the hole-by-hole scoring next week, the system will track multiple leaderboards, player scorecards, contest winners, daily skins, course vs field statistics, and long putt information. Those statistics are driven by player bios and The Neuse course information.

Pairing, Starting Times & Information Sheets will be printed by Kevin Long, Jr. and Jeremy Myers at the Clarion Hotel on the Spackler Laser Printer, folded by a team and distributed each day of play with updated information.

"I always knew there was a way to make tournaments automated," said John Dick. "These guys manage one hell of an event. I could not imagine a 3-round, 30-guy tournament with paper and pencil let alone 64 guys over 4 days. Simply amazing and well organized."

Matt Pritchard also loves the scoring technology. "My entire office arrives early in the morning in hopes they can call me and harrass me before the next round," says Pritchard. "My almost-wife also watches the progress all week. When I return to work on Monday, everyone seems to know whether my trip was a success or failure."

Chad Long, non-attendee of the Friday scramble, is going to help with scoring on Friday afternoon. Pairings for Saturday should be ready prior to leaving the course on Friday.

Due to shotgun and dual tee formats, the scoring teams will probably not enter scorecards at the golf course on Thursday and Saturday, but immediately after the party bus returns to the Clarion Hotel.

"What we see as players is nothing compared to what must be happening behind the scenes," says tournament organizer Jeremy Myers. "Everyone wants the scores and they want them quickly. Our tournament has exceeded expectations time and time again."