April 30, 2008

PERU, IN — The very excited and happy Matt Davis, a.k.a. Pokey, grabbed a few minutes and held a press conference for the 2008 Carl Spackler Open Championship. The outspoken Davis wanted to discuss pairings, roommates, and the submitted participant preference lists.

"Welcome everyone. I am quite sure everyone knows that I am the smartest man in the world. The participant options were completed last month. We collected 494 partner preferences from 64 golfers and completed a draft version of the pairings in mid-April.

With 72 paid golfers, each participant should be playing this year in a foursome. This provides 3 or 4 rounds with 3 different golfers. This includes the 4-man Scramble, which is expected to be teed in eightsomes. That is 7 fellow golfers, which totals 19 possible partners assuming all optional golf.

There were 8 participants who did not select partner preferences.

There were 8 participants who provided between 15 and 20 partner preferences. These participants will be paired with 6 to 10 of their selections.

The remaining 56 participants will be paired with at least half of their selections.

Rookies have been paired with their referral as a top priority. This should occur on June 4 or June 5, however some will be paired together on Friday, June 6.

We developed a popularity list based on partner preference frequency. The most popular guys cannot be paired with 20 different guys plus their own preferences. After the rookies and referrals were paired together, we completed pairings involving popular participants.

Everyone attending should be paired with their #1 selection as a secondary priority. In addition, everyone except four participants should be paired with their #2 selection.

There should just be a handful of duplicates with all 72 golfers. Duplicate means participants are not intended to play golf with the same person twice.

[Davis sits up straight in his chair and smiles.]

Lastly, we moved some pairings around with consideration to total stroke average per foursome for pace of play concerns, scramble teams, best ball teams, and late arrivals to the practice round.

We revisited the pairings 72 different times this week to verify successful pairings, prevent duplicates, and ensure a 51+ percent rate.

The process is 98 percent complete assuming no cancellations. Are there any questions?"

Trent Cooper said, "Who is the most popular? Is it me?"

Davis replied, "Are you kidding? You are an idiot."

Brother Mike Davis yelled, "It is not you. You are a drunk."

[Matt smiles.]

Pokey replies with an arrogant tone, "I am not first. Matt Davis (referring to himself in the third person) was on a record-high 21 lists though. I am second overall, but think that I should be on top. I will keep the top spot to myself so everyone can think it was them.

[Davis takes a drink of his Yuengling.]

It is important to remember that a group or pairing is not final until you have a daily tournament pairing sheet in your hand. There can be a cancellation today, tommorrow, and even after Round 1.

Any other questions?"

Scott Miller asked, "When are the pairings available?"

Pokey replied, "Not sure. We have learned not to publish this type of information before we have most of the pre-tournament requirements complete. We will begin to publish roommates and pairings the day after balances are fully collected and rookies have submitted half of their scorecard requirements. We will be publishing online every three days.

Are there any other questions?"

Dave Osborne asked, "What is the scoop with roommates? We are over the tournament cap of 68 golfers."

Davis replied, "This is true. Roommates were easy, but not as easy as last year. We do have 72 golfers this year with 34 rooms and 68 queen size beds. We have provided free optional golf to eight golfers to share queen beds. This will accommodate the excess participants over the tournament cap. There will be four hotel rooms with 3 participants. These 8 golfers sharing queen beds were top priority along with rookies and their referrals.

I am looking forward to waking up each morning with Kevin. Are there any more questions?"

Randon Mineweaser said, "Who is in the best pairing of the week?"

Pokey replied, "I am quite sure that would involve me. My eightsome on Friday afternoon is expected to consist of two teams. Me, Butter, Carder, and Barry. The other team is you, Garrett, Watson, and Wayne.

Weaser... we are going to be so drunk. Any other questions?"

Scott Miller asked, "Who is playing with me?"

Davis replied, "You need to be patient with everyone else. I believe you are with Fowble, Chad, and Fustich on Thursday, but this can change with a cancellation."

Jon Munksgard asked, "Who is on my bowling team? I am the Jason Ridgeway of bowling."

Davis replied, "This is true. Kev and I are still working on bowling teams. You are indeed the best bowler. So probably someone that really sucks at bowling. Probably 'the Mike Lewis of golf', but for bowling. I am not sure though.

Any other questions?"

[no questions]

The 2008 Carl Spackler Open Championship will begin on June 5 with a tournament field of 72 golfers. The 54-hole handicapped tournament will be teed in reverse Leaderboard order on Saturday.