August 11, 2008

CHICAGO, IL — CarlSpacklerOpen.com, the premier amatuer sports entertainment website, announced today the interactive Rumor Mill has surged this summer with updates for the next event. Erik Shirreffs of Hawaii and Bob Morris of Illinois talked about the Rumor Mill, which implies 64-80 golfers will sign for the 2009 Carl Spackler Open Championship.

The Rumor Mill became interactive in July with three levels of commitments for all registered golfers of the Carl Spackler Open. "The attendance rumors are designated for forecasting and setting event expectations for the participants," said senior member Bob Morris. "Most importantly, this gives the Spackler Business Office better forecasting tools, which gives the tournament the best opportunity to cut costs and add services."

The three levels of commitments are verbal, written and signed. Verbal commitments are attendance estimates made by community managers based on rumors. Written commitments are attendance expectations from actual members made online at sign-in. Signed golfers are actual participants included in the 2009 Carl Spackler Open Championship. Rick Dosky signs a player after receiving non-refundable non-transferable $120 deposit.

The latest verbal or written commitment is used to best communicate accurate information. Verbal and written commitments are removed when a participant signs for the major championship.

"We are glad to have such a service to golf trip management," said Morris. "The Rumor Mill has done a great job of organizing commitments for a very large group. It gives me some good expectations before signing."

There are presently 35 written commitments for attendance. There are 12 verbal commitments. There are another 14 written commitments indicating "probable" attendance. There are 5 additional rumors of "probable" attendance.

"We have 66 strong leads for 2009," said a relaxed and rarely reserved Erik Shirreffs. "I would classify that as a surge in interest for next year's tournament. We have another 12 participants who are questionable including Nick Casale and Brian Flanagan."

Members of the Carl Spackler Open can update their attendance expectation by signing into the website. Golfers should click "golf trip" and then click "Attendance Manager" under the TOOLS drop down menu.

The Carl Spackler Open presently manages 100 active members and 49 inactive members. All accounts expire automatically every 365 days to clean up the website. Inactive golfers can sign-in and reactive their account.