January 10, 2011

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX — Although, the 2011 Virtual Tournament does not begin for most of the active 110 players within the Carl Spackler Open Community, the annual update of points for all players has been completed. The 187 members registered for Carl Spackler Open were updated today with a couple of big handicap moves upward and downward.

Tom Fowble is loading up after placing 59th in the 2010 Virtual Tournament with 42.8 points per round. He finished in 64th position in 2009, and 58th position in 2007.

"Backup the truck and load up the points," said Fowble of the distribution of points completed last week. This looks like sandbagging, but nobody would pay golf courses to intentionally score this kind of garbage."

Chad Long will grab a career high point distribution after scoring 49.3 points per round in the 2010 Virtual Tournament. He will open with 1 point for double-bogey, 2 points for bogey, and a coveted 5 points for par.

Mark Wray, Brian Long, Joe Butkus, Walter Hetzel, and Brad Carder are all big winners during the annual point distribution. "These guys including myself played very poor last summer," said Long. "At least when you consider their handicaps on January 1, 2010." The goal behind point distribution is to level the playing field on January 1 to see who is the best and worst golfers of the year.

Mike Hawley, Pat Boland, Jean Dore, and Matt Mogel are the hardest hit. Hawley is expected to lose 15 percent of his handicap from last January. "He has definitely turned his game around," said Vice President of Grass and Animal Interaction Tom McCauley. "I am anxious to see the results first hand this April."

Pat Boland will lose 10 percent of his handicap after playing top-notch golf for a period of a year.

PostStats LLC, the premier amateur sports entertainment website, announced the Poststats Points for Virtual Tournaments on January 1.

The target of 60 points will be used for golfers with handicaps higher than 20 strokes. The bogey golfer and even more skilled golfers will be granted higher targets to help adjust the improvement scale. "There is no doubt Mike Lewis has more room to improve than Jason Ridgeway," said Long. "We need to capture that in the point target and overall system. Ridgeway's target is 68 points."

The 2011 Virtual Tournament is a season-long tournament with the goal to identify the most improved golfer of season. Poststats Points will remain unchanged with golfers playing better or worse than their handicaps throughout the year.