anybody know why this tournament is conducted at stroke play?

Only guessing here - but since a big part of it is the Morse Cup (team competition) - and that would be damn impossible to do as match play - stroke play it is.

anybody know why this tournament is conducted at stroke play?

With 18 Pacific Rim golf associations comprising the Pacific Coast Golf Association, how would you organize match play without the risk of eliminating half the field on Day 1 (which would dissuade the Associations from spending the money to send teams to the event)?

From the PCA website:

The Morse Cup Team competition has been a major portion of the PCGA Championship since 1967.  Each team consists of three players. From 1967 to 1996, the best two scores each day for the first two rounds were totaled for each team to determine the Morse Cup Champion. In the event of a tie, co-champions were recognized. However, the team play ended after 36 holes.

A significant change in the Championship format occurred in 1997. This change made it possible for golf associations throughout the international golf scene to become a part of this storied event. When the 31st annual competition began on July 29, 1997 , at Makena Resorts South Course in Maui , Hawaii , the emphasis was on team play and scores were counted from all four rounds. This format change opened the door to include teams of three players representing other national and regional associations, as well as member associations of the PCGA.  

In 2002, Trustees of the PCGA voted to return to the tournaments original format, a moved spurred in large part by the fact that the USGA does not recognize results from team competitions in making selections for Walker Cup squads.  The Pacific Coast Amateur is now an individual competition with all competitors playing 72 holes without a cut being made. The Morse Cup competition continues to be held in conjunction with the Championship, but only PCGA member associations are allowed to have teams.[/i]

There are some great events in the world of Am golf.

Here is the field...with teams and individual invitees.  Buddy Marucci among the latter.

Field for Pacific Coast Am

Course stats from play on the Ocean Cse.

Hole by Hole Stats

Field averaged 74.56 (par 71) on the Ocean...interesting that #18 played as the 6th most difficult hole...usually plays much easier for everyday play.

Field averaged 74.56 (par 71) on the Ocean...interesting that #18 played as the 6th most difficult hole...usually plays much easier for everyday play.

That is surprising ... I checked the weather cam and the wind mph and direction was normal.  Perhaps many of the young guys tried to drive it to the bottom of the hill only to find trouble ... or a tight hole location ...

So the work on the Ocean course's 15th green a 16th tee is done then, I take it.  Can anyone comment on how significant the changes turned out to be and how they affect play of the holes?

I was a trustee for the Pacific Coast Am in 1997 when we voted to emphasize the team format.  The reason was that by being a team competition the associations could pay the expenses of the players.

Given the new rules on expenses the issue is moot now.

The purpose of the PCA was always to show off the West Coast players for the USGA Walker Cup selections.  By getting Buddy Marucci out there this year they are doing a good job of that.  I'm surprised that it is the same week as the Western Am this year as we usually tried to avoid that conflict as it definitely hurt the field quality.

Lake played one stroke more difficult on average than the Ocean...stroke average was  75.5 today.  

Most interesting, to me, was the relative difficulty of #5...it ranked as the fourth most difficult hole today with an average of 4.489.  I would have guessed that with the tree clearing on the right side that it would have played easier than that.  

Maybe Matt can give us a report on today's play when he gets home later.

I'm happy to give a report, especially because I have a couple of excellent stories to go with it.

The golf course was set up similarly to how I saw it for members' play except that the greens were about a foot faster. The pins were challenging but not extreme by any means - mostly 6-8 yards from the edges. The rough didn't seem deeper than normal. There was some swirling wind and I think that affected scores a bit. The difference from the members' setup was 2 shots at most.

The fairways at Olympic are in the best condition of almost any course I've ever seen. The greens are good for poa annua but everyone had a couple of putts bounce at some point during the round. The talk I heard was that the greens on the Ocean were not quite as good, and that this affected scoring.

Regarding #5, the wind and pin position were tough. The wind was to the left off the tee and swirling in the fairway. The pin was 21 on and 6 from the right - probably the toughest area of that green. Most of the guys hit driver off the tee which probably isn't the correct play with that wind. A case of bad club selection more than bad swings. Balls were in the left rough, not the right trees.

OK, on to my stories. These are good ones!

1. I got to Olympic just before my friend Henry Liaw teed off. (He started on #9.) I actually haven't seen Henry in a long time. He's had a great college career at Arizona and has a bunch of European Tour exemptionsl lined up for when he turns pro later this summer.

I said hello, and I heard him mention to a playing partner that he hadn't played a practice round on the Lake. (Also in his pairing was Clay Ogden, the past Public Links champion forever known as the guy who beat Michelle Wie.) I bit my tongue as he predictably misjudged several shots.

As we walked off #14 tee, I mentioned that I wished I could guide him around, or at least point out things like, "Hey, that's the 6th green over there." He said it would help and I told him I'd check with a rules official first. The rules official said that I couldn't say anything unless I was officially his caddy, and according to this official, I couldn't just call myself his caddy - I had to actually carry the bag, rake bunkers, etc.

I politely asked him if this was written anywhere in the rule book. He drove off and came back about five minutes later. His answer was, as long as I wore a caddie bib, I could say anything I wanted. I told him that worked for me, and five minutes later - we were on #16 green by now - he came back with a bib for me. I asked Henry if he really wanted to go through with this and he said unhesitatingly that he really needed the help getting around the course! I was officially Henry's caddy!

The first thing he said was that I didn't have to carry the bag. The first thing I said was, "Dude, I'm not gonna be the only guy in a caddy bib who's not carrying anything. I'm carrying your bag!"

So off we went. He was +3 when I picked up his bag on #17 tee; he played -1 the rest of the way in to finish with a respectable 72. I gave him some good advice - the highlight was when I changed his read on a 35 footer on #2 that he proceeded to hole for a nice birdie. I had a lot more fun caddying than just watching, and I like to think that I helped him shoot a lower score too.

2. Buddy Marrucci, the great amateur player, played in the group ahead of ours and didn't have his best day. I had to go to work at Golfsmith immediately after the round, and I was quite shocked at around 6:00 when who walks into Golfsmith but...Buddy Marrucci!? So that was a surprise. I enjoyed walkin into the office and telling my managers, "Umm, the captain of the Walker Cup team is in the hitting bay on the right...."

By the way, Buddy is an exceptionally nice guy. I really enjoyed spending about 20 minutes talking to him and showing him a some items in the store.

But even more surprising was when I realized he was actually there to buy a set of irons, which he eventually did. So now I can't help but hope for him to play well the next two days!

Anyway, that was my day at Olympic. I'll be back on Friday, I think - maybe on Henry's bag, maybe not. Again, message me if you'll be around.

Cheers,
Matt

Matt -

Sounds like you had quite a day. Two questions:

1) Were you surprised that a player of Henry Liaw's caliber would not have played a practice on a course with the pedigree of the Lake Course in a tournament as prestigous as this one?

2) Did you talk with Buddy Marucci at all about what he thought of the OC courses? I am curious to know what his opinions might be.

DT  

For an initial analysis, consider the 4 par 3's.  Look at the average scores, and the spread of scoring.  The two shorter par 3's have played more difficult and with a wider spread.  I haven't seen the holes, but I expect the shot required on these holes is more exacting but one which can obtain a birdie reward if well executed.

It will be interesting to see how #5 plays today..there are several tee boxes on this hole - an extreme drop-shot short hole.  These fellows shouldn't have trouble with it, but if there is any wind to speak of, it could make the hole more difficult.  #2 and #17 are rather straightforward.  #10 is exposed to wind and has many hazards around the green.

Then consider the 3 par 5's.  The 11th is slighly shorter but plays on average more difficult than the others, with a massive scoring spread.  There must be a variety of hazards that come into play on this hole.

All on the tee shot, which must carry a barranca.  The second shot (assuming someone is going for the green) is uphill and semi-blind.

Also consider the 16th hole.  Very little scoring spread on this hole - it has the highest frequency of par scores across the days play.

Straightforward hole - no hazards.

The 17th hole also has a small scoring range (std deviation).

Straightforward par 3.

 However, the 18th hole has the widest spread (std deviation) of all holes.

I'm not sure why this is the case...normally a fairly routine hole.  maybe the rough lines are a factor for the tournament?

Thanks for the charts James...hope all is well in Oz.  Hope the Wallabies get back on track versus SA.

Matt - I don't know Henry Liaw from Adam Ant, so have no clue about his access issues.  I guess I was just assuming at least SOME of the competitors in this event were regular joes, and thus would have "access issues"... not to mention the fact quite a few might be coming to the area just for this event, and with practice rounds limited, well...

Oh well... no biggie... David's question just to me seemed strange.