I would like to talk about what happened during the Children’s Day holiday on May 5th, when it rained a lot. The Korea Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open, which was scheduled to start on the 5th and end on the 7th, ended early from the previous 3rd round to the 2nd round due to bad weather. In this competition, Park Bo-gyeom (25), who recorded a final total of 7 under par 137, won the championship. It was a tournament that instilled confidence in Park Bo-gyeom, who was eliminated from the cutoff in the domestic opening game this season.
Park Bo-gyeom won the Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open. Provided by KLPGA Tour
Because of the holiday, there was less interest than other competitions, but the big issues passed without attention. Park Hyun-kyung (23) passed the cut in 53 consecutive competitions before this competition. Last season, she passed the cut in all 27 competitions she entered, and she got off to a good start this season as well. Her streak of 53 contests and her streak of passing cuts is first among active players and tied for third even including retired players. Park Hyun-kyung has a better shot feel than her last season, so there was a prospect that she could surpass the record of 65 consecutive cuts passed by Seo Hee-kyung (37), who ranked first in this category. However, at the Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open, Hyunkyung Park missed the cutoff. And her Park Hyun-kyung’s record of passing consecutive cuts also stopped.
● Cut-off in the concept of ‘dropout in the preliminary round’
If a player performs poorly, they may be eliminated from the cutoff. However, in this competition, it is said that the process of Park Hyun-kyung’s elimination from the cutoff was not smooth. First, let’s look at the concept of a cutoff. The meaning of the term cutoff in golf is ‘to drop out of the qualifying round’. After rounds 1 and 2 are completed based on the standard 4 rounds of 18 holes, players below a certain rank are eliminated from the cutoff and rounds 3 and 4 are played. Because there are a lot of people, it’s to make the game fast. For this reason, rounds 1 and 2 are called preliminary rounds, and rounds 3 and 4 are called the main round.
Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open Cutoff Rules. Provided by KLPGA Tour
The KLPGA Tour sets cut-off standards for each tournament. If you look at the Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open guidelines, it says that only the 60th place can advance to the third round after the second round is over. Since it is a three-round competition, rounds 1 and 2 were viewed as preliminaries and round 3 was regarded as the final round. However, the first round on the 5th could not be completed due to heavy rain. The next day, on the morning of the 6th, the remaining matches were played and the first round was over. In addition, the KLPGA Tour, which predicted that bad weather would continue, informed the players after the first round that this tournament 메이저놀이터would end with two rounds without three rounds. If so, Round 1 will be the preliminaries and Round 2 will be the finals.
However, after the first round of the competition, there was no cutoff elimination. It is said that the KLPGA tour did not give clear explanations about this to the players on site. Most of the players said they thought this tournament would be without a cutoff dropout. It was the same with Park Hyun-kyung.
● Park Hyeon-gyeong, who lost his record due to the application of mechanical regulations
A total of 13 people withdrew due to the weather, and 6 people withdrew in the second round. Players abstain because if they do, their performance will not be included in the official records of the tournament, such as batting average. Athletes with poor performance are forfeited to keep their records.
Park Hyun-kyung was different. Despite her poor performance in the first round, Hyunkyung Park also participated in the second round to continue her record. If she had missed the cutoff, she would have gone home to take care of her condition, but Park Hyun-kyung, who thought that there was no cutoff in this tournament, stayed in the rain until the end.
Hyunkyung Park playing in the rain. Provided by KLPGA Tour
However, after the tournament, Park Hyun-kyung received a report card that said she was eliminated from the cutoff. An official from the KLPGA Tour said, “Because there is a rule in this tournament’s guidelines to drop out of the cutoff after 36 holes, players who did not receive prize money after 36 holes were eliminated from the cutoff.” This rule, as the KLPGA Tour says, is a rule set on the premise that three rounds will be played. There is no cut-off elimination rule when the competition schedule is changed due to a round reduction due to bad weather. Because of that, the KLPGA tour cut off players who played up to the 2nd round with the 3rd round rule. Players who did not pass the preliminary round were allowed to play together in the final round, and the concept of elimination from the preliminary round was applied again with the overall score. I wonder if administrative convenience was given priority over the players’ position.
The power of star players such as Park Hyun-kyung was great for the KLPGA tour to receive such great love as it is now. What if the KLPGA Tour had judged the situation from the perspective of the players before putting administrative convenience first?