A New Year Brings New Formats, New Tournaments to 2020 RDGA Schedule

NEW THIS YEAR: The decision has been made to re-imagine the Ryan as a three-round, 54-hole competition. All players who enter will still be guaranteed to play three rounds, including: the Tuesday practice round on July 21, as well as the first two rounds of play, on Thursday and Friday, July 23 and 24, with a cut to the low 40 players and ties after 36 holes. This is the same format in which the Ryan has been conducted for the past several years. The one change is that those who advance past the 36-hole cut will then play in the one, final round, scheduled for Saturday, July 25.

 

The reason for this change is two-fold: first, one less round during a work week means that most players will have to spend one less day away from their place of employment. Second: a shorter window of play allows our host club and their respective members greater access to their course during the short Rochester golf season. Add to that the fact that we have kept our registration fees at the same level as the past few years – as well as the fact that all District Championship entrants get the opportunity to play at least three rounds on one of the premier courses in the Rochester community – and we think that this represents a healthy change for our golfers and Member Clubs alike.

 

 

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The RDGA Junior Championships are a premier test of Championship golf in the Rochester area for junior boys and girls, ages 7 through 18. The event includes SIX distinct championships: Juniors (ages 15 to 18), Sub Juniors (12 to 14) and Pee Wees (7 to 11) for both boys and girls.

 

NEW THIS YEAR: ALL SIX Junior Championships will be conducted in stroke play format – including the Junior Boys and Sub Junior Boys Championships, which have been conducted as match play throughout the long history of the RDGA. As a result, this year, there will be NO Junior Championship Qualifier. ALL rounds of the 2020 Junior Championships will be contested between Tuesday and Wednesday, July 14 and 15.

 

There are also good reasons for this change in format. First and foremost, it had become increasingly apparent that the match play format imposed a gruelling schedule on competitors – especially in the Junior ranks, where some players were competing in up to five rounds over the course of three days. A second significant reason for adopting a new stroke play format for our Junior Championships is that a two-day, 36-hole format has become the benchmark by which many junior championships around the country are conducted. In fact, the nationally-recognized Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings will only consider events that follow this format. Again, we see this as constructive change.

 

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The RDGA Junior Classic has been a staple of the RDGA Tournament Schedule for years, offering 9 or 18 holes of stroke play on some of the area’s top private golf clubs for boys and girls in two age groups: Juniors (ages 15-18) and Sub Juniors (ages 12-14). At the same time, the RDGA has also offered Pee Wee Classics for many years – 9-hole events for juniors ages 7 to 11 that were often the first exposure to tournament golf for many of the participants and their parents.

 

NEW THIS YEAR: The Junior Classics and Pee Wee Classics have been combined into one event, for all juniors ages 7 through 18. Play is conducted among three age groups for boys: Juniors (ages 15-18), Sub Juniors (ages 12-14) and Pee Wees (ages 7-11), with Juniors playing 18 holes, Sub Juniors playing either 9 or 18 holes and Pee Wees playing 9 holes. Girls of all ages have the option to play either 9 or 18 holes.

 

The reason for this change? Frankly, the time has come to combine these events into one “super” Junior Classic – after all, the RDGA Junior Championships have included all three age groups for years. Also, the conventional wisdom has been that the Pee Wee golfers needed separation from their older counterparts due to the general lack of tournament experience among the younger golfers. In recent years, this notion has become increasingly outdated, as many junior programs and tours now often start at age 5 or 6. The Pee Wee golfers that now play in RDGA Junior Tournaments are much more experienced than they used to be.

 

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Now in its 10th year, the RDGA Women’s Championship Danielle E. Downey Memorial features 36 holes of scratch stroke play competition over two days and is the premier Championship event for women on the RDGA schedule. Since its’ inception, this Championship has been held concurrently with other events: from 2010 to 2016, it was paired with the RDGA District Championship, sharing space and tee times with the RDGA’s top Championship for men. In the past two years, the Women’s Championship has been held in conjunction with the popular RDGA Women’s Open, a one-day, 18 hole tournament.

 

NEW THIS YEAR: The RDGA’s only championship exclusively for women will be conducted as a single, stand-alone event for the first time.

 

The reasons for this are many – not the least of which that it is time that the Women’s Championship stood on its own – without another event taking away attention from the competition. Especially for the past two years, the pairing of this two-day, 36 hole Championship with the one day 18-hole Women’s Open produced an odd dichotomy. Now, top women competitiors in the RDGA will get the opportunity to be front and center, playing for the title on some of the area’s top golfing venues.

 

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Dating back for many years, the Interdistrict Junior Championship represented an opportunity for some of the top-ranked junior boys golfers in Rochester to compete against their counterparts in Buffalo and Syracuse. Teams of six golfers each in both the Junior (15 to 18) and Sub Junior (12 to 14) age categories competed in a one day, 18-hole stroke play tournament for bragging rights.

 

NEW THIS YEAR: The “Interdistrict” title has been dropped, in favor of the new Upstate Junior Team Championship, as well as a new format. There will still be teams of Juniors and Sub Juniors competing from Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse – but now, each District will also include teams of Junior and Sub Junior Girls, playing in a two-day, 36-hole stroke play competition based on individual and team scoring.

 

Aside from the obvious move of including girls in this event, the biggest change in format is the switch from 18 holes and one day to 36 holes over two days. Much like the reason for changing the format of the RDGA Junior Championships to 36 holes, this change in format also opens the competition to be included in Junior Golf Scoreboard ranking throughout the country. More details about this event will be forthcoming.

 

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As the only entirely new RDGA event for 2020, the Foundation Tournament also brings an exciting premise to the schedule: the RDGA’s first fundraiser to help benefit local junior golf programming.

 

Coming about as the result of a collaboration between the RDGA and Monroe Golf Club, this event gives all RDGA Members perhaps their first opportunity to play one of the most celebrated clubs in the Rochester area and one of six local Donald Ross-designed masterpieces.

 

This event will be played as a best 2 of 4 team Best Ball format – foursomes are welcome to sign up together, although twosomes and singles are also welcomed. Teams can include men or women – or both, as mixed teams will also be able to sign up together. There will be plenty of fun on the course, with lunch, games, auctions and dinner at Monroe Golf Club following play – all in the name of helping us to grow the game for future generations. Registration is open to RDGA Members and non-members alike. All participants – men and women – must have an active GHIN Handicap Index to enter.

 

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After much deliberation during the offseason, the decision has been made to change the process by which the RDGA identifies its Players of the Year – including awards for Men, Women, Seniors, Junior Boys and Junior Girls.

 

For most of the past two decades, the RDGA has employed a “point” system in order to determine Players of the Year – including schedules for each category that offered points for order of finish in a number of local, State and National tournaments. This included not only RDGA tournaments, but also New York State Golf Association events, USGA qualifiers and Championships, as well as top-ranked amateur tournaments from around the country.

 

NEW THIS YEAR: There will no longer be a points schedule for any of the five Player of the Year categories. Tracking of player performance will be done internally – with the ultimate decision of who wins Players of the Year honors being made by a select committee of golf community leaders in the Rochester area.

 

The primary reason for this change is due to the time and effort it took to maintain timely points lists for every player in the Rochester area – the task had become unweildy with so many top events being offered in the competitive golfing landscape, multiplied by an ever increasing number of local players who competed on the State and National level. The move to appoint committees to oversee and vote on eventual Players of the Year is a time-honored one – many opposing viewpoints can be brought to the table and discussed. And with a final decision being made collectively, the potential controversy that can arise from one player earning the most points from playing in a single event – or another player not earning enough points by not playing in certain events – can hopefully be eliminated.