We all know who they are. No matter what kind of
day they are having off the tee and on their
approach shots, they're dangerous. Especially in
match play.
I'm referring, of course, to players with great
short games, and more specifically great putters.
Now imagine how good these players could be if
putting wasn't just 50% of the game. What if it was
the ONLY game? On Friday, November 18
AmateurGolf.com will host a Major Series of Putting
(MSOP) qualifier at Goat Hill Park in Oceanside, in
North San Diego County.
You may have heard Matt Ginella of The Golf
Channel
talk about this formerly downtrodden gem of a
course that his buddy John Ashworth (Linksoul) has
taken over
and renovated. Each Friday, Goat Hill hosts a skins
game, and our November 18 qualifier will follow
that. Just $40 gets you entry into the skins game
($15 "pot), your 9-hole greens fee, a $25 Callaway
gift card, and entry into the MSOP qualifier. The
winner gets their entry fee paid for the March
"Amateur Only" putting championship in Las Vegas.
To register now, visit
AmateurGolf.com/tour. Go ahead, make a
mini-vacation out of it in San Diego, where our
weather hit 95 degrees on the coast on November 9.
ABOUT THE MAJOR SERIES OF
PUTTING
That's the idea of the MSOP, a
March, 2017 series of putting competitions in Las
Vegas -- the acronym in fact stands for "Major
Series of
Putting" -- that plans to be
the biggest putting tournament in history, and is
expecting prize money in excess of $10 Million. And
AmateurGolf.com is proud to be a part of the MSOP,
right from the beginning. But wait a minute, why
would AmateurGolf.com get behind a tournament
with big prize money? Well, for starters there is an
amateur-only competition scheduled. We'll get to
that later.
Starting in August, and running through early
2017, the MSOP will host qualifiers at U.S. and
Canadian golf clubs. Many of those qualifiers will take place in
conjunction with scheduled golf tournaments (makes
sense) while others will be standalone. Pay a small
entry fee, then win your qualifier for an automatic
entry in one of the March events.
You can also pay an entry fee and register for
the March events immediately, guaranteeing that
you
will be among the expected 4,200 participants in Las
Vegas and allowing you to make plans for the big
trip.
If you're like me, you're probably wondering a
couple of things. Who is behind it? And can they pull
it off?
Let's start with who is behind it. Because when I
heard about it, saw the attractive website, and that
Brad Faxon is endorsing the project, I
knew the MSOP had some serious financial backing.
It turns out that MSOP is a subsidiary of Lune
Rouge Innovation, a new creative company founded
and controlled by Cirque du Soleil Founder Guy
Laliberté. And that brings me to another amazing
fact about the
MSOP. They are constructing, in collaboration with
Nicklaus design, an 18-hole championship putting
course, surrounded by stadium seating.
Now visualize having a putt to win everything with
all of those people watching. You're not in the $10
Nassau anymore!
"The MSOP Championships are the perfect
occasion for golfers from all walks of life to compete
for high stakes," says MSOP President and GM
Guillaume Béland. "(Players) will experience
the intensity and excitement we usually only see at
the highest levels of professional golf."
The competitions will run between March 8-29,
2017. There are various individual
formats in both match and stroke play (pros,
amateurs, or combined), team
competitions, a women's competition, and an
amateur championship, which is scheduled for March
16, 2017. Entry fees (which allow you to bypass the
qualifier) run from $1,000 to $5,000 for the open
competitions, but just $350 for the amateur
championship.
HOW TO ENTER
Visit the MSOP website to learn about qualifying
dates and locations. The list will be updated
frequently starting in mid-August. To register
immediately and bypass the
qualifying process, visit the Events and Schedule page
and
click on the event you are interested in to learn
more and register.
HOSTING A QUALIFIER
Tournament directors and PGA professionals
interested in hosting a
qualifier at one or more of their events (or anytime
at their course) can download
an informational kit from the MSOP website.
AmateurGolf.com will be running a qualifier at one of
our big Winter Series events in
December. (Stay tuned for info.)
ABOUT THE
MSOP Qualifier 1
On Friday, November 18, Goat Hill Park will host a
qualifier for the Major Series of Putting in Las Vegas,
under the lights after the skins game. (Arrive
between 1:00 and 2:00pm if you want to play the
skins.)
The Major
Series of Putting is being contested on a specially-
constructed stadium putting course right behind
Planet Hollywood near the Las Vegas strip. There are
five big money events in March, and an amateur
version on March 13, which is what the winner of our
putting contest will be playing for.
WHEN: Friday, November 18, right after
the skins game
WHERE: Goat Hill Park Practice Green,
under the lights
ENTRY FEE: $40 includes skins pot, greens
fee, and entry into the putting competition. The
winner gets a complimentary entry (value $350) into
the March 13 event in Vegas.
GHP member Pete Wlodkowski from
AmateurGolf.com will be there to run the qualifier.
Play will be in twosomes. Replays will be allowed at
$10, with all net proceeds going to Goat Hill Junior
Golf Foundation.
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