[DC 86]

There is no way to definitively settle this debate, and I hesitate to look for excuses or to denigrate teams' performances, but you fail to address old alum's critical point regarding the margin by which NW and Kent distanced themselves from the field. The twelve teams between T3 and T13 are all within six strokes of each other (+23 to +29) while NW is ten stokes ahead and Kent is eight strokes ahead of that group. So the distribution is unusual and the fact that NW and Kent played in the same group is noteworthy.

I suspect that the first rounds results are a combination of superior play and some sort of weather-related advantage. The good news is that under this format the only thing that matters is finishing in the top eight.

[DC 86]

There is no way to definitively settle this debate, and I hesitate to look for excuses or to denigrate teams' performances, but you fail to address old alum's critical point regarding the margin by which NW and Kent distanced themselves from the field. The twelve teams between T3 and T13 are all within six strokes of each other (+23 to +29) while NW is ten stokes ahead and Kent is eight strokes ahead of that group. So the distribution is unusual and the fact that NW and Kent played in the same group is noteworthy.

I suspect that the first rounds results are a combination of superior play and some sort of weather-related advantage. The good news is that under this format the only thing that matters is finishing in the top eight.