[76lsjumb]

I disagree with the argument that match play is somehow not a legit determination of the national champ. Match play in golf has been around forever. I'd agree if it was some reduced event, like playing 3 holes or something like that. But each of these players had up to 18 holes to get it done. Stanford just didn't play well enough, and they know it. Nothing unfair/happinstance about it. If they play 10 times, Stanford probably wins 9. It was a big upset - that's what happens when you don't play well enough.

I also have to say - been around this board for quite some time. There is (IMO) a lot of after the fact whining when things don't go our way. It's a bad format, a bad draw, the refs, the schedule, the travel, etc. etc. Really all that happened here is that we got beat, fair and square.

Boy, it's hard to make a joke around here without people getting really upset... or making inaccurate assumptions that folks are whining, etc.

Of course we got beat fair and square.  Indeed, this was foreshadowed when we got beat in the ACC tournament match play.  And, obviously, Northwestern was no Harvard women's basketball team; they have some very good players.  I hope this outcome helps our team develop that killer instinct necessary to make match play less of a crap shoot next deason. 

Still, when you have a championship set-up where the best team over four rounds of team golf [sometimes best by a very wide margin] ends up NOT being the champion many more times than it IS the champion due to the fact that the champion is determined by three rounds of an entirely different format than is played for the remaining ~80% the season's competitions, it strikes me as a legitimate object of criticism.  

If the champion is going to be determined by match play, fine.  Make the WHOLE tournament match play.  Or maybe do four-ball...or alternate shot.  They're all long-recognized forms of golf competition.  And make the entire golf season match play.  [SPOILER ALERT:  Those are all joke suggestions; no need to point out that doing so would be a logistical nightmare...]

The match play format was introduced primarily [if not entirely] for the benefit of television coverage.  Sigh... Everything TV touches...

Also, if you don't like my free throw shooting contest analogy, I'm not a big fan of soccer championships being decided by penalty kicks, either, but realize that, without using something like that, some soccer matches might never end.  That's not true for golf.

[76lsjumb]

I disagree with the argument that match play is somehow not a legit determination of the national champ. Match play in golf has been around forever. I'd agree if it was some reduced event, like playing 3 holes or something like that. But each of these players had up to 18 holes to get it done. Stanford just didn't play well enough, and they know it. Nothing unfair/happinstance about it. If they play 10 times, Stanford probably wins 9. It was a big upset - that's what happens when you don't play well enough.

I also have to say - been around this board for quite some time. There is (IMO) a lot of after the fact whining when things don't go our way. It's a bad format, a bad draw, the refs, the schedule, the travel, etc. etc. Really all that happened here is that we got beat, fair and square.

Boy, it's hard to make a joke around here without people getting really upset... or making inaccurate assumptions that folks are whining, etc.

Of course we got beat fair and square.  Indeed, this was foreshadowed when we got beat in the ACC tournament match play.  And, obviously, Northwestern was no Harvard women's basketball team; they have some very good players.  I hope this outcome helps our team develop that killer instinct necessary to make match play less of a crap shoot next deason. 

Still, when you have a championship set-up where the best team over four rounds of team golf [sometimes best by a very wide margin] ends up NOT being the champion many more times than it IS the champion due to the fact that the champion is determined by three rounds of an entirely different format than is played for the remaining ~80% the season's competitions, it strikes me as a legitimate object of criticism.  

If the champion is going to be determined by match play, fine.  Make the WHOLE tournament match play.  Or maybe do four-ball...or alternate shot.  They're all long-recognized forms of golf competition.  And make the entire golf season match play.  [SPOILER ALERT:  Those are all joke suggestions; no need to point out that doing so would be a logistical nightmare...]

The match play format was introduced primarily [if not entirely] for the benefit of television coverage.  Sigh... Everything TV touches...

Also, if you don't like my free throw shooting contest analogy, I'm not a big fan of soccer championships being decided by penalty kicks, either, but realize that, without using something like that, some soccer matches might never end.  That's not true for golf.