Jerm65: Oh right, that's only 'cause they got good winds. Nevermind....
Nah, but I also mentioned that they are better than I am at this stage.
If you put Hansworth, or Avlee or some of the others against Bollox 50 times head-to-head but with the same random wind conditions that one gets in single play tournaments, and tracked the winds, I bet you would find more often than not the player with the better winds won. In the matches that the winds were fairly equal, I bet you'd find fairly equal play, but in the matches the winds were not, in the matches where one player had a significant advantage, I bet you'd find that player had the better of the play as well.
Yes, the better players are usually near the top of the single play leaderboards as well. But at the top, when the talent level is that close, the wind can play a drastic factor. I used to play a few RGs a week, and invariably I'd score better on rounds I have better winds on. I'd usually break even or turn a profit on good winds and break even or lose on bad. I don't mind those odds when I am just investing ball wear-and-tear, but if I am investing my money, I'm not going to do it with WGT's toss of the dice being a major factor.
If they did away with random winds, and went to a system of prevailing but not identical for all players in a given tourney, I'd gladly risk my credits in RGS and premiums again, knowing that all players would have similar conditions under which to compete. And sure, over a number of games it may even out. But, I want tournaments where I know that, skill aside, I am going to have pretty close to the same chance as everyone who plays to win, or I'm not investing money in it.