Ranked rounds & Tour legends
Thanks for the comments and queries on this matter. I appreciate that playing with ranked rounds, tour legends are having to play with harder conditions than all other players. However, I don't believe this will dramatically affect the scoring level of the tour and disadvantage this group of players to a level where they can't be competitive.
Beyond this, within the next 2-3 weeks I would expect at least half of the legends who are competing in the tour to become TL's. We've already seen 4-5 new ones in just the last day alone so it's now happening at a fairly prompt rate.
As Kurt and Gary showed in their rounds, all legends have a choice whether to play on championship speed greens or not in their rounds. A legend can use a marker in R3 or choose not to partner with a TL during R1 or R2 so that they use their standard "tournament" speed greens. This is their choice due to the fact that this is their "ranked" speed green.
Similarly, a master or TM could choose to take the same option provided the player they partner with is a member of the WGF Tour. Ultimately, a ranked round entitles the player to use their standard "ranked" playing conditions if they choose. However, once a round has been played with a fellow tour player, then this is the round which needs to be submitted as their score.
Bear in mind that in 2 weeks time, it's matchplay time and then there is no choice is a legend faces off against a tour legend; all matches are to played using the matchplay format so tour players will be putting on championship speed greens all the time. Best advice is therefore get as much practice in so that you're ready for the battles ahead :)
During Week 9, I will be communicating with all players in the top 64 positions in the Tour standings to see whether they will be participating in the matchplay tournament. I'd like to have a full field of players without having to give too many byes during this event. It will be a hard tournament to run as there are only going to be limited time windows per round (likely to be 5 days to begin with reducing down to 4 days once down to the final 16 stage). Please be ready to reply once I get in-touch with you if you are in a qualifying position.
James