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am i getting a hat this year?

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 9:22 AM

  mkg335:

  YJ, I'm not being impatient...it seems the prizes have already been awarded

  The actual prizes don't get awarded until you see an email from the USGA. Again, this has nothing to do with any responsibility on WGT's part other than for them to notify the USGA of the qualifiers.

  Nobody's getting left out. Look for an email from the USGA and don't forget to check the spam folder.

  http://www.wgt.com/forums/t/120615.aspx

  From that thread...

  "hi

  i wanted to clarify a few things

  1. $15 is the value of membership

  2. the reason only 100 or so show is because we don't have  away to automatically show ties, so it stopped at 156 players not 156 places and ties.

  3. you should still have gotten the email with survey + fill out info for usga, I think it was sent out 2-4 weeks ago?

   

  i'll try to find the link and will contact you privately.

  -wgticon"

• mkg335 5,491 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 9:32 AM

  YJ, take a look at the qualifier results page.  You'll see several pages of players who've been awarded $25 (the gift certificate) then a long list of the rest of us who shot 57 and qualified, who should be included because of the "plus ties" provision, but aren't.  Everyone who shot 57 is listed at 103rd place. 

  I understand that it's the USGA that awards the prizes, and I understand that it takes a while.  The problem is in the wording I quoted in my post to alosso a few posts back.  WGT promised gift certificates to "the top 156 (plus ties)"

  How are all the 57's not included via the "plus ties" provision?

  p.s.  Just finished reading the thread from the link you provided.  Interesting that you yourself brought up the same issue in your post from that thread.  ;-)

• mkg335 5,491 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 9:59 AM

  At the risk of flogging a dead horse, let me put it another way.

  In the future, WGT should say:

  "Prizes will be awarded to the top 156 players (as determined by tiebreaker)"

  ...instead of:

  "Prizes will be awarded to the top 156 players (plus ties)"

  See the difference?

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 10:35 AM

  Mark-Take a look at Icon's response in that thread. Yes, you are beating a dead horse. Refer to what patience means. 

  I qualified in the 200th spot at Oakmont and, feeling juiced because the $15 wasn't next to my name on the list,  asked the exact same questions back then. I still have my hat and bag tag.

• mkg335 5,491 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 10:56 AM

  YankeeJim:

  Mark-Take a look at Icon's response in that thread. Yes, you are beating a dead horse. Refer to what patience means. 

  I qualified in the 200th spot at Oakmont and, feeling juiced because the $15 wasn't next to my name on the list,  asked the exact same questions back then. I still have my hat and bag tag.

  Jim, I'm glad you got your issue resolved.  You'll notice that other respondents in the thread you linked didn't get it resolved, for what reason I'm not sure.

  This is the response I got from WGT concerning the matter:

  "We are looking into the issue to see if there needs to be any adjustments made." 

  Clearly they've become aware of the problem and hopefully are taking steps to resolve it.  I'm pretty sure that if I and others hadn't brought it to their attention, they'd have issued certificates to 156 players only, contrary to what they had promised.  The key is their use of the word "adjustments."

  Had we all just been "patient" and not brought it to their attention, I feel there would have been no adjustment...and I await patiently to see the nature of that adjustment.

  And now the coroner has determined that the horse is indeed dead, so I'll cease flogging immediately.

  ;-)

   

• alosso 21,094 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 11:22 AM

  Most of all, they should make ONE statement throughout and not leave any doubt. But this lack of concentration doesn't sound new to me.

• mkg335 5,491 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 11:39 AM

  alosso:

  Most of all, they should make ONE statement throughout and not leave any doubt. But this lack of concentration doesn't sound new to me.

  alosso, I agree completely.  I continue to believe there was no intent to deceive involved, but you'd think they'd have learned by now that constant backpedaling adds unnecessary length to one's journey.  ;-)

• alosso 21,094 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 3:03 PM

  There's less bad intent than indifference IMHO. Tournament conditions are of special interest only for the players - the company couldn't care less, as long as the cash-in is good.

  Sometimes a cut will be announced and forgotten, now 50 players may get a voucher or not. The game continues regardless - so what from their POV?

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 7:08 PM

  alosso:

  Sometimes a cut will be announced and forgotten, now 50 players may get a voucher or not.

  Where do you get this nonsense from?

• mkg335 5,491 Posts

  Sat, Jul 6 2013 8:59 PM

  Jim, let me walk you through this from my initial email, then maybe you'll see that alosso isn't talking nonsense.

  From the start:

  1.  I check list of qualifiers, and notice that some 57's are listed as getting the $25 gift certificate, but quite a few of us are not.

  2.  I send this email to WGT member services:

  From your description of the US Open Qualifier:
  "In addition, the top 156 scores (plus ties) will each receive a $25 gift card to the USGAshop.com for official U.S. Open merchandise..."

  When I checked the list, I had qualified with a score of 57, so was in the "top 156 scores (plus ties)". However, many of us who shot 57 were not given the promised gift cards.
  Just wondering if you're going to honor the offer.

  3. WGT responds:

  Dear mkg335,

  Because we had so many players tie with the score of 57, we decided to let in 200+ players instead of the 156. Because of this we went to tie breakers to determine the 156 top players who received the gift.

  WGT Member Services

  4.  I respond to WGT:

  Thank you for your prompt reply, much appreciated; however, had I known this to be the case I could have tried to shoot a "better" 57 or even a 56. With all due respect, it seems to me that you changed the rules in the middle of the game, thus leaving many of us who rightfully expected a prize in the lurch.

  5.  WGT responds:

  Dear mkg335,

  We are looking into the issue to see if there needs to be any adjustments made.

  WGT Member Services

  6.  I respond, thanking them for their time and effort.

  So you see, they were initially going to award a total of 156 prizes, even though they had announced that prizes would go to "the top 156 players (and ties)"

  I and others have emailed them to draw attention to the fact that they changed the rules in the middle of the game.

  This is a different case from the thread you linked earlier, in which Icon explained that a glitch prevented WGT from listing all prize winners.

  In the present situation, WGT had decided to limit the number of prizes to 156, and used the scorecard tiebreaker to do so...in spite of having promised prizes to the top 156 and ties.

  The fact that they are looking into making adjustments verifies that they recognize their error and hopefully will rectify the situation.

  Approximately 213 players qualified for this years tournament, and under the provisions of WGT's original text, all 213 should receive gift certificates, not just the top 156 determined by tiebreaker.

  So alosso isn't talking nonsense at all.

  p.s. The font changes in the middle of this post because I copied and pasted directly from emails.