This morning I decided that I'd go ahead and give this tourney a try. Probably a huge mistake on my part, as the last tourney I entered at Merion was the Open qualifier, and I finished a good 50 or so strokes over par. Granted, that was my very first full 18 hole stroke play round here on tour, and I knew absolutely nothing about putting, short game, course management, club selection and the like, but it is clear that I struggled with this course. This time around I got off to a decent enough start with 3 pars and a bogey on the first 4 holes, but ended up rage quitting once and for all after all the nonsense I experienced on the 5th hole.
But what really struck me as odd was the tourney starter had me hitting from the Orange tees!!!!!!! I was under the impression that the Hard tees are reserved for the Master and Tour Master tier. I've only been a Tour Pro for a couple of weeks now, and my current average is no where near the requirement for moving up a tier. In my opinion this game is hard enough as it is just playing from the Medium tees, and I don't know why WGT would throw someone onto the hard tees when they don't have the equipment necessary to handle the challenge.
I guess my question is, is this 'feature' (playing from the orange tee's) exclusive to this particular tournament, or will all my future ranked rounds at Merion be played from the Orange tee boxes??? I have a feeling if I can't get back to the white tees, then the remaining Merion Masher award are going to be unobtainable for me.