It looks as if we have some matches fully confirmed and others 'getting there' ... Please do share in the thread where you're at, and let me know if you're hitting difficulties. Several matches have very limited overlap this week (and minimal backup options), so we'll all need to be as precise as possible in scheduling and keeping to our time commitments. Thank you!
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I promised an explanation of the 'secret envelope' process. I think I mentioned early on that now I understood why the real life Ryder Cup gathers all the golfers together in the same place at the same time! It really must be easier that way, lol.
Our approach here has been to get all your playing times first, then have captains make strategic pairings premised on overlapping playing times.
The co-captains have then supplied me with their 'secret envelope' lineups. As I'm the one piecing together the spreadsheets for the matches, I've stepped back from the envelope process asking Steve to do the lineup for the ROW team. He PM's me our list in order, and I get the equivalent info from Russ for the US team. Needless to say, neither of them sees the other list until after they've both been sent to me.
First off, I try the direct comparison in the spreadsheet: 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6.
In neither week 1 nor week 2 has this worked first time!
I've then resorted to the following combinations, in order, until a viable set of matches is reached, or if not, then going back to the drawing board, and shuffling the pairings of a particular team (as I had to do for the ROW team in wk1).
2nd attempt: reverse order: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1
3rd attempt: shifting numbers by one: 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-1
4th attempt: shifting numbers by two: 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, 4-6, 5-1, 6-2
5th attempt: shifting numbers by three: 1-4, 2-5, 3-6, 4-1, 5-2, 6-3
6th attempt: shifting numbers by four: 1-5, 2-6, 3-1, 4-2, 5-3, 6-4
7th attempt: shifting numbers by five: 1-6, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, 5-4, 6-5
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For our wk2 pairings, the second attempt, reversing the order worked, and although it required 3 matches to be played at the weekend, continued research into other combinations led to no greater flexibility, so that's the option I settled on.
If anyone feels hard done by in terms of the draw, please know that there is every effort being made to preserve a random nature to it, and that that's why the above process is being followed.