birchi: That said, I think a 2-round setup with one unlimited and one single round would be better
Doubt this would change a whole lot... unlimited restarts would still occur in the first round virtually eliminating the vast majority, which may be what they are trying to do.
I am not sure... but I thought I read the structure combined with the payout structure is part of the deterrent to participation. It was one of those eye opening post, when I read even you opted to sit out given the structure. That alone should be a huge wakeup call for a lot of people.
Even highly skilled players going through the multiple unlimited restarts can essentially lose credits while finishing in the top 20 but failing to qualify for the top 8 where the payouts begin to jump for this event.
For reasonably minded players who look at time invested, cost to play in ball hit use, and the relatively limited payout... this event virtually ensures 99.9999% of the people who participate are losing credits even attempting.
Likewise, there is zero incentive for trying to qualify for the etour event if you don't feel you are strong enough to get through 4 rounds of bracket play where ONLY the top 8 finishers earn anything at all for their participation. This has even less of an ROI for all those seeking to qualify than the LIVE series which at least has a payout structure beyond the top 8.
WGT has cut out the ONE free ball they use to give out, replacing with worthless ball effects, and it appears prizes and payouts continue to scale back. Doesn't look good for the casual player and it seems even some top players are making tough decisions on when to play or not.
Not sure that is good for the game or competition, especially when top players sit out and are not even putting themselves in the mix ... they essentially hand over the top positions to the same people because other top players are also sitting out!