2 races to 4 and a 1 game sudden death.....isnt that the same format as the Tournament of Champions?
Wonder what the point of 2 races to 4 over a single race to 8 is?
I'm guessing they are actually pushing for them to go to the sudden death game to try to make it exciting?
Since in a race to 8, player x could get to 4 first, then player y could get to 4, after that the set could end up lots of different ways, including hill/hill, but many more ways than hill/hill.
So this gives more of a chance of inducing a "hill/hill" or "sudden death" than a normal set would?
Not sure why everyone is so puzzled by this --- I am sure that this has something to do with the Finals announced to be aired live on ESPN 3. The women are no dumbies - they will do whatever the person holding the check book tells them.
Dumb got dumber.
They edit down the sets anyway, what does it matter if they play to 9, 13, or 101? ESPN will air their normal 5-6 games..."let's skip ahead to game 4", "here are the highlights of game 6", "she's sending a statement by playing safe here"...BS!
We've all seen it at the TOC, where one player wins 5-1, then loses 5-4, loses the sudden death, and loses the match despite being ahead in games 9-6. Now that the WPBA has adopted/heavily borrowed (not quite stolen) that stupid format, we'll get to see it happen at their tourneys too.
EDIT: If this is a concession to live TV, the first comment doesn't count...but I still think it's idiotic based on the second comment.