I'm wondering...it is rumored that the main event in Chicago has been canceled. I had heard they were trying to add the qualifier on to the end of that event. What if they were unable to do that? Is there a chance that the main Chicago tournament is postponed BUT they still hold the card qualifier?
Firstly,I am just responding to the above fairly specific question by highlighting some relevant elements affecting what could or could not happen,not knocking or praising or passing any opinion on what I think will happen,cos like everyone else I haven't a clue.
In the eyes of the Tour owner who admitted very recently that the Tour has current cash flow problems there is theoretically more attraction in holding an event that doesn't carry any prize money (the tour card qualifier) than an event which does (IPT Masters) but less attraction than holding no event at all.It could also be said that holding the tour card qualifier (whether in November at Chicago or in Decemeber wherever) would temporarily take some of the heat out of current allegations of the Tour owner taking qualifier entry fees on false pretences.
However,the above being understood and assuming that The IPT Masters is to be announced as "postponed" as opposed to "cancelled" there would be some fairly obvious logistical problems over holding The 2007 Tour card Qualifier Event at Chicago in November.In the normal meaning of "postponed" the Masters would still form part of the 2006 season whenever it is held. Therefore how would anyone know in November who the top 100 finishers on the 2006 list were going to be?
If however The IPT Masters is "cancelled" or "postponed" in a wider sense of "postponed" in that it is removed from the 2006 event list and no longer counts for 2006 money list purposes (in any common sense assessment that also effectively means "cancelled" whichever way you dress it up), it would be slightly easier logistically to replace the IPT Masters with the Tour Card Qualifier event.They could declare the current money list as final.There would be some very unhappy IPT members who are outside the top 100, but there is no evidence that the feelings or emotions of IPT members in general and the feelings of those who are currently that far down the money list in particular,are a high priority for IPT in their current predicament. Perhaps IPT would placate them by telling them they can pop the champagne over the gesture of not charging them $2,000/- to play in the 2007 Tour Card Qualifying event.
