Gunn_Slinger said:
Arnold Palmer, is invited to every golf tournament,in golf they show respect for the players that built the PGA. I wonder why in pool some people just shun the older players.
have a happy day
mrs.g
I think Gunn is onto something here, as is Kevin Trudeau. Must a world champioinship be an "open" in its fullest form? (anybody could come?) Geez, that'd never end, everybody would have to qualify. So, to some extent, all world championships are going to be invitationals. The compromise then is to have qualifiers for some number of slots in the main draw...
Tennis & Golf both have this same issue, and different tournaments in those sports resolve it different ways. In golf, you get to keep tour card based on past performance, and in some tournaments (I think the Masters?) if you won it, you get to keep coming back essentially forever...
Its good practice for a couple of reasons. You get fan favorites to help with attendance / ratings, and you provide an additional motivation to the players in the tournament. The qualifiers (and satellite tours) allow up and comers to prove they belong in the main draw.
I sure don't want to put words in Grady's mouth, (I've never met him, nor conversed even in AZ threads) but it seems like his case is that he's past having to work through satellite tours or qualifiers since he's won the whole thing previously. That's not unreasonable thinking.
However, in the final analysis, it is the tournament director's responsibility to set the tournament rules. If those rules mean some get invitied and some don't, then it is a good idea if the tournament makes clear the criteria / process by which invitations are issued (again, Tennis & Golf tournaments do this... Jimmy Connors isn't going to be invited to the US Open, though he has won it in the past and was a HUGE crowd favorite; Arnold & Jack could still be invited to the Masters).
So...
Is there such a set of published criteria, or published process?
...and, in any case, you gotta admire Grady for taking the risk of going through qualifers, and I'd love to see him make it.