Shorter race than what? It's not a race, so you must have some way in your mind of equating the format to a "race."
Is it at least interesting to you that of the five events in 10 weeks using that format with about a quarter million prize $$, the WINNER of all but one has the highest Fargo Rating of the field? That's four of five events with top place: highest-rated player.
Arizona Open, (winner Gorst, 821)
Las Vegas Open,
Michigan Open, (winner Yapp, 821)
Austria Open, (winner Kaci, 820)
Austria Open Women (winner Fisher, 759)
Does that sound like a series to avoid because the format is too much of a coin flip?
The highest-rated player in the fifth one, Las Vegas Open, was Shane Van Boening, and he got 3rd for $5,000 in that event, more than he made the following week in the US Open or any of the other handful of tournaments he played since Vegas.
Below was our post before the Michigan event: "Who is going to reign in Yapp?"
Evidently the answer was nobody.
I would like to live in a world in which top players in the host country show up and belly up to the table in their own events whether they like some aspect of the format or not, for two reasons:
(1) it is the respectful thing to do with so many of the world's best traveling far and long to be here.
(2) top players should acknowledge and encourage significant actors in our community digging deep, working hard, and working together to bring something the likes of which we haven't seen in decades.