As far as I'm concerned the TD is only about %15 responsible for this. it's unrealistic to expect that a TD can research every player in a tournment, especially when you have players coming from other jurisdictions and registering the day of the tournament.
%85 of the responsibility lies on the player who decided to try flying under the radar and robbing a tournment because he played at a significantly lower handicapp.
I don't buy any of the arguements that his lower handicapp was because his league director hadn't updated the stats in 6 weeks.
I'm familiar enough with the CPA/APA handicapping system to know that a SL 3 shouldn't be running tables.
I think it is the TD responisibilty, and in the tourneys best interest to attempt to have people play at their proper handicap. No, he should not to do extensive research on every player. He needs to demand the proof from the player. I mentioned this in my first post on this thread.
The burden is on the player, not the TD. The player is responsible to provide proof of identity and handicap. The TD is at fault for NOT holding the player up to his responsibilty. The TD's stance should be " I am busy organizing the tournament. Either you provide proof of your handicap as a 3 or you can play as a 6" Now the td has done his job of protecting the tournament without taking away too much time from his other duties AND PLACING THE BURDEN WHERE IT BELONGS- ON THE PLAYER.
Now the player can choose- 1, come up with verification of his handicap, 2- play as a SL6, 3- do not play at all.
As I said before, WATCH HOW FAST A REAL SL 3 WILL COME UP WITH SOME WAY OF PROVING HIS HANDICAP WHEN FACED WITH HAVING TO PLAY 3 LEVELS HIGHER!
In this scenario, you have a chance of ONE player whining and being upset or the entire rest of the field! Which makes more sense? The player who shows up to play without any proof, or the rest of the players who are playing by the rules?
When you show up to play at an event like that, you have to know that you will be expected to show some ID and verify your SL. If you get penalized, you have no one else to blame!
But still, the bottom line is that it only happened because it was allowed to! That is where the TD failed. His first responsiblity is to his tournamnet field as a whole. This is the very thing that kills events like this.
BTW- Even assuming the TD made the mistake of letting this player in unverified, how do you ignore it when this same unverified player continues on round after round? It seems that some people had brought it to the TD attention. Halfway through, when he is still winning, you hear people complaining, maybe you should go check it out for yourself? I know that the losers will always cry, but it should have rung a bell. " wait a minute, isn't this the same guy who was a little fishy about proving his handicap?" He keeps winning. Someone else complains. At what point do you feel he should get involved?
I am not saying that just because sombody is playing good and winning that there should be changes. You are supposed to be rewarded for good play. I am just saying that there was enough to set off alarms to warrant a little bit of attention by the TD. Maybe a check on a website, or a phone call. It should have been addressed. If the handicap checkes out, then you can tell all the others to deal with it, but at least it would not have just been ignored.
Jw
