Ringler: New six-regional format in women’s college golf comes with tournament ops benefits but also forces ‘great’ play
There is a saying in the world of competitive golf that when the going gets tough, the solution is simple: Just play better.
With the addition of two more regionals for the postseason in NCAA Division I women’s golf the saying might as well be: Just play great. That might be what it takes now to advance to the national championship each spring.
This past week the NCAA announced it would add two more regionals this coming spring. Instead of a four-regional format with 18 teams playing for six spots, we will now see 12 teams at each of six locations playing for four tickets to the national finals.
“I think it’s great,” Washington head women’s coach Mary Lou Mulflur said. “You still have to play well and beat good teams. It just makes more sense from a logistical standpoint.”
Mulflur also added that two more regionals should translate to less travel for many teams.
There is no question a six-regional format will make tournament operations more manageable. Smaller fields with fewer players on the course are ideal for so many reasons. The old format featured 18-team fields, which is about the limit when it comes to running an event with just one wave. Any sort of lengthy delay can put the event in jeopardy of not finishing or being reduced from 54 holes.
“The pace of play at NCAA regionals has been a big issue for years with having 18 teams at each site,” Arizona head women’s coach Laura Ianello said. “This will allow for a normal tournament experience compared to the past few years where you would have an hour wait at the turn.”
This move also allows an opportunity for more schools to host a regional, as long as the NCAA can continue to get enough bids. One worry, however, is that the same schools and venues will emerge as hosts. Will we see many new venues?
With just four teams getting to advance from each site for a total of 24 teams at the NCAA Championship, is it now harder to advance?
“It will make it even more difficult and competitive as a team to make it to the national championship,” Kansas head women’s coach Lindsay Kuhle said. “You have to bring your best game over three days to qualify.”
Doing the math, the percentages are the same – 33.3% of the field will advance. However, it certainly will feel different. With fewer qualifying spots, it will feel different, likely resulting in even more pressure to perform well.
“You’ll see the top-ranked teams feel more pressure now,” Kuhle said.
For those teams with a better seed, it will be harder to recover from a bad day. And when you have a host school in the field, that alone will hurt the chances of advancing for the visiting teams. The men have had a six-regional format for the past 11 years after a switch from three regionals. Their six regionals have five qualifying spots with field sizes of 13 or 14.
On the men’s side:
Teams that have hosted a regional are 38/49 (77.6%) in advancing to the NCAA finals.
Teams that have hosting a regional and been seeded within the top five are 32/36 (88.9%%) in advancing to the NCAA finals.
Teams that have hosted a regional and been seeded outside the top five are 7/14 (50.0%) in advancing to the NCAA finals.
Looking at the men’s regional play, history suggests that with a decent host school playing in the event, the number to advance will likely be one lower.
“The host schools now even have more of an advantage because of the experience they have on their home course,” added Kuhle.
A certain positive with the addition is what it does for individuals. There will be six individuals at each site, and the top two players not on an advancing team will earn a spot in the national finals. This means the number of individuals participating in the postseason increases from 24 to 36.
“Increasing the number of individuals is a smart idea too. We should give more attention to the individual achievements in college golf and this will help,” Old Dominion head women’s coach Mallory Hetzel said. “There are quality players competing on teams ranked well outside the bubble. It will be good for those individuals, their school and the game as a whole to be able to include them in the NCAA tournament.”
“Congratulations to those committee members for taking such a positive step,” Campbell head women’s coach John Crooks said. “The new six-site format will give the NCAA tournament committee at each site the maximum flexibility to conduct the best possible championship.”
Crooks was quick to mention something else that the majority of women’s coaches believe will also improve the women’s game.
“Now if the committee will adopt the .500 rule,” he said, “we would have the best 12 teams at each of the six sites.”
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