Tuesday, July 10, 2012

British Open to Take Place - Who Knows Who'll Be In It



by Randy Roberts

My hopes were up this morning as I read on the perennial golf news powerhouse "Rockford Register Star" that Michael Thompson was the second alternate in the British Open.  The article (which you can read here) went on to explain that with Webb Simpson and Jason Day likely missing out on the tournament due to pregnant wives, that Michael Thompson should make it into the field.

Turns out, it's not that simple. But before we get into the nuts and bolts, we can say that one thing we do know for sure is that Michael is the #2 alternate behind Ben Crane (confirmed in a tweet from Michael earlier today).  What I didn't know this morning is that the British Open has a strange habit of overbooking it's tournament which is suppose to have a minimum of 156 players.

Although there's some discrepancy in what the current number of entries is (the official website does not include everyone yet), according to Wikipedia and an article from Golf Digest, there are currently 156 players in the field. For discussion purposes, I'm going to go ahead and go with this number.  This weekend there are two additional spots that will potentially be given out (one from the John Deere Classic and another from the Scottish Open ).  That puts the likely field at 158.  If one person drops out, an alternate does not go in until there is less than 156 players.  So the path to Michael getting in looks like this **:

Player 158 drops out, no replacement added
Player 157 drops out, no replacement added
Player 156 drops out, Ben Crane added to field.
Player 155 drops out Michael Thompson added to field.

Webb Simpson has already stated that he wouldn't play so we can pencil him in as "Player 158" in the list above.  Jason Day's wife is due tomorrow, and may skip the tournament, but that's still up in the air. Let's go ahead and pencil him in as Player 157 for now.  That means there needs to be two additional players that drop out due to injury or other reason for Michael to get in.  That's all assuming that you trust wikipedia's numbers which I trust only slightly more than the Rockford Register Star.

Are we all good now? Clear as mud.

**terms subject to change

UPDATE #1: Jason Day has officially withdrawn. Webb Simpson has not officially WD'd yet.

Player 158 Jason Day drops out, no replacement added 
Player 157 drops out, no replacement added
Player 156 drops out, Ben Crane added to field.
Player 155 drops out Michael Thompson added to field.

UPDATE #2: Webb Simpson has officially withdrawn.
US Open Champ Simpson out of British


Player 158 Jason Day drops out, no replacement added 
Player 157 Webb Simpson drops out, no replacement added
Player 156 drops out, Ben Crane added to field.
Player 155 drops out Michael Thompson added to field.


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