The Reno-Tahoe Open

If you are a professional golfer, and were not Invited to play this weekend at The Firestone Country Club, you are probably in Reno, Nevada and getting ready to tee it up at the Reno-Tahoe Open.  The Reno-Tahoe Open is played at the Jack Nicklaus designed Montreux Golf and Country Club which is located halfway between Reno Nevada and Lake Tahoe.

The golf course was designed and built by Jack Nicklaus in 1997, it was redesigned again in 2004 by Jack Nicklaus and brought up to it’s current 7472 yard length. The course plays at an altitude of between 5000 and 6000 feet above sea level, and has a mixture of Bentgrass / Poa annua on the tees, fairways and greens. There are 62 sand bunkers and six water hazards throughout the golf course and the greens typically run around 11.5 on the Stimpmeter for tournament play.

"The defending champion at this tournament and the holder of the course record is Scott Piercy. Piercy shot a record-setting 61 in the third round last year on his way to a victory."

OK, how many of you remember the old “Modified Stableford” scoring system used at the International Golf Tournament which was played at The Castle Pines Golf Course in Colorado? Well the strange scoring system is back this year, and will be used  for the Reno-Tahoe Open. This method of scoring was used for 21 years, but was dropped in February of 2007 along with the International tournament.

If you were anything like me, I never really knew what a Stableford scoring system was, let alone the “Modified Stableford” scoring system. All I really knew was unlike a regular golf score where the low score wins, using this method, the higher score wins the tournament.

The original Stableford system was developed like many other golf related matters, in England. It was instituted so that a persons round of golf was not totally destroyed by one or two really bad holes. Kinda like us amateurs do when we are having a terrible hole, we pick up our ball, and go to the next hole. We generally take the the highest score of the foursome, and add two strokes. The Stableford system does just that. Your individual par is determined by your handicap, and when you get to two over your par, you get no points, thus you can stop playing. You gain more points, the more you are under your par.

This method was really developed to speed up play. Once you have gotten to a “no points” situation, you can stop playing the hole.

For our audiences here in the states, the “Modified Stableford” system was designed to give players a way to gain more points based on the risks they were willing to take. The number of points awarded per hole as specified by the R&A and United States Golf Association were as follows:

• +8 Points for an Albatross(three under par).
• +5 Points for an Eagle(two under par).
• +2 Points for a Birdie(0ne under par).
• 0 Points for Par.
• -1 Point for a Bogey(one over par).
• -3 Points for a Double Bogey or worse.

After a win last week in Canada, the 34 year old journeyman and Las Vegas native Scott Piercy, looks to again be the favorite at this tournament. The field is rich with world class players who need a warm up for the PGA Championship next weekend. Among those teeing it up Thursday in this event , are John Daly, Padraig Harrington and Stuart Appleby.

The key hole to watch is the 616 yard par five 18th. With the Modified Stableford scoring system offering five points for an Eagle, this may be the pivotal hole on Sunday for a player trying to make up ground, or Friday for one trying to make the cut and play the weekend.

With most of the attention going to The Bridgestone Invitational this weekend, this tournament will also provide us with some fine golf on a challenging layout.  Many players at the Reno-Tahoe Open will have their playing privileges for the 2013 season on the line. A good finish at this tournament may be the difference between having to go through the Q-School or getting their card based on the money list.