The Loop

PGA Tour clerical error results in too many players for Vegas tourney

October 31, 2016

The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas this week was supposed to feature a 132-player field, in the interest of completing the first two rounds on time. It’s not.

“For the first time, the Shriners Open is being played in November, as the PGA Tour had to push back the finish of its 2015-16 season to accommodate the Olympics and Ryder Cup. It also meant delaying the start of the 2016-17 schedule and holding the Las Vegas Tour stop in early November instead of mid to late October, as traditionally has been the case,” Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes.   “With that in mind, the Shriners Open petitioned the tour in December to reduce the tournament field from 144 to 132 players in hopes of not having play spill over to the following day. The tour agreed, but a clerical error failed to have the reduction to 132 put into the tour’s computer. So when players and agents started looking into playing Las Vegas, it was with a 144-player field in mind.

“‘They realized the mistake, but at that point there was nothing they can do,’ tournament director Patrick Lindsey said.”