New SAGA Tournament Ranking System

The South African Golf Association’s (SAGA) new ranking points system, applicable to the leading tournaments on it’s 2009 calendar, kicks into operation from the Prince’s Grant Amateur tournament, being played at Prince’s Grant Golf Club, Kwazulu-Natal, which concludes today.

In the new system, ranking points for each tournament on the amateur calendar are determined and published beforehand. Players are now able to see the ranking points allocated for all ranking tournaments. This enables them to plan their year and target specific events in a bid to earn as many points as possible.

In previous years, ranking points for each tournament became clear only after all entries were received, and were subsequently based on the strength of the field relative to the SAGA Player Ranking at the time.

According to SAGA Assistant Executive Director Neil Homann, the new system is “based on our research of the average strength of the field for each event over the last two years”.

The new system is sure to find favour with leading players around the country. Ranking points are particularly significant to the players because the SAGA uses them to determine their official Player Ranking. The Player Ranking in turn is used as a guide by the SAGA for representative team selection.

National championships like next month’s SA Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Pearl Valley and the Glacier SA Amateur Match Play Championship in March carry the heaviest weighting of 200 points each and are high on the agendas of leading players.

To view the schedule in detail: click here.