Distribution of prize money, playoffs, and ties:

All prize money will be forwarded to professionals directly from TaylorMade Golf following the event.

A sudden death playoff of 1^st place in the 72-hole medal competition will be held immediately following the completion of the final round.  This will be held on the 18^th hole of the Weiskopf Course.  The playoff will continue on this same hole until a winner is declared.  If weather or daylight halts the playoff at any time (to be determined by the head rules official), the players will be deemed co-champions and share the prize monies accordingly.

Prize money for the professional in the team championship shall be distributed as noted above.  Professionals may win both gross and net prize money.  In the case of a tie for 1^st place, there is a process for determining the winning team for awards purposes.  However, the prize money will be divided equitably between professionals for all of those who “tie” for 1^st, regardless of which team wins through the tie-break scoring process.

Ties for the overall team champions (both gross and net) shall be determined as follows:

“The team with the lowest team score on any given day shall be determined the champion”

This means that if team “A” has scores of 63, 64, 59, and 60 for a total of 246, and they tie team “B” with scores of 65, 61, 60, and 60 for a total of 246…. Team “A” wins because their lowest score was 59, compared to the lowest score of 60 for team “B”.  If the lowest score also ties, the comparison moves to the 2^nd lowest score – and so on until there is a winner.

In the unusual case where all four scores are the same, the winner will be determined beginning on the 18^th hole on the Weiskopf Course, moving backwards, and matching cards until there is a winner.  Cards will be matched using the 2^nd time the teams played the Weiskopf Course (this could be either the 3^rd or 4^th round, and may differ from team to team).

Team awards:

Team awards will be distributed to the overall gross champions, and the overall net champions. 

There will be six flight divisions based on combined handicaps of the amateur members of the team.  In each flight there will be awards for the overall gross champions, and the overall net champions.  There will also be awards for runners-up in each flight division.

Ties will be broken “in all cases” using the same method as noted in the previous information noted regarding professional team prize distribution.  “The team with the lowest team score on any given day shall be determined the champion”

Teams are only eligible for one award.  In all cases, the gross award takes precedent to the net award as long as the position is the same.  This means that if a team wins both gross and net, the team will be awarded the gross award only.  The team in 2^nd net would then be awarded the net award.  Also, if a team wins the overall championship (gross or net) that opens up the flight championship to the team that finished 2^nd in that particular flight.

Optional team buy-in, and skins game:

This year there will be the opportunity for teams to buy-in for two separate divisions.  There will be a gross buy-in, and a net buy-in.  No team is obligated to buy-in to either.  Each team may buy-in to none, one, or two of the divisions.

The buy-in works as follows in each division (gross and net):

Fifty percent of the buy-in funds go towards the overall team position “in the flight”.  Fifty percent of the buy-in funds go towards daily skins “overall”.  The difference here is that the skins are based on the entire field (those who bought-in), and the team position pay out is based on the team position in the flight.

Each optional buy-in is $400.00 per team ($100.00 per man).  Buy-in occurs prior to tee off on the 1^st tournament day.

Payout works as follows:

Flight divisions –

1^st place – 50%

2^nd place – 30%

3^rd place – 20%

Skins:

The total amount collected in the skin pool shall be divided by four.  Each day 25% of the total skin pool will be divided amongst the skin winners.

Example:  If there is $20,000.00 in the gross skin pool, this would be allocated at $5000.00 per day.  If on Thursday there were 3 skins on Nicklaus, and 1 skin on Weiskopf, each of the four skins for this day would be worth $1250.00.

For definition purposes, a SKIN is won only if your team best ball score is the lowest on a particular hole for the day.  If ANY team ties your score, there is no skin on that hole.

Handicap Chart for 2008 TaylorMade Invitational:

Each individual handicap will be computed by taking the player’s low index for the previous 12 months (through October 1, 2008).  The chart below computes the tournament handicap, and the tee position the player will compete from.  This system has been developed utilizing several influences:

1.     Utilizing the handicap format the event has instituted in the past (80%), and creating our own event chart taking this into consideration.  The final tournament handicap is “very close” to our previous handicap program, with minor modifications due to other changes noted herein.

2.     Instituting tee positions, and adjusting handicaps accordingly.  This is instituted to allow maximum enjoyment and competitiveness for all players (taking into account distances and difficulties presented by each course).

3.     A study of event score cards from past events has been undertaken to determine a system that lends equitable team participation for all members of the team.

4.     This same study, and the resulting handicap program was developed to create an equitable system of competition between teams of varying handicaps.