Three leaders, Mickelson, Singh and Westwood, all ended Round 3 yesterday at -8. Appleby was in 4th Place at -7. I can’t figure out why Singh and Westwood are the final pairing, while Mickelson is in the penultimate pairing with Appleby. The Round 3 scores were Westwood (67), Mickelson (68) and Singh (69). Anyone know why Mickelson isn’t in the final pairing?
I didn’t watch it - but I believe the pairings are determined by order of finish. Did Westwood and Singh hole out ahead of Lefty on Sat.?
If that is not the precise manner in which the pairings are determined, it is something similar along those lines.
I don’t know the sequence of Saturday’s pairing. But the Saturday scores tell us that Singh started Saturday one stroke ahead of Mickelson and two strokes ahead of Westwood (since they were all tied entering Sunday).
I guess your question then brings the Saturday pairings into question.
The pairings for the final two rounds are determined by how the names are written on the scoreboard. For any given score, the first name written will be the first person who finished with that score. As the day progresses, others who turn in that score get written in order underneath the first person. The pairings are made by starting with the lowest score, the first name written for that score. They then proceed down the list of names for that score; having completed that list they move to the next highest score and repeat the process.
Thus, Westwood by finishing first on Saturday with the leading number was guaranteed a spot in the final pairing. The other spot went to whichever of the pairing of Mickelson and Singh holed out first at 18. Since Singh was in the final group, he must have holed out ahead of Mickelson on Saturday (they played together that day). Had they holed out in reverse order, Lefty would have been in the final group.
And YES, this means that a savvy player will want to manipulate the order of finish if possible. Thus, if Player A wants the final pairing, and putts first, with the likelihood of finishing tied if he two-putts with his playing partner, Player B, Player A may well elect to putt out if he misses his first putt, thus preventing Player B from being in the final group unless he sinks his putt, etc.
I’m a little confused, and I acknowledge this is the quibbliest quibble, but does it reall add anything to my suggestion that final round pairings are determined by order of finish, to observe that order of finish also determines the order in which names are “written on the scoreboard?”
I mean, it isn’t the order of names on the scoreboard that determines the pairings, but instead, the order of finish that determines both scoreboard order and pairings. Yes, I can be a tedious wanker, but I was confused trying to figure out if your post actually added anything.
Yes, you are a tedious wanker.
Your statement started with “I believe,” indicating you didn’t know for sure. I do know for certain how they are done. Therefore, I added certainty to the subject.
Your relatively sparse treatment “are determined by order of finish” doesn’t answer the question: HOW does order of finish determine the pairings. It could just as easily be interpreted to mean that he who finishes last ends up paired first. I, on the other hand, explained exactly how the order of finish determines the pairings for the next day, and I did so not only with the correct algorithm, but with an explanation that provides a visual of the process.
Now, it is possible that, in your mind, this is what you were thinking when you posted what you did; sadly, the remainder of the board cannot figure that out through telepathy.
I guess I was primarily given pause by your opening statement, which to me suggested there was something magical about the writing of names on the scoreboard. Whereas the real determining factor is simply order of finish. No?
Thanks guys. I figured it out. I guess I would add that DSYoungEsq’s first sentence implies that the scoreboard is the source of the pairings, when in fact the scoreboard AND the pairings are BOTH determined by the order of finish.