974 in Am Masters?

[Billym]

Is there a ceiling for ratings for Am divisions?
I am playing a tournament tomorrow in MM1 and a guy is 974, the next lowest is 945 and the rest are 900-935ish.
Can a TD move this player to either open, am1 or pro masters where they are not bagging?

[zj1002]

When you start worrying about a rating you might as well just accept a loss

Low 970s is technically an AM rating by PDGA guidelines. If he hasn't taken cash he can keep playing adv. happens all the time

Go out and win. Worrying a out a "bagger" is only costing you. And it ends being an excuse for most when they shoot 900 rated rounds because they had no chance with a bagger

[keltik]

I hear the opposite from older guys usually. They play int and rec so they don't have to compete against guys with 900+ ratings. Honestly I would rather play age protected division than have to play with the 18-25 y/o crowd around here.

EDIT: I checked pdga site and there are no ratings limits for age protected divisions.

http://www.pdga.com/files/documents/Pla ... Table3.pdf

[curt]

The PDGA never forces a player to turn pro. As long as a player hasn't accepted cash in a pro division, he or she can play advanced (including age/sex protected divisions) regardless of what his or her rating may be.

[Billym]

The PDGA never forces a player to turn pro. As long as a player hasn't accepted cash in a pro division, he or she can play advanced (including age/sex protected divisions) regardless of what his or her rating may be.

Yes. That turned out to be the case but a whole crew called him out publically this morning(not me) and he volunteered to bump up to Pro Masters.

[Billym]

The guy won Pro Master Shot a 1000 plus round.

[Steady 26542]

Looks like he won't be playing AM Masters anymore.

[Mark Ellis]

The guy won Pro Master Shot a 1000 plus round.

Unless he declined the money and maintained Amateur status.

The 970's are a sort of No Man's Land. Skilled enough to be widely considered a sandbagger in Ams but not skilled enough to be a threat in Open. In my area I figure I need to average 1000 rating for a tournament to cash in Open and 10 to 20 points higher to have a chance to win it.

In the age protected divisions (40+) a 970 should be competitive except at Major tournaments (Worlds, etc.) where there a stack of 1000 rated players. At local tournaments, (depending on the area) there may or may be old guys divisions which fills. When a player hits Grands (50+) or Senior Grands(60+) the challenges of finding a division are much harder, at least at the Pro level.

Oh and last I looked a 970 rating is too high to allow a Pro to drop down and play Amateur in any event. When I get old enough that my rating drops down low enough I look forward to taking on some young guns in the Amateur ranks.

[Steady 26542]

Unless he declined the money and maintained Amateur status.

Yes, absolutely.

The 970's are a sort of No Man's Land. Skilled enough to be widely considered a sandbagger in Ams but not skilled enough to be a threat in Open.

I couldn't agree more. In my area we only have a couple Pro GM's. Normally, we can't even get one louzy card... Same goes for Pro Masters.

Oh and last I looked a 970 rating is too high to allow a Pro to drop down and play Amateur in any event. When I get old enough that my rating drops down low enough I look forward to taking on some young guns in the Amateur ranks.

Yup, right on again. From the PDGA Tour Player Divisions, Ratings & Points Factors sheet:
Pros rated < 970 may compete in amateur divisions that they qualify for... This applies only to A, B and C Tier events. Pros may NOT play in Amateur divisions in PDGA Majors.