SoHG Order of Merit Point Totals

FINAL POINT TOTALS for 2018-19   (Updated Oct. 29, 2019)
(The program was cancelled for 2019-20.)

(Note: The Point Totals sheet shows the top 15 in each category on the first page. Succeeding pages show totals for all qualifying players.)

See below for information on how tournament directors can help their qualifying SoHG players earn Order of Merit points.

The SoHG Order of Merit (OM) point system was developed to help determine an overall winner, or winners, at season’s end. It is a performance-based system.

At the conclusion of the OM (the U.S. Hickory Open in 2021), awards will be given to those SoHG member/competitors who have accumulated the most points in three distinct divisions – the Championship, Senior (60-69), and Super Senior (70 and over). Points are automatically tallied for Open and Reserve categories within each division. Awards will be announced each year at the Mid Pines Hickory Open.

Points will be awarded on a descending scale from 1st to 34th place; from 400 points to 4 points.

Points may NOT be commingled. That is, a player must declare eligibility in only one division – the Championship, Senior, or the Super Senior. Points earned in one will not be transferable to any other division. Thus, a player is able to compete, and win, in only one of the three divisions. After a player declares his division, he may not change divisions during that year.

If a tie exists after the final event of the Order of Merit season (the USHO), the first tournament that both players competed in for that season, and their total score for that tournament, will be used to determine the winner.

Please Note: Points are awarded a bit differently for the team format of the Southern 4-Ball. For this event, the total award is increased by 50 percent, so that each partner will evenly split 600 points, or 300 points each for first place. And so on for second, third, etc.

In the box at right:
Event Finish is where a competitor places for any given event, 1-34.

Point Award is the point total awarded to that finish.

Percentage of 400 is the percentage of 400 possible total points awarded to that finish placement.

So, if you finish first in an OM event, you’ll win 100 percent of 400 possible points. If you finish in 34th place, you’ll receive 4 points, or 1 percent of 400 possible points. (See above for how points are awarded for the team format of the Southern 4-Ball.)

(Note: Open is often called the Championship or Gross division. Reserve is often called the Handicap or Net division.)

QUALIFYING FOR OM POINTS
Many tournament directors have asked how their events might qualify for Order of Merit points. Not everyone can travel to the current schedule of OM events. So that more players have an opportunity to earn OM points, the SoHG tournament committee has developed a method whereby SoHG members who play in qualifying events (minimum number of players) might earn OM points.

Contestants in two-day events are awarded 50% of Order of Merit points (as seen in the chart above). Contestants in one-day events are awarded 25% of OM series points.

First, be sure to send in an application to apply for Order of Merit points for your tournament.

Click here to download the application.

Ben Hollerbach, working with SoHG Tournament chair Bill Geisler, has developed a simple spreadsheet that can be used by tournament directors to track scores, with a copy sent to Ben for conversion into the overall OM scoring chart. To obtain a copy of the chart, please email Jim Davis. It will be sent to you in an Excel format.

Ben has developed a program based on this chart that easily facilitates turning your players’ scores into OM points. As the scoring of so many tournaments can be a complicated thing, please do Ben and Bill a favor and use this chart. It has programmed it to automatically calculate certain values once basic information is entered.

For questions about the point system, contact Bill Geisler at hickorybill1@gmail.com.
Current results are shown below.

A PDF of earlier Championship Series Point totals can be downloaded by clicking the following links:

2011 Final

2012 Final

2013 Final

2014 Final

2015 Final

2016 Final

2017 Final

MPHO = Mid Pines Hickory Open
SH4B = Southern Hickory Four-Ball championship
BHO= Belvedere Hickory Open
USHO = U.S. Hickory Open

Qualifying events for reduced OM points*
AZDH = Arizona Desert Hickory Championship (two-day event)
OCHC = Onion Creek Hickory Classic (two-day event)
WHO = Wisconsin Hickory Open (two-day event)
NSHO = California North/South
GHC = Gearhart Hickory Classic
GSHO = Gamble Sands Hickory Open

* Based on a minimum number of players in the field:
Two-day events qualify for half the number of OM points awarded at “majors.”
One-day events qualify for a quarter of the number of OM points awarded at “majors.”
SoHG members are awarded the points based on their finish in the tournament.