Finals Format - Which Do You Prefer to Play In?

[jason_doust]

G'Day Bowling Fans,
There is some discussion out there as to what is the best format to have for a tournament final, so I thought it would be interesting to run a poll of players to see which final they prefer to play in, as this may possibly affect their decision whether to play in an event.
I won't post my preference yet in discussion, as I don't want to influence the outcome. (Have I been working at the Bureau of Statistics too long..?)

 

[JWhitty]

Ahhhh I'm an idiot - had a dyslexic moment there and clicked double elimination, dammit.

What about the K&K format of "Drop-out" ?

 

[jason_doust]

One more thing... Feel free to discuss why you like that format.

 

[Potter]

Matchplay...because you get to play everyone in the field & get a lot of games, a lot of fun & more value for $$$

 

[Cam S]

havent played in many because i miss more cuts than ian baker finch

but the one i like watching and find exciting is the 3 bowlers to a pair match play its great to watch

 

[FLOWER]

I agree (for once!) with Cam - the 3 person matchplay has produced some awesome matches in the Qld. Ladies Classic in the past but none better than Kate Wilton 269 - 0 points .... Amanda Frost 290 - 20 points .... Bec Simpson 300 - 40 points ........ really had the crowd on their feet.

Personally, I find it a double whammy for pressure as even if you are leading, you are intent on making the 2nd placing.

Flower

 

[sampson1791]

I've only played in one final - this years Latrobe Valley Championships. We played off until there was two left.
I won the first final but b/c the young fella had lead the tournament from start to finish he got the challenge me for a rematch! He won the second game so I came 2nd. No biggie I only went down to play so I could support my mum.

So I say matchplay. Either bonus is good.

 

[~Mrs STORM~]

Head to head matchplay, getting 20 or 30 bonus pins for a win.
I dont like bowling double elimination, I just dont feel "in the zone" I guess you could say in that format.
I also like the National Masters format - best of five.

 

[BubbaRay]

I'd prefer the traditional match play with 30 pins bonus for the win and a five man stepladder format finals.. As it stands right now once the head-to-head matches begin, the 1-32 seedings earned on Friday are meaningless. The top seed gets nothing. Earning the right to bowl the No. 32 qualifier after just 18 games of bowling is meaningless, because any given week under these circumstances, the No. 32 seed could actually be the most talented bowler in the field with great match play skill.
Given the above, not much is at stake in the second nine-game block. And since the bowlers are spread out across the bowling center, even the few players fighting to make the cut are difficult for fans to follow.

Not fan friendly. Not enough action.

 

[Bowling Balls Australia]

Similar to the NBL I think (or it was at one stage) where the top seeded team/player plays the bottom seeded team/player, 2nd top plays 2nd bottom and so forth. Format be scratch head to head, best of 3. Head to head single elimination up to the final which is best of 5 games. This is a true test of a bowlers mettle, winning under pressure in sudden death, scores irrelevant, just who can hold his/her shot and nerve better.

Or second choice - matchplay where game winner gets 2 points, draw is 1 point, loss is nil. Winner is the player with the most points at the end of matchplay - if there is a tie, head to head best of 3 play-off to decide the champion. Therefore no carry over pinfall for anything, no bonus points. Seeding comes into it where the top half from qualifying play the bottom half from qualifying before they get to play each other - that will be ample benefit to the top half as far as reward for qualifying, then they will have to bowl well to beat their top half opponents. This way we have the best bowler on the DAY, winning the event.

I have seen too many times in the past where someone gets a blowout lead on the first day, then bowls poorly the second day, ie winning only 5 out of 15 matchplay, and then still wins the tournament due to day 1's pinfall being carried over. What has day 1 'free for all' got to do with day 2 matchplay? Zilch - so why does this sport do it? As in every other sport in the world - qualifying is to get you to the finals, and then it is open slather, scratch...........

 

[dishman]

I have seen too many times in the past where someone gets a blowout lead on the first day, then bowls poorly the second day, ie winning only 5 out of 15 matchplay, and then still wins the tournament due to day 1's pinfall being carried over. What has day 1 'free for all' got to do with day 2 matchplay? Zilch - so why does this sport do it? As in every other sport in the world - qualifying is to get you to the finals, and then it is open slather, scratch...........[/QUOTE]


Very true. Simple solution, drop pinfall after qualifying.

 

[Shoey]

i don't play too many tournaments so have no real preference but thought the final of Bathurst tournament is worth mentioning here.
GeorgeF won and bowled a huge average to do so and congrats to him. but on a day where matchplay was the order of the day the best matchplayer on the day did not win.
not being critical of tournament or anything, just my 2 bobs worth to highlight that a mix of finals formats may assist some more than others.
by the way a well done to Julie Price for 12 wins out of 15 games. had it have been straight out win as many as you can Julie certainly would have been the winner on the day.
Shoey
PS for those interested Bathurst results in thread on NSW tournament page sorry i don't know how to highlight a link to it yet.

 

[jason_doust]

There's been 83 votes and a few replies from mixed camps now, so I'll show my cards and voice my opinion on the subject as I promised in post 1 of this thread.

I really dislike elimination formats. They are random in outcome and I tend to not bother with them.

Matchplay is a great test of a players mettle, but single elimination means that the guys who throw it really straight have a distinct advantage in the first round and maybe into the second, before today's endlessly washed backends (several times by finals time) tame down some degree. (Just what we need with dynamite balls - more backend...)

Elimination formats also mean that players may make the finals, spend $100+ on accommodation and may leave the next day after three games. I know players who don't enter events because of this. I've been one of them on many occasions. Sorry Tournament Directors. Just being honest.

Winning matches is a true test of a players mettle. No doubt about it. But the true test? Why not just have a 40 pin bonus in matchplay? That way, matches take 15 minutes, and there's a bunch of them going on at any one time, so at least one's going to be interesting. It also means that players get a chance at redemption for a poor game or dodgy pair.

Some of these 5 game things are just arduous to watch, let alone play in. You could get a PBA telecast into the time slot for a 5 game match!

p.s. Sorry I forgot the three way matchplay - that's a pretty good format to watch!

 

[aphelion]

I don't mind the double elimination format, I bowled in a few of those way back when I was in juniors. Everyone gets 2 bites of the cherry, so you're not going home after 1 block simply because your opponent happened to pull some insane score out of their ass. The pressure is still on to win though, either to keep from dropping out, or to save your repercharge until the end when you'll need it most.

I recently bowled an Eliminator for the first time and enjoyed it. 3 or 5 to a pair, lowest score drops out. Or even a top 16 with the lowest score dropping out after each game. Can't argue with that.

Matchplay and total pinfall systems are great for the participants as you're guaranteed x number of games, but they're deadly boring to watch.

 

[jason_doust]

Interesting that you find a top 16 matchplay boring. I find eliminator finals to be really boring, as you end up with an empty house, 4 people bowling and everyone else has gone home with their cheque. There's more atmosphere down with the social bowlers. Sad but true.

At least with a top 16, there's a crowd about, so it feels more alive. Also with 8 matches happening, there's usually some pretty interesting jockeying for places going on as well as at least a couple of good games happening.