AVGA 10th Anniversary Open Championship 11:58, 04/10/2019

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of AVGA, the "AVGA 10th Anniversary Open Championship” will be held on 3th November 2019 at one of the most beautiful course in NSW St Michael Golf Club.

As at end of September, the support of golfers is overwhelming and the field is already full with golfers from 4 Australian states, Vietnam and other golfing communities in Australia.

In 10 years, AVGA has growth tremendously, with the strong support of the business communities and golfers not only in numbers but total prizes and gifts at the AVGA annual championship growth from the modest budget of less than $1000 (for trophies) in 2009 to well over $100,000 at this year championship. Including some fabulous holiday trips to Vietnam, quality designer championship shirts & caps, beautiful trophies, golfing equipments and subtantial amount of cash on offer for Hole in One on all of the par 3s.

Also, to welcome visitors to the AVGA 10th Anniversary Championship, together with the Sydney Vietnamese business group, VEAS (Vietnamese Entrepreneur Association - Sydney), all golfers participating in the championship, friends & families are invited to join at the gala dinner on a cruise ship toured around Sydney harbour with local Vietnamese band entertain on the. 2/11/19. Should be a fun and a great opportunity for golfers and business people to mix and enjoy.

AVGA 10 years Anniversary Open Championship:

RULES & ELIGIBILITY

- Date: Sunday, 3rd/Nov/19

- Course: St Michaels’ GC, Sydney, Australia

- Players registration & receiving gift pack: 10:30-11:45

- Championship Briefing & photograph: 11:50-12:15

- Players moving to allocated teeboxes 12:20-12:30

- Shot Gun start at 12:30

- FORMAT: STROKE (Modified)

- DIVISIONS:

. Ladies Division: hdc upto 36.4

. Gentlemen Division:

- Men A: hdc upto 14.4

- Men B: hdc 14.5-27.4

. Callaway Division: all other players

. Masters Division: all registered players with age 55 or older

. CHAMPION of Champions Division: Only previous 9 years overall champion are eligible*.

1)- HANDICAP & ELIGIBILITY:

. Players must hold a current golf Australia handicap (with Golf link) with a minimum of 4 competition scores recorded in the last 6 months.

. All overseas players’ handicap must be pre-approved by AVGA Committee prior to the start of the championship. Pls check your scorecard at registration.

. If none of the above applied, players will be playing in the Callaway Open division.

. Your championship Handicap: Players handicap will be based on your official handicap as that on the 28/10/19.

. Special note: AVGA committee & Referee panel reserved the right to adjust players' handicap before the game should there be reasons to so. Thus, pls check your score card.

2)- RULES:

In the spirit of the game, friendships and sportsmanship, there are special competition rules in addition to the normal R&A rules plus local course rules, please aware of the following:

. Maximum scores allowed in all division is -4. Players who have scores better than -4 will have their scores adjusted to -4 and count back rule will be applied to determine winners.

. Lost ball: to speedup the game, players either can play a provisional ball or allowed to drop as if your ball lost in a penalty area with 2 PENALTY STROKES added. NO going back option to replay your shot unless you already played a provisional ball.

. MAXIMUM SCORE PER HOLE is double par plus 1, ie players MUST pick up your ball and go to the next tee if already played 7 strokes on a par 3, 9 strokes on a par 4 or 11 strokes on par 5.

. SLOW PLAY PENALTY: to ensure a smooth game for all players to enjoy, the maximum “double par +1” scores on each hole and LOST ball penalties are applied, there is no excuse for any group found more than 1 hole behind your immediate front group. The committee will assess each infringement and ALL players in the slow flight/group could be PENALISED 2 strokes for each infringement.

. PLAYERS FINAL ADJUSTED SCORE: St Michaels is a challenging course, with very few exceptional circumstances, we do not expect many low scores if players play to their true handicap. Therefore, Maximum scores allowed in all division is -4 (Nett).

Players who have scores better than -4 will have their scores adjusted to -4 and count back rule will be applied to determine winners (Nett score count back in the following order: back 9, last 6, last 3, hole 18, etc...)

3)- TEE BOXES: The following setup may be changed on the day depending on the weather.

. Gentlemen: (Starting tee will be announced on the day)

WHITE tee (Slope rating: 133, par 72, Length: 5886m-rating 71)

Or BLUE tee (Slope rating: 138, par 72, Length: 6345m-rating 73)

. Ladies: RED tee (Slope rating: 133, par 74, Length: 5447m-rating 74)

4)- SCORE CARDS:

. One player per card, players must have your ACTUAL score written in the player column (ie: not +1,0,-1... ).

. Score card must be signed by both player & marker.

. DISQUALIFICATION (DQ) will be applied with non- conforming cards. (More than a dozen players were DQ in recent AVGA championships and we are asking all players to pay attention to your own scores and your marker scores please.)

5)- MOBILE SCORE CARD APP:

All registered players will receive a link with access to this app.

. Please use the app to enter your own score (and people in your flight/group using your mobile phone) at the end of your round

. Please also hand in your signed scorecard paper to the scoring team for cross reference. This will help the scoring team to speedup the time to process all the score cards after the game.

. Any problem, pls see the scoring team to help you in the club house.

6)- DINNER PRESENTATION: will be immediately after the game at St Michaels’ gc club house.

NOTE: Due to our obligations with sponsors, we request that ALL WINNERS, including winners of lucky door prizes, MUST be at the presentation dinner to collect your prizes. Unless pre-approved for exceptional circumstances by the organising committee, absentee at presentations will be Disqualified.

6)- AWARDS & DIVISION ELIGIBILITY:

Each player can only win 1 major prizes only (near pin or long drive, hio prizes not included)

. The Masters Open: this sub division is for both men & ladies age 55 or older (as registered online), Handicap applied (Max: 27 for men & 36 for ladies). Winners of Ladies, Men A & Men B are not eligible to win also this division. Players please mark "Senior" on your score card and confirm with the registration team on the day of your eligibility.

. Callaway Open Division: For players of both sexes with handicap over the maximum limit, non handicap players or unverifiable handicap. System36 will be applied to all players in this division to determine handicap.

. * CHAMPION of Champions Division: This special division is opened only to previous 9 years overall champion (Not division champion). There are 2 multiple winners in the past, therefore, 2 runner ups (second years of the multiple winners) will be called up to fill. The full list of 9 eligible golfers will be published before the championship begin. The best NETT score on the day for these previous 9 champions will be the winner of this special award: Champion of AVGA’s first decade!

7)- FLIGHTS/GROUPING: to ensure the integrity of the championship, enhancing opportunity for players to meet new players & making new friends, please DO NOT CHANGE your playing group on the day without approval, this might result in DISQUALIFICATION.

We are hoping to group players from different state, country, association etc... together. Some high or no handicap players will be mixed with experience golfers to ensure each group will be moving smoothly. The maximum number of players who regular playing together that will be in the same flight at AVGA19 championship will be 2.

Children under 14 years of age, must play with his/her guardians.

8)- Players are NOT permitted to play at St Michaels’ gc on the morning of the championship. Disqualification will be enforced.

9)- COMMITTEE & REFEREE PANEL:

. Reserved the right to adjust players' handicap before the game should there be reasons to so.

. All decisions by the AVGA committee and the referee panels on the day will be final.

. Referee panels: will include captains of all states, the AVGA Captain & a PGA Professional. The following members are invited to form the committee & referee panel:

- TRAN, Tri Tue: AVGA Captain

- DAO, The: VVGA Captain

- Hoang, Harry: CVGA Captain

- LE, Anthony: QVGA Captain

- NGUYEN, Linda LADIES Captain

- O’FLAHERTY, Ryan: PGA Australia Professional or St Michaels club pro

10)- PROTESTS: All protests, irregularity, etc... must be made by players to your state Captain, committee members or referee panel IMMEDIATELY after completion of play.

NOTE: any changes, additional info on the championship will be announced at the championship briefing.

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AWARDS:

- AVGA 2019 Champion: Best Nett of the day (Callaway division NOT eligible)

- AVGA 2019 Best Gross trophy

- AVGA 2019 Ladies champion & runner up (nett score)

- AVGA 2019 Men A & B champions & runner ups (nett score)

- Champion of champions trophy (best nett score on the day of 9 previous champions)

- AVGA 2019 Masters champions & runner up (Over 55 years old)

- Captain’s encouragement award: highest score of the day

- Top 5 players: in all divisions

- HOLE 18: Longest prizes ( 3 divisions: Ladies, Men A & Men B)