I’m Calling BS On The Sketchiest Golf Tournament Concept I’ve Seen

When a press release like this comes across my desk, I have to do a double-take.

This week, something called “The Million Dollar Round” launched what they promise to be a revolutionary era in amateur golf.

That is a big statement so I took the bait. What is the revolution?

The revolution is hosting an amateur golf tournament where the winner receives $1 million. Apparently the plan is for this to be a series of events called “The People’s Tournament”—a few times per year, regular amateur golfers will have the opportunity to win life-changing money.

No qualifying. No handicap requirement. No central course location where everyone comes together.

But the tournament will use handicaps to create a level playing field among all skill levels.

You have a lot of questions. So did I.

Wait, what is happening?

Someone named Guy de Havillande—a golf enthusiast and entrepreneur—recently launched a golf series called “The Million Dollar Round” that promises massive money to everyday golfers.

Working in Florida as a strategic asset management executive, de Havillande is taking time out from his day job to put on this series of tournaments.

“Million Dollar Round is here to disrupt the amateur golf world,” de Havillande says. “One thing amateur golfers can frankly never say they’ve enjoyed is the thrill, the excitement, the joy, the challenge … of competing for a life-changing prize.”

Now, there have been big-money tournaments and contests within golf for years. I’m currently writing a story about simulator golf leagues where golfers can make six figures a year playing on a Trackman. There is a closest-to-the-pin simulator contest by Oneder Shot where amateurs are competing for a $200,000 first-place prize.

This “People’s Tournament” is on a different level for a few reasons, however:

• We are led to believe the two winners—there is a men’s and women’s category with identical cash prizes—are getting $1 million, straight cash, right after winning. That is way more money than we see for these contests normally. Second ($350k), third ($175k) and fourth ($100k) place will also get money. Everyone else is out of luck.

• The event is remote match play. That means a bunch of people are going to sign up (maybe) and there will be approximately 10 rounds of “local” match play going up against someone from your area. For each round, you’ll have three weeks to pick a mutual location and play the match. If you live in Tennessee and the closest person to you is in Indiana, you travel to a mutual location on your own dime. If you make the final four players, all expenses are paid for a trip … somewhere. The website does not say.

• When does it start? We don’t know. It’s whenever a critical mass of players sign up. Hmm …

• Most big-money contests are straight up. This is using handicaps. A scratch could go up against a 20-handicap and have to give them 20 strokes. In an 18-hole shootout, who knows what could happen. Just a slightly above average day from the 20-handicap would be hard to beat.

• The entry fee is $495. If you lose in the first round—which will probably just be at a local muni you could play for $50—you are out that entire fee and eliminated from the tournament. Presumably, the entry fees are funding this thing. If you consider 12 rounds of match play with every spot taken, that would be 4,096 people for each division. That is $2,027,520 in entry fees if my math is correct (it’s often not so please correct me). That easily covers the prize fund and expenses of flying everyone in for the “final four” at a nice course.

• The concept is apparently going to be implemented in Europe and Asia after the first attempt in America.

• In the videos, it is stated that not a lot of marketing will go into this tournament. They are relying on word of mouth and free publicity (like this article, I guess!) to get people interested. It gives the impression that this is some sort of scheme.

If you have more questions, I suggest sifting through these thoroughly creepy YouTube videos where Havillande explains everything. As of this writing, I’m pretty sure most of the views are mine.

Does anyone else see the problem here?

I’ll give our man Guy the benefit of the doubt for a moment and pretend he is in this for the good of the game. He wants to give amateurs the chance at life-changing money earned through golf.

OK. That is a cool concept in theory.

However, there are a few gaping holes in this premise.

The most obvious is the issue with handicaps. Golf is infamous for handicap manipulation. The tournament mandates that every golfer needs a USGA handicap in order to play—or else that competitor can’t receive any strokes—but there is nothing stopping someone from putting in fake scores.

Normally, the benefit of sandbagging is some pro shop credit and a little trophy after a foursome just shot 48 during a scramble.

With massive amounts of cash on the line? Uh, yeah, I think people are going to do whatever it takes.

That factor alone makes this tournament sketchy. That’s to say nothing of a match between two people of varying skills, totally unsupervised, where cheating will absolutely happen given the prize available.

We’re not on a highly accurate Trackman simulator or in a tournament with people watching.

The other crazy part of this is the expense. OK, so you stomach the $495 fee up front. But then we’re talking about 10 rounds of golf plus the travel expense to play golfers who could be multiple states over?

This could easily cost someone more than $2,000—and that person could walk away with nothing!

And then there is the time commitment. This tournament is 12 rounds with 10 of them allowing three weeks to be completed. It’s going to take eight months to finish this thing!

I am highly suspicious that this tournament either has ulterior business motives or some people are going to get scammed out of their money by playing someone who cheats.

What could they do to make this event better?

Guy de Havillande, if you are reading this, I come in peace. If you are genuine and really want this concept to work, I am here to help you do it.

I agree that amateurs getting to play for this amount of money would be cool. I’m going to assume your heart is in the right place on this one.

The first step is to eliminate handicaps. I know that dashes the dream of every 15-handicap golfer in America but this has to be a straight-up amateur event. This greatly reduces the chances of someone cheating their way through the tournament.

It would make the event an elite amateur competition. If you don’t want it inundated with college players, make it 23 years of age or older. It would be a sacrifice of amateur status for those who won money but I’m sure it would be worth it. Some might even turn pro with the funds.

If that isn’t what you want, there should at least be a handicap requirement. Maybe you have to be a 7-handicap or better. Just something to put more of a barrier on sandbagging.

The next step is that you have to help a little more with expenses. Just make it more manageable. Keep the entry fee the same but offer travel expense help for the final 16 players in each division. Pay for the green fees and live stream those matches. That will completely cut off the possibility of cheating into the final four.

Another option is a tier-system for entry fees. Maybe you pay more as you get deeper into the event. It seems a little ridiculous for half the field to pay $495 for one round that probably won’t even go all 18 holes.

Finally, I think this concept would work better in regions. Have a Southeast tournament over the course of three months, for example, where golfers wouldn’t even leave their state for the first several rounds. And when they do, it will probably be within driving distance.

That would also shorten this lengthy tournament process into something more reasonable.

I’ve said my piece. What do you think? Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: There is a men’s and women’s division to The People’s Tournament. (GETTY IMAGES/Adam Bettcher)