ROCHESTER, N.Y. (FLX) — Say what you will about FLX Tour leadership, but one thing you can’t say: They aren’t willing to tinker.

Tour officials announced this week that the “35/15” rule will be in effect for this year’s Churchville Classic, the annual two-man scramble tournament traditionally held in August, but bumped up on this year’s calendar.

“We wanted to move the Classic up on the schedule this year because by the time we played it last year, it was like a brownish, dirt, farm,” said FLX Tour Co-Commissioner Shane Driffill. “Not a lot of tree cover there so earlier in the year, the better.”

As stated, the date adjustment isn’t the only change to this year’s Classic. The USGA reccomended 35/15 rule will apply to this year’s team handicaps.

Once the teams of two are selected, the Tour pro with the lower handicap will be considered Player A and the Tour pro with the higher handicap will be considered Player B. To calculate the team’s handicap for the event, we’ll take 35% of Player A’s handicap and add it to 15% of Player B’s handicap, rounding to the nearest whole number. A few examples to illustrate this program in practice (handicaps taken at time of examples below are not up to date):

Example 1: Two mid-handicaps
(Player A) Matt Driffill— 19.8 handicap x/19.8 = 35/100 — x= 6.93
(Player B) Eugene Ferrera — 22.6 handicap x/22.6 = 15/ 100 — x= 3.39
6.93 + 3.39 = 10.32
Matt and Eugene team handicap is 10

Example 2: Two low handicaps
(Player A) Chris Miers — 6.8 handicap x/6.8 = 35/100 — x=2.38 (Player B) Sean Sawyer — 9.1 handicap x/9.1 = 15/100 — x=1.365
2.38 + 1.37 = 3.75
Chris and Sean team handicap is 4

Example 3: Two high-handicaps
(Player A): Josh Valletta — 36 handicap x/36 = 35/100 — x=12.6 (Player B) Nathan Wirth — 36 handicap x/36 = 15/100 — x=5.4
12.6 + 5.4 = 18
Josh and Nathan team handicap is 18

Example 4: 1 low handicap, 1 high handicap
(Player A) Tom Deiure — 12.8 handicap x/12.8 = 35/100 — x=4.48 (Player B) Mike Converse — 36 handicap x/36 = 15/100 — x=5.4
4.48 + 5.4 + 9.88
Tom and Mike handicap is 10

As you can see, this handicap system will ensure a level playing field when it’s time to tee off. Tour officials say team handicaps will be published shortly after the pairings are drawn.

On the pairings, Tour officials said Tuesday that the full field roster is still not finalized and as such, there has not been an annoucenment on when the teams will be selected.

As for the shape of the course, Nathan Wirth (currently No. 24 in the FLX Tour YMOTY Rankings) played a round at Churchville Tuesday morning and said the field will be in for a treat.

“Those greens are huge and hard to read,” Wirth said in a text message. “It’s alright. Wide open. I used two balls all day.”

Wide open course, and a wide open field, which means the Churcville Classic is once again shaping up to be, well, a Classic.

FLX fans will remember fondly the way the duo of Danny Driffill and Joey Mortillaro took the course by storm en route to their victory in 2022, punctuated by a birdie putt on 18 that sent the gallery into a frenzy.