Starting & Ending a Tournament

Starting a Tournament

Your tournament has not officially started until you as the organizer has clicked the green link in the upper right corner of your screen (1), “Start Tournament.”

There are a few things that you should know as it pertains to the Start Tournament button.

1. Tournament players that have joined your tournament and have accessed it in the 18Birdies app will not be able to start their round until you have clicked Start Tournament.  In the 18Birdies app Tournament tab, the player will see a message "Tournament Starting Soon".  After you click Start Tournament, that message will change to "Start Tournament Round", which the player can click to begin.
2. Once a tournament player has started their tournament round and is on the hole scoring screen or scorecard, if you Pause the tournament, that player will still be able to continue scoring their tournament round.
3. If you Pause your tournament, any player with the 18Birdies app that attempts to join the tournament and start a round will be unable to do so and will see a message that you the organizer have paused the tournament.
4. As soon as you click Start Tournament, all Course Settings (including Tee Times settings), Tournament Format, and Handicap Settings will be locked.

Unassigned Players after Tournament has Started

When the 'you the organizer controls players/team' is selected, you will want to stay on top of your unassigned players' area (in the Team Assignments tab) after your tournament has started.  It is important to do your best to have all players app profiles assigned to their respective team prior to you officially starting the tournament.  Here's what happens if not...

There will be times when a player or players join your tournament by accepting an email invitation or entering the tournament code after you have already started the tournament.  When they do, their app profile will appear in the Unassigned Players area.  They will immediately be presented with the 'Start Tournament Round' link in the app (because you have started the tournament), but if they select it they will be presented with the following error message: "The tournament is underway. To begin your round, contact the tournament organizer to be assigned to a team."  Being that this is the case, you as the organizer will need to be aware of the Unassigned Players area during your tournament, and drag and drop the players' actual profile to their assigned team (possibly replacing their guest account that is currently on the team).  Once you do so, the player will be able to select the 'Start Tournament Round' link again in their app, and they will be dropped into their team, on their respective starting hole, as expected.

Ending a Tournament

A tournament ends automatically at midnight local time on the day you choose for your official End Date.  Once this date passes, the completed tournament will appear in the Tournament History section of the Tournament Dashboard, and will show as 'completed'.  A completed tournament is accessible, but the Invitations and Team Assignments tab are no longer available.

Here are a few more things to know about a completed tournament:

- The Leaderboard is no longer editable.  You cannot edit scores, position, or remove a player/team.  You can still edit the sort (i.e. Gross or Net), but can no longer enable or disable specific Leaderboards (i.e. Gross, Gross/Net Skins).

- All tournament Settings are locked. You will not be able to customize the banner spaces or add tournament supporters.

*Note: If for any reason you expect your tournament to be delayed or postponed beyond the originally chosen End Date, you will need to go into the Settings tab and edit the End Date (before this date passes!) to avoid your tournament from being marked as 'completed' and you get locked out of most management settings.