Yes, but it's a 100 mile round trip, and it is not common for people to fail to show. Happens, but not very often.

Kick out the kid who was erroneously included. Find the person who made the error, tie them to a post on the driving range and give the kid and his parents a bucket of range balls.

Seriously, add three players.

Mostly 12-15.

Again, that just can't be done. There are only a set number of tee times allocated by the course, the players play in foursomes, and the course will not allow fives.

I agree,, slip the pro a $20 there's always an exception to the "no exception" rule

LOL. Yes, there are no exceptions.

In addition to the course rules, there are other reasons why fives would not be allowed. For example, it is against the tournament rules. This is competitive golf, the results lead to qualifications for other tournaments that colleges look at, etc. It's not really a "slip the pro a $20" informal kind of thing.

Anyways, let's just say for purposes of this, there are no exceptions, only 1 kid can be in.

Would this not rather remove a wrinkle or am I wrong again or is this not the question at hand???? Where is that whiskey?

Kobayashi Maru...

Rodney Dangerfield never took that test, but his solution would be original.

Make them 2 have a street rules bare knuckle fight for the spot..

To make sure they are giving it their best, tell em that the loser will get a 7 iron in the nuts , after he is released from hospital from loosing the fight..

Turn it into a life lesson, deal with the parents of both kids and put it on them to explain the situation to their kids.

One gets in, one doesn't, too bad so sad.

"On time", "deadline", etc have little meaning to the entitled folks in this world.

Am I the only one who would just leave it alone? Is that the surprising decision?

just apologize to kid whoose application got missed, a kind of 5hit happens life lesson, and leave the tourney to run. It's all set up after all. Maybe I just don't get it? Or maybe I just don't think it matters that much.

Or just deny the truth. Tell them their kid applied too late and forget about it! Although that does seem a little wrong. I'd probably just tell the truth,apologize and say tough luck.

Ok, this is just a guess, but your son is the one who signed up earlier, but the other kid is playing in it. Whichever it is, the kid that should have been in the tourney in the first place isn't.

I would think the staff should call and apologize to the late kid, let him know is is not playing, and offer him a free guaranteed spot in the next one (and maybe some golf goodies). He was one too late afterall, the freebies would be because of the mess-up.

Also, lesson learned to not wait until anywhere near the last minute.

If either of the two positions involves your son, then obviously that changes how this is going to be perceived and received.

Does either of the two positions involve your son?

_

Clearly.

Have 'em play a round. Winner is in the tournament.

Yep.

Yes, one is my son. I tried to keep the description neutral, and not say which is my son, b/c I was looking for objective opinions.

It's no big deal to me one way or another. I was just surprised because the position the tournament took was opposite of what I thought was kind of a no-brainer. Was interested in some outside opinions, to check if I'm the one off base!

So what was the decision?
I would keep the child that was notified in error. I would offer the other child a standby spot, a guaranteed spot in the next tournament, and possibly a discount or some swag depending on how pissed he was or how sympathetic I was.

I think this is the fairest way as the wrongly included child may have made travel plans already, and while the first come first serve is a policy the error was an honest one.

Here is what I would do.

The wrongly included kid goes on standby (you said that often there are no-shows). Your kid (clearly the one left out) gets to play for sure given that the tourney rules say 1st come 1st served.

If the tourney rules don't allow a group of 5 or a 19th group to be added, then how can there be an exception to the registration rules. The rules are either flexible or they are not.