by Andy Collins

The 2020 HVJI Field is packed again with excitement and variety. So, in last year’s tournament, there was this girl/boy pair of twins, all the way from Dubai, in the lineup. We wrote a story about that family last year. Does this year’s Field measure up to that unique pair of players and their geography? Well, sort of. It all depends on what – and by how – we choose to measure this year’s Field. You’ll want to stay right where you are, reading on.

Certainly, we have a good many more entered players this year, even in the face of COVID-19. (We did not write a general characterization of the 2019 group.) But, in what is coming below, you’ll enjoy getting to know some interesting “stuff” about the “2020-ers.”

First, some neat facts regarding player names: (You’ll get to see the represented names later down.) For example, one boy has only two letters in his first name, while a second boy needs a sequence of 12 letters to get his whole last name onto a scorecard. But, I warn everybody here, don’t enter the “names category” in a Spelling Bee where this guy’s name is on the challenge list.

Next, popularity of names? Among the guys entered there are TWO male first names that have THREE players so labeled. But, on the female side, and aw shucks y’all, only TWO players among the whole entire girl’s group are sharing a common first name. And it’s a very pretty name.

Now, here you get the answers to all of the above about names, in order: Bo; Pokrzywinski; Andrew x3 and Zach x3; and Hannah x2.

Finally, we’ll get into a bit of hometown geography, and this involves the boy’s Field. If we want to highlight from just how widespread this year’s field comes, we can do it in a hypothetical pairing. Announcer: “Leading off this next group, all the way from his hometown of Pacific Palisades, California, 2,542 miles away, please welcome Charles O’Donnell.” Charles tees and hits a nice drive.

Then the Announcer continues, “Playing next, from Durham, North Carolina, all of 3,899 FEET away from his home, please welcome Clayson Good.” And we all know how well Clayson can crush it – if he isn’t too tired from making it all that distance from his home to the Club!

We’re going to love watching this great and diverse group compete.