IndyStar.com: Tourney gets new name and format

For the first time, there will be no free passes into the second round at the tournament, which no longer has RCA as a title sponsor.

With the draw reduced to 32, there are no first-round byes. The field had been a 48-player draw since 2003 with 16 seeded players getting first-round byes. Before that, the tournament was a 56-player draw with eight seeds getting byes.

Seventh-seeded Robby Ginepri, 2005 Indianapolis champion, said there are positives and negatives to the smaller draw.

“The 32 draw is a lot easier than a 56-player draw with less matches,” Ginepri said. “The level of play gets tougher a lot quicker in the early rounds. It’s not as spread out. Everyone is tough here so you have to just take one match at a time.”

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