nother
I don't get the concern about pros vs amateurs. This tournament was NEVER conceived as some kind of amateur only event. the criteria has always simply been age. The first year it was 70, but they only got a very small number of players and quickly decided that over 70 was too limiting, so they lowered it to 65. Even with that it has taken a while to get to more than 24 players.
From the beginning there have been retired pros like Billy, and shortly after, Nick Varner, plus from the beginning there were players that had played very near or at pro level, just maybe not the household names of guys like Billy and Nick (I'm thinking of Tall Jeff, Tom Wirth and the Sniper, for examples). Never any kind of restrictions on player level at all, whether Fargo or "pro" or "amateur" in the slightest. On the contrary, I would say the goal was to provide an event that showcases the deep knowledge and experience that only seniors can bring to some degree, and give them a competitive format without the presence of young players still in their prime that would swoop in and dominate.
This has been the theme all the way through the years, and it has been successful enough that the number of players has continued to rise, and the level of competition has also risen with the larger fields, so the money has also been able to go up.
The event has never been a onepocket.org event, even though we have been a huge part of promoting it and covering it and recruiting players for it -- it is still not our event, and nobody entering has to be a member. Bogies and Ray control everything about it, even if they might approach us for input and outreach.
