My mate last year was playing off 8 or 9, and had two cracking rounds which saw him miss out on the championship by 1 shot, but qualify for the 75th Anniversary (our version of handicap singles) as first seed. 2 days before the ko rounds kicked off one of the championship qualifiers got covid and withdrew, meaning my mate got bumped up into championship. He was gutted as he had a really good chance of winning the 75th, beat by the number 1 seed (a +1 player) in Round 1 of the championship.