European Ryder Cup Captain Finally Announced

Ryder Cup hero Colin Montgomerie was finally confirmed as captain of the 2010 team yesterday. Monty now has the unenviable task of winning the cup back from a resurgent American team in Wales next year.

Despite a late spanner in the works by Jose Maria Olazabal, the worst kept secret in world golf was finally confirmed at the European Tour Tournament Committee meeting in Dubai. Golf Predictor wishes Colin the best of luck in his difficult new job. We anticipate that his brilliant record and five triumphs in Ryder Cup matches will inspire his team to greater things!

How to Win a Golf Tournament

Apparently, one of the secrets of winning a professional golf tournament these days is to get married shortly beforehand! Pat Perez, Paul Casey and Rory Sabbartini all triumphed soon after their nuptials and I'm sure Tiger Woods won about 14 tournaments soon after tieing the knot!

We here at Golf Predictor would never suggest that the golfers practiced more after getting hitched to get away from domestic nagging! Rather, the obvious reason is that the golfers are blissfully happy and the support of a loving wife propelled them to victory!

Week 8 Betting Performance

As mentioned in the week eight summary, Adam Scott's tournament preparations were ruined by the loss of his clubs in transit. Unfortunately for Golf Predictor, this meant our little punt for the week was also ruined! Scott, previously unbeaten in Doha, finished strongly with a 67, but the damage was done by then. We're unsure if he finally got his clubs or had to use the replacement set sent from London. Either way, the loss of his clubs pretty much ruined his tournament and our chances of success! While not a great value bet, it would still have been nice to win!

2009 - Week 9 Predictions Online

We have published the predictions for the ninth week of the 2009 season, the Dubai Desert Classic (European PGA Tour) and the FBR Open (US PGA Tour). This week marks the last chance for the European PGA Tour golfers to grab some Middle Eastern oil money before the new season ending megabucks event! On the US PGA Tour, Phil Mickleson begins his season and will hope to regain his world number 2 ranking. Who knows, he may even become the top dog before Tiger comes back.

Both tournament entry lists this week feature many former champions. The list of pre-2004 champions in the FBR Open (Golf Predictor uses the results from the previous 5 years) includes Chris DiMarco (2002), Mark Calcavecchia (2001, 1992 & 1989), Tom Lehman (2000), Rocco Mediate (1999), Jesper Parnevik (1998), Phil Mickleson (1996), Tommy Armour III (1990) and Paul Azinger (1987). The corresponding list for the Dubai Desert Classic is Robert-Jan Derksen (2003), Ernie Els (2002, 1994), Thomas Bjorn (2001), Jose Coceres (2000), David Howell (1999) Jose Maria Olazabal (1998), Richard Green (1997) and Colin Montgomerie (1996).

2009 - Week 8 Winners

Alvaro Quiros (Garcia) pummelled the Doha Golf Club course into submission in the Commercialbank Qatar Masters Presented by Dolphin Energy. The big hitting Spaniard (ranked 41st by Golf Predictor) won by three shots to preserve his record of one win a season since joining the European Tour three years ago. Our top pick, Sergio Garcia, finished in a tie for 7th and we also had the ever reliable (especially in Doha!) Henrik Stenson in the top ten. Paul Casey followed up his win last week by missing the cut and the preparation of the previously unbeaten in Qatar Adam Scott was scuppered by the loss of his clubs en route from Hawaii.

On the US Tour, the Bob Hope birdie fest was won by the record breaking early pace setter, Pat Perez (ranked 31st by Golf Predictor). The record breaking fourth round leader, Steve Stricker (ranked 8th) imploded on Sunday, somehow managing to shoot 77 on one of the easiest courses on tour. Perez finished with "only" a 69, but it was good enough for a three shot win. His impressive tap in eagle at the last made his victory look a tad more comprehensive though. Our top pick, Justin Leonard, finished in 41st place but we had five players in the top nine (plus ties).

Stricker Takes Over as Duck Hunter in Chief!

Despite hitting a US PGA Tour two round record score (124, -20), Pat Perez has been overtaken by Steve Stricker after four rounds of the five round Bob Hope Classic. In continuing perfect conditions, Stricker shot 61-62 in the third and fourth rounds to set a new US PGA Tour four round record score of -33. This lowered the previous record, set by Ernie Els (unbelievably not set at the Bob Hope!), by 2 shots. These were also the lowest consecutive rounds in US PGA Tour history.

Former champion, Jesper Parnevik, shot a 61 yesterday but still missed the cut in this unrelenting birdie fest! If Stricker continues in this vein on the final day, he'll breach the -40 mark, which would be an unbelievable score. We here at Golf Predictor think that they'll have to think about blindfolding the golfers next year as this is getting ridiculous!

Golf Book Recommendation

If you've ever dreamed of being a pro golfer but weren't good enough and thought caddying for someone who could play would do instead, then we at Golf Predictor have just the book for you*! "Maybe it Should Have Been a Three-Iron" (also known as "Four Iron in the Soul") by Lawrence Donegan (1998) is a hilarious account of one golf journalist's year as a caddy to a European Tour journeyman. Personally, I can't recall the last time I laughed out loud so much while reading a book (especially when the subject matter was golf!).

Be warned however - it may disabuse you of your dream! It can't have been all that bad though; the book is gushingly dedicated to the golfer!


*We are not connected to the author in any way!!

European Ryder Cup Captaincy Saga Continues

The long winded process for selecting the Ryder Cup captaincy has taken yet another twist. Jose Maria Olazabal has thrown a spanner in the works by announcing that he wants to captain Europe in Wales in 2010. While it was previously reported far and wide that Monty had it in the bag, Olazabal has decided not to wait until 2012 before going for the honour. He apparently wanted to play his way into the 2010, but unfortunately his ongoing injury problems (including rheumatism) seem to have put paid to that idea.

Where this leaves the overall state of things remains unclear. Will Faldo's vice-captain be promoted or while Monty get the gig? Rumour has it that Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle are not out of the running either. The intrigue will finally be ended next Wednesday in Dubai, when the European Tour Tournament Committee meet again. We at Golf Predictor hope the dithering stops then!

Japanese Prodigy Invited to Masters

Rory McIlroy won't be the youngest pro teeing it up in the Masters this year following the announcement by the green blazers that the young Japanese sensation, Ryo Ishikawa, has been given one of the international invitations.

Ishikawa-san is only 17 years and four months but is already a seasoned pro. He is currently number 5 on the Japanese money list, the youngest ever to win a tournament on a major tour (when he was a mere 15!) and the youngest pro ever to break into the world top 100. He's currently ranked 60th, so he could still make the Masters under his own steam. Not a bad record for someone not technically a man yet!

We here at Golf Predictor say gambatte kudasai (good luck/do your best) to Ishikawa-san!

Perez Shoots Record Number of Ducks!

Pat Perez has lowered the 2 round US PGA Tour scoring record by one shot after following his opening 61 with a 63 at the Bob Hope Classic. Good enough as his two round total of 124 (-20) is, it's not much of a surprise that it happened at this event. That score equates to a bogey free 36 holes with a birdie every other hole and an eagle thrown in for good measure. As shown in the Golf Predictor 'Tournament Stats' page, the Bob Hope Classic is consistently one of the easiest events on the US PGA Tour. If tour players reckon they have to shoot at least 30 under par to win (even if it is a five round event), it really is a duck shoot!

English Open cancelled

Unfortunately, another European Tour event has bitten the dust. After the earlier announcement of the demise of the Indian Masters, the resurrection of the English Open has been postponed for two years. The event was supposed to be held the week of the US PGA Championship in August. The economic downturn has again been blamed, with the developers of the Cornish host resort getting into a bit of a financial pickle.

Let's hope that they can sort themselves out and get back on track for 2011 as planned. Regrettably, we have removed the tournament from Golf Predictor.

Charts and Amendment for 'Results By Positon (All)' Page

We have made a slight change to the 'Results By Position (All)' page recently added to Golf Predictor. Now, you can also select "Both" in the Tour dropdown list to view the golfers from both tours who finished in the entered position.

We have also added 3 new charts to this page. You can now see a chart of the golfers with the most finishes in the selected position. There is a chart for the US PGA Tour, the European PGA Tour and for both tours together. The relevant chart is shown when you make your selection in the Tour dropdown list. The picture above shows the 2nd place chart for both tours in the 2008 season. It shows Sergio Garcia (2 on each tour), Lee Westwood (all in Europe) and Oliver Wilson (all in Europe) as having been bridesmaids most often, with 4 runners up places each!

This brings the number of distinct charts in Golf Predictor up to 87. We're edging towards the magic ton!

2009 - Week 8 Prediction Update (Bob Hope)

We have had to update all the predictions for the Bob Hope Classic on Golf Predictor as Anthony Kim pulled out due to a shoulder injury. Since he was the top world ranked player in the field (by some margin), his absence has positively affected the GP Score (probability of winning) for all players in the field. Therefore, the new normalised probabilities for the field are higher than before.

Best Golfers Never to Win a Major

This is a fairly subjective post on who we here at Golf Predictor consider to be the best current golfers never to have won a major championship:

1. Colin Montgomerie. Without a doubt, Monty is one of the finest golfers Europe has ever produced. Winner of a record eight Order of Merits and many time Ryder Cup hero, poor old Colin kept heaping the pressure on himself in the majors. His best chances came mainly in the US Open and he was somewhat unlucky on occasion. However, he did choke once or twice, most famously with a seven iron on the 72nd fairway in the 2006 US Open. Unfortunately, it looks like his chance is gone, although Jack Nicklaus won his last major at 46 and Kenny Perry (see below) should have won at 48....
   
   
2. Sergio Garcia. Despite dodgy pressure putting, definitely the best player today without a major under his belt. He's had his chances too, from the youthful exuberance of his audacious challenge (including the wonder shot) to Tiger during the 1999 US PGA to choking down the stretch in the 2008 US PGA. While Harrington seems to have his measure (much to his chagrin), it is only fair to point out that he missed a par putt on the 72nd hole to win the 2007 British Open by a fraction (guess who won?!). If that had gone in, who's to say Garcia and his nemesis wouldn't have swapped recent histories?
   
   
3. Adam Scott. The man whose swing is more Tiger-like than even Tiger's! He's going through a sticky patch, but Scott is a class player who definitely has the swing (see above!) to win a major, if not the putting. His best performance thus far is a third place in the 2006 US PGA. He has had a couple of other top tens in the majors, but it's about time he got the result his talent deserves.
   
   
4. Lee Westwood. A long time stalwart of the European Tour, Westwood was never really in the running for a major victory (despite 3 top six finishes) until 2009. However, a rush of blood to the head on the 72nd green cost him a chance of victory in the British Open. He has the game and the temperament to win a big one, but he better get his skates on!
   
   
5. Kenny Perry*. The token American in the list, Perry is the highest all-time money winner on the US PGA Tour without a major. Arguably the best ever over forty golfer (at least until Tiger gets that old!), the 49 year old is still in the world top five. He's had his chances, losing a 1996 play-off to Mark Brooks in the US PGA Championship and more recently throwing away a two shot lead with two to play at the 2009 Masters. Time is against him now so will that be his last chance for a major title?
   

Honourable mentions to Darren Clarke, K.J. Choi, Robert Allenby, Chad Campbell, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Tim Clark, Stuart Appleby, Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson. Of the young guns, Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy stand out as probable future major winners.


*Replaces Stewart Cink who finally won a major at the 2009 British Open Championship!

European Ryder Cup Captain "Not Known"!

It must be the worst kept secret in golf that Colin Montgomerie has been dramatically offered the job of Captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales. While other established golfing greats such as Sandy Lyle and Jose Maria Olazabal were the frontrunners, Monty's name unexpectedly came to the fore at the recent European Tour Tournament Committee meeting.

Word on the street is that the players favoured a younger man who was more in touch with the current players. Many took this as a swipe at the outgoing captain, Nick Faldo, who was never much of a people person (to say the least!). Lyle's runner from last year's British Open didn't do him any favours and Olazabal wants to play his way on the team. Many, including Harrington, were surprised that Monty would take the job now instead of doing likewise. Many thought he would set his sights on the role for the 2014 Ryder Cup in his native Scotland.

Still, the European Tour seem to be making a hames out of the appointment procedure. We here at Golf Predictor don't know why they thought it wouldn't get out. Full marks to the decisive Americans for the announcement of Corey Pavin as their captain. Let's hope all this pfaffing around is not a sign of things to come for the Europeans.

2009 - Week 8 Predictions Online

We have published the predictions for week eight of the 2009 season, the Commercialbank Qatar Masters (European PGA Tour) and the Bob Hope Classic (US PGA Tour). Coincidentally, this week features the tournaments with the longest official names! It's a special year for the five round Bob Hope event, as it seems to be celebrating its 50th anniversary. This is despite that, according to the PGA Tour web site, it has been on the go since 1954 and has had Bob's name only since 1965!

The list of pre-2004 champions in the Bob Hope Classic (Golf Predictor uses the results from the previous 5 years) includes Mike Weir (2003), Joe Durant (2001), Jesper Parnevik (2000), David Duval (1999), Fred Couples (1998) and Mark Brooks (1996). The corresponding list for the Qatar Masters is defending champion Adam Scott (2002), Rolf Muntz (2000), Paul Lawrie (1999) and Andrew Coltart (1998).

2009 - Week 7 Betting Performance

Using Golf Predictor, we found that Peter Hanson was again good odds with a bookie, so we had a small punt on him this time to finish in the top ten. We also picked out Kenny Perry for a similar result in the Sony Open, although this bet wasn't quite as attractive.

While Perry let us down, it was looking very good for Hanson until the back nine on Sunday. A poor finish of +1 on the homeward stretch allowed several players to overtake him. He slid from a safe 5th to a tie for 10th as we agonisingly followed the tournament. Unfortunately, the 3 way tie for 10th meant our original odds (9/2) were divided by 3. We won't be retiring on those winnings and we more or less ended up even for the 2 transactions. Just one less shot from Hanson over the week and we'd have been in the black! Ah well, there's always next time!

2009 - Week 7 Winners

Paul Casey (ranked 10th* by Golf Predictor) won the Abu Dhabi Championship on the European Tour. Casey added to his comfortable 4 shot overnight lead early on but needed every shot as he succumbed to the jitters on the back nine. He steadied the ship on the final few holes and ended up winning up by a single shot. Our top ranked golfers, Sergio Garcia (ranked 1st) and Padraig Harrington (ranked 2nd) both finished strongly to finish in ties for 8th and 5th respectively. It was a great performance for Golf Predictor, with 7 out of the top ten, plus ties*.

The US PGA Tour stayed in Hawaii for the second week in a row for the Sony Open. Zach Johnson (ranked 12th by Golf Predictor) claimed his fifth PGA Tour title, holding off Adam Scott (ranked 8th) and David Toms (ranked 26th). It wasn't a good week for the big names and our top pick, Geoff Ogilvy, finished in a tie for 32nd place. We had about 6 out of the top 15.


*Two of our top 10 ranked players (Jimenez and Schwartzel) did not compete, so we bump those ranked lower up 2 places.

Campbell's Hawaiian Boo-Boo

Apparently, Chad Campbell flew all the way from Dallas to Honolulu ahead of the Sony Open only to find out that he had forgotten to sign up for the tournament. After an 8 hour flight, Campbell arrived in the Aloha state on Saturday, a day after the entry deadline.

What a sickener, but we here at Golf Predictor reckon that there are far worse places that you could end up in with nothing to do! Campbell reportedly played a round of golf on a different course on Sunday morning before heading back to Dallas that evening, no doubt feeling fairly foolish!

'Results By Positon' Pages Added to Golf Predictor

We have added a new option to the "View Options" menu in the Golf Predictor member section. This new 'Results By Position' menu option contains two new related and interlinked pages.

The first page allows you to find out who finished in a particular position at a particular tournament. Clicking on the 'All Tournaments' link brings you to a page which allows you to find out who finished in a particular position at all tournaments in the chosen season. You can go back to the first page using the 'Specific Tournament' link.

These pages allow you to find out who finished in certain positions without the need to sift through entire tournament results. Note that some positions do not exist in some tournaments due to ties e.g. if 2 golfers are tied third, there is no 4th place. Also, some tournament fields are bigger than others, so searching for positions at the tail end may not return any results for certain events.

In both pages, you simply enter a position in the text box and press the 'Find' Button to see the results for the selected tournament/season. You may alter the season/tour/tournament selections to see who finished in the same position with your new choice(s).

Entering '1' in the position box on the 'All Tournament' page returns the same results as the 'Tournament Winners' page. However, this new page is much more flexible, allowing you to see, for example, all the runners up or all those who finished 5th in a season.

Just another way to make Golf Predictor even better for our users! We hope you find this new functionality useful.

New Winners Charts Added to Golf Predictor

We are happy to announce that we have added two new charts to the "Tourn. Winners" page on Golf Predictor. This page is available from the "View Options" menu in the member section and shows the list of winners for the selected tour and season.

In addition to the 'winners by nationality' charts, there are now 2 new 'wins by golfer' charts. These show who has won the most tournaments in a given season on a given tour. These charts are similar (but not the same) as the charts available in the 'Stats Analysis\Season History' page. Those existing charts only contain golfers competing that week and exclude the results of the current tournament (and all future ones that season).

These 2 new charts are available to all Golf Predictor members, whether you are subscribed or not. As usual, hovering over a bar gives more information. That brings the total number of charts on the site up to an impressive 84!

Poulter to Undergo Eye Surgery

England's Ian Poulter has had to pull out from the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship after receiving medical advice to undergo corrective eye surgery. We here at Golf Predictor wish Poulter a speedy return to action.

One wonders if he will continue to wear the loud outfits when his eyes get repaired!!

Results By Player Page Updated

We have updated the 'Results By Player' page in the Member section of Golf Predictor (View Options menu) to filter the players by Tour in addition to Season. This was done to bring the page into line with the other pages in the Member section and also to cut down on the amount of data loaded into the player drop down list.

This should make the page load quicker as now only players who played on the selected tour in the selected season are displayed. Previously, all players (from both tours) were displayed, regardless of what tour you may have been solely interested in. We have also modified the results to display the tour as all the golfer's tournaments that season on both tours will be displayed.

2009 - Week 7 Predictions Online

We have published the predictions for week seven of the 2009 season, the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship (European PGA Tour) and the Sony Open (US PGA Tour). Both tours are getting into full swing now, with the first full field event on the US PGA Tour and a quality field in the first Middle Eastern leg of the European PGA Tour.

The list of pre-2004 champions in the Sony Open (Golf Predictor uses the results from the previous 5 years) stretches all the way back to 1986 and includes Ernie Els (2003), Jerry Kelly (2002), Brad Faxon (2001), Paul Azinger (2000), Jeff Sluman (1999), John Huston (1998) and Corey Pavin (1986, 1987). This is only the fourth year of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship so all winners are accounted for in the system.

2009 - Week 6 Winners

The 2009 US PGA Tour season has kicked off with the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii. The annual benefit event (to make the previous season's winners even richer!) was eventually won in a canter by Geoff Ogilvy (ranked 3rd by Golf Predictor). To make it interesting, the Aussie initially let his six shot overnight lead shrink to one before turning on the gas from the 9th. Sparked by an eagle there, Ogilvy went on to reclaim his overnight cushion from runner up Anthony Kim (ranked 9th). As expected, our top statistical pick, Vijay Singh, didn't feature, probably due to injury. However, we also had Justin Leonard and Ernie Els in the top ten.

On the European Tour, Richard Sterne (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) decided to let someone else win a tournament in South Africa for a change. Sterne could only manage 12th place in the Joburg Open as he failed to be the first man since Seve to win three European Tour events in a row. In the end, Anders Hansen (ranked 9th) birdied the par 5 18th to secure the title by a single shot. We also had Charl Schwartzel, Andrew McLardy, and Louis Oosthuizen in the top ten. Retief Goosen finished in some style with a two on the last. By holing out from 216 yards with a three iron, The Goose managed to finish the tournament with one albatross, two eagles and sixteen birdies. That's quite an avian collection!!

Asia Win Royal Trophy

Asia recorded their first win over Europe in the Royal Trophy in Bangkok today. Trailing overnight by 5 points, the Europeans failed to make much inroads into the deficit in the final day singles. The final score was a pretty comfortable 10-6 for the host continent. It might not have been the strongest European team and most of them may have been shaking off the cobwebs, but this was still a great performance by the Asian team.

The European team may have to take on Antarctica to win a team event by the looks of things!

Tiger gets $65k for not Competing in Hawaii?

It has been reported that Tiger Woods is entitled to the last place cheque (US$65,000) at this week's Mercedes Benz Championship in Hawaii. This is due to the fact that he is injured and the event has no cut or alternates and he qualified to play it.

If this is true, it's the best example of "Nice work, if you can get it" that we here at Golf Predictor have ever heard of! Many of us would happily hack a ball around a field for a few days (or a year!) for that kind of dosh, never mind to get it for NOT doing it!

Recession, what recession? Just as well the US PGA locked in sponsors on multi-year deals. If the economy doesn't pick up over the next year or so, big pay cheques will become scarce, even if you have to "earn" them by playing.

Pop Ups Added to Golf Predictor

We are glad to announce the addition of more AJAX technology to Golf Predictor. We have added text pop ups to various pages and collapsible sections to the About Us page. This allows us to reduce the apparent amount of text on the updated pages. It also looks pretty cool!

The text pop ups are marked by green text with a dotted line underneath. The pop up panels and the collapsible sections are also green to keep with the overall look of the site. One of the new pop ups on the Golf Predictor home page lists our subscription rates. This makes Golf Predictor more transparent for prospective members. Previously, one had to register first to find these rates on the Subscription page in the Member section.

Irish Open Finally Gets a Home

After much scrambling from the European PGA Tour and the Irish government, a venue for the 2009 Irish Open has finally been secured. The event will be returning to the County Louth Golf Club at Baltray, a classic links course which hosted the tournament in 2004.

After Adare Manor and Mount Juliet both baulked at holding this year's event, an element of desperation was creeping into the search for a replacement. Even Baltray was considered out of bounds as the Lancome Women's Irish Close was scheduled for the same weekend. However, the ILGU took one for the team and agreed to step aside. Unfortunately, now the ladies have to scramble for a new host course at short notice.

Now that it's been finalised, we've added the Irish Open to Golf Predictor.

Singh Faces Knee Surgery

Golf Predictor has learned that Vijay Singh is to undergo knee surgery after this week's season opening Mercedes Championship. The keyhole procedure will fix his torn meniscus and rule him out of action for four weeks.

According to the man himself, it only hurts when he's walking downhill. Too bad then that the Plantation Course at Kapalua is very hilly. Singh used a golf cart in the pro-am, which doesn't bode well for the tournament. It might be prudent to factor this injury into your betting/fantasy golf selections.

Christmas Competition Results

Thanks to all who entered our little Christmas giveaway. All the winners have received their free month's subscription in time for the start of the new US PGA Tour season.

Stay tuned for more Golf Predictor competitions during the year ahead. You'll have to read the blog posts though as any competitions will be embedded in existing posts, just like the Christmas one. We like to reward our regular readers!

2009 US PGA Tour Fall Series Added to Golf Predictor

Further to our post on 2009 tournaments, we are happy to announce that all the 2009 US PGA Tour events have now been entered into Golf Predictor. The Fall Series on the US PGA Tour has been finalised and unfortunately, the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro has gone the way of the dodo. That removes one of the longest courses used in professional golf from the roster.

There is still outstanding information on some European PGA Tour events. When this data becomes available, we will of course update our system.

Most AJAX Functionality Removed from sIte

Unfortunately, I have had to remove almost all of the AJAX functionality temporarily from Golf Predictor. I noticed that the use of AJAX on the main pages messed up the back button navigation on the site. As this navigation is very important to Golf Predictor usability, I reluctantly had to remove AJAX from the affected pages.

This is a known issue with AJAX but there are solutions available. Unfortunately, due to matters beyond my control, I are unable to implement the solution at this juncture. I hope to be able to rectify this at some point in the near future. In the meantime, we have reverted back to non-AJAX pages, except for the Tournament Locations and Golfers pages.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused, but at least Golf Predictor still has the same great content!

GOLFERS CAN GO DEAF!

The BBC have reported that the latest thin faced titanium drivers can damage a golfer's hearing. The sonic boom off these new clubs can reach 130dB which can cause permanent damage if used regularly (the human pain threshold is about 110dB and 130db is similar to a jet taking off 100 meters away). The experts advocate the use of ear plugs to prevent this from occurring after examining a 55 year old keen golfer with hearing loss.

Golfers playing with the Golf Predictor Guru are more likely to be deafened by the string of expletives that invariably follow every shot!!!

2009 - Week 6 Predictions Online

We have published the predictions for the sixth week of the 2009 golfing season, the Joburg Open (European PGA Tour) and the Mercedes Benz Championship (US PGA Tour). This week marks the first event on the 2009 US PGA Tour and the tournament is restricted to winners from the 2008 season. We here at Golf Predictor are looking forward to the new season getting into full swing on both sides of the Atlantic. As with the two previous weeks on the European Tour, there are a lot of lesser known golfers in the final South African event. Almost 40% of the official entry list are outside the top 1000 in the world (and about 70% outside the top 500), which makes predicting the lower places somewhat challenging! The US tournament is no easier to predict, with 13 of the 33 man field playing in it for the first time and only 6 coming back from last year.

Ernie Els (2003) and Davis Love III (1993) are the two pre-2004 champions in the Mercedes Benz Championship field (Golf Predictor uses the results from the previous 5 years). This is only the third year of the Joburg Open so all winners are accounted for in the system.

European PGA Tour Boasting About Members

The European PGA Tour are crowing on their website about the domination of their members of the top of the world ranking list. While it's true that 39 of the top 50 will be plying their trade on the European tour this season, it's a tad disingenuous of the Tour to claim them all as their own.

An impressive number of the top players on the US PGA Tour have been tempted by the injection of Arab moolah and will compete as full members or affiliates this year. While there is no doubt that the Race to Dubai has boosted the European Tour considerably, openly bragging about it seems to take the lustre off it somewhat.

Daly Banned from US PGA Tour for Six Months

Big John is in the news....again. He has revealed that he has been banned for 6 months from the US PGA Tour for basically bringing it into dispute. The ban stems from the incident last year where Daly was found very "tired and emotional" outside a restaurant in North Carolina and taken into custody to recover.

This is one time Daly is probably glad he isn't a full member of the US tour and reliant on invitations. There was also a timely profession of love for the European Tour which has rather bravely welcomed him into its bosom for the lucrative 2009 season. Let's just hope for John's sake that there are no Hooters restaurants in Europe!!

What did you shoot?

Who said that golf was a sedate sport? Recent reports from Indonesia told of a 17 year old who was hit with a stray bullet while waiting to tee off during a competition. Apparently, the army were getting some target practice in at a nearby range when the young man felt a "burning sensation" in his neck. The sensation turned out to be a bullet as his horrified partners wondered what would happen to the fourball now!

Sounds like more target practice is required and any prospective invaders of Indonesia need not be overly worried about getting hit!