2011 - Week 24 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Saab Wales Open (European PGA Tour) and the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Somewhat interestingly, both locations are former Ryder Cup venues this week. As usual, there's a strong field for Jack's tournament in Ohio, although no Tiger Woods or Rory Sabbatini (who is not suspended!). The field in Wales is not so strong, so the natural order of things has been restored after last week's tournaments!

2011 - Week 23 Winners

Luke Donald (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) won the flagship BMW PGA Championship on the European PGA Tour. The 34 year old Englishman finally ascended to the top of the world rankings and got the win his recent play deserved by defeating main rival Lee Westwood in a play-off. Donald overcame some wayward tee shots over the weekend with excellent scrambling and prevailed at the first extra hole. Westwood was left to rue missing a short birdie putt on the 18th in regulation and putting his third in the water on the same hole in the play-off. Including the top two, we had ten of the top eighteen plus ties (10/23).

Keegan Bradley (ranked 72nd by Golf Predictor) won the HP Byron Nelson Championship on the US PGA Tour. The 24 year old American also persevered in a play-off after his opponent Ryan Palmer also went into the water on the first extra hole. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 6th and we had ten of the top twenty six in total*.




*With 4 players ranked above him who didn't play, Atwal makes the top twenty six in the rankings.

2011 - Week 23 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the BMW PGA Championship (European PGA Tour) and the HP Byron Nelson Championship (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the flagship event on the European Tour this week and this is reflected in the strong field that has assembled to vie for the title. It's not often that the European Tour overshadows its American counterpart, but it helps that most of the top players in the world are members! The HP Byron Nelson Championship has to make do with the world number ten and the new Players champion as headliners!

2011 - Week 22 Predictions/Statistics Updated (MP)

The predictions and statistics for one of the tournaments last week, the Volvo World Match Play Championship (European PGA Tour), have had to be updated on Golf Predictor. Even though I am loathe to do this after a tournament has started, nevermind after it has finished, I just discovered an anomaly in the results entered in the previous week for The Players Championship. Aaron Baddeley's result had been omitted, which meant some of his statistics for the Match Play Championship were not correct (e.g. recent form). Once the anomaly had been corrected, the predictions were re-run to generate his accurate statistics. The only change in the ranking was that the Aussie golfer moved from 12th to 10th, thanks to his good showing at Sawgrass.

The cause of the anomaly has been identified and the system checked for other incidences. None were found and it should not happen again in the future. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

2011 - Week 22 Winners

Michael Hoey (ranked 15th by Golf Predictor) won the Madeira Islands Open BPI on the European PGA Tour. The 32 year old Northern Irish man continued his love affair with Portugal, having picked up his only other tour title there two years ago! In a very difficult event to forecast, our top ranked player, James Morrison, finished in tied 62nd and we had four of the top sixteen plus ties (4/19).

Ian Poulter (ranked 9th by Golf Predictor) won the Volvo World Match Play Championship on the European PGA Tour. The flamboyant Englishman bet his friend and compatriot Luke Donald 2&1 in the final, thus denying Donald the coveted world number one spot. We had 24 of the top 24!!!!!! 

David Toms (ranked 43rd by Golf Predictor) won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial on the US PGA Tour. The 44 year old American put last week's play-off disappointment behind him to secure his first title in five years by one shot from Charlie Wi. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 16th and we had eleven of the top sixteen plus ties (11/30) in total.

2011 - Week 22 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Volvo World Match Play Championship (European PGA Tour), the Madeira Islands Open BPI (European PGA Tour) and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Even though Golf Predictor is designed for stroke play events, the Volvo World Match Play Championship has also been put through our wringer!

The Madeira Islands Open BPI has one of the biggest and weakest fields That I have seen in over three years of Golf Predictor. Out of the 243 provisional entries, only one is in the world top 200 and only just, at number 191! Given that and the promised weather (windy and wet), it's probably going to be a bit of a lottery. 

2011 - Week 21 Winners

Darren Clarke (ranked 10th by Golf Predictor) won the Iberdrola Open on the European PGA Tour. The 42 year old Northern Irish man captured his thirteenth tour title with a great one under par final round of 69 in difficult conditions. Our top ranked player, Thomas Aiken, finished in tied 9th and we had nine of the top seventeen plus ties (9/20).

K.J. Choi (ranked 23rd by Golf Predictor) won The Players Championship on the US PGA Tour. The Korean defeated David Toms at the first extra hole after the American hit a great birdie on the last to force the play-off. However, his putting wasn't as good in extra time as he missed a short putt for par to hand the title to Choi. Our top ranked player, Luke Donald, finished in tied 4th and we had eight of the top nineteen plus ties (8/25) in total*.




*Three of the top 25 ranked players withdrew due to injury.

Prediction Data Page Enhanced - More Best/Worst Finish Statistics

New Historical Best/Worst Finishes (Phil Mickelson- The Masters)

The 'Prediction Data' page for each golfer participating in a tournament has been enhanced with more best/worst finish information. This page is available from any of the prediction options on the "Stats Analysis" menu in the member section of Golf Predictor. As shown on the image* above for Phil Mickelson for The Masters last month, there are new "Best Finish" and "Worst Finish" statistics for each historical statistic (course history/tournament history/similar tournament history and similar weather history**). Previously, these statistics were only available for the season.

Note that withdrawals are excluded from these statistics. Note also that you may have to refresh the page to see the changes. These new fields enhance the historical statistics available for each competing golfer. Just another way to make Golf Predictor even better!

*This image only shows a subset of all the statistics available on the page. The rest have been omitted for the sake of clarity (and quicker image download).

** Similar Weather history panel not shown in screenshot.

Most/Least Consistent Golfers on the 2010 European/US PGA Tours

Using the standard deviation (SD) information in Golf Predictor, it is possible to see who were the most/least consistent performers in the 2010 season on the European/US PGA Tours. Of those who played a full season of events*, it's all change from the same list for the 2009 season. Tiger Woods loses his place in the list entirely, thanks to his poor form, especially at the Quail Hollow Championship and the WGC - Bridgestone Invitational. Steve Stricker takes over the mantle of most consistent golfer of the season in his place. The top five consistent golfers in 2010 were:

#	Name	St Dev	Ave. Pos.	Played
1	Steve Stricker	18.65	20.74	19
2	Gregory Bourdy	19.71	31.39	28
3	Peter Hanson	20.40	25.83	23
4	Michael Campbell	22.56	119.94	20
5	Joost Luiten	23.66	31.00	27

Note that Michael Campbell's season was consistently very bad, which is a shame for a former major winner. At the other end of the scale, the top five most inconsistent golfers in 2010 were:

#	Name	St Dev	Ave. Pos.	Played
1	James Morrison	53.67	76.11	27
2	Brett Rumford	52.48	59.40	22
3	Oliver Fisher	52.23	75.31	26
4	Jarmo Sandelin	49.00	84.82	22
5	Peter Whiteford	47.82	67.64	28

Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

*Only golfers who played at least 15 events are included in this analysis.

Most/Least Consistent Golfers on the 2009 European/US PGA Tours

Using the standard deviation (SD) information in Golf Predictor, it is possible to see who were the most/least consistent performers in the 2009 season on the European/US PGA Tours. Of those who played a full season of events*, Tiger Woods leads the way, albeit not being as consistent as he was in the 2008 season. However, he played many more events in 2009 (19) than he did in injury hit 2008 (7) and couldn't be expected to be as extraordinarily consistent as he was then. The top five consistent golfers in 2009 were:

#	Name	St Dev	Ave. Pos.	Played
1	Tiger Woods	16.54	8.11	19
2	Kenny Perry	20.88	27.54	24
3	Soren Hansen	21.11	28.19	27
4	Luke Donald	21.80	28.00	26
5	Brian Bateman	22.77	95.35	25

Note that Brian Bateman's season was consistently bad! At the other end of the scale, the top five most inconsistent golfers in 2009 were:

#	Name	St Dev	Ave. Pos.	Played
1	Ake Nilsson	54.30	82.10	20
2	Marc Cayeux	52.90	76.57	21
3	J.P. Hayes	48.05	83.00	15
4	Michael Hoey	47.82	74.17	25
5	Marcus Higley	47.78	76.71	17

I hadn't heard of most of them either! Interestingly, all five have roughly the same performance data, with similar average finishing positions and similarly wildly fluctuating results about that average.

Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.


*Only golfers who played at least 15 events are included in this analysis.

2011 - Week 21 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Iberdrola Open (European PGA Tour) and The Players Championship (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. The world number one and the world number six may be snubbing the so called "fifth major", but at least Tiger Woods is back in action after his latest injury. Meanwhile in Europe, Thomas Aiken must fancy himself for a second victory in a row on Spanish soil given the relatively weak field for the event.

2011 - Week 20 Winners

Thomas Aiken (ranked 15th by Golf Predictor) won the Open de Espana on the European PGA Tour. The South African captured his maiden title at the sombre event, with everyone was still coming to terms with the passing of the Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros early on Saturday morning. Our top ranked player, Miguel Angel Jimenez, finished in tied 46th , but can hardly have been expected to perform well under the trying circumstances for Spanish golfers in particular. However, we had ten of the top twenty two plus ties (10/23).

Lucas Glover (ranked 43rd by Golf Predictor) won the Wells Fargo Championship on the US PGA Tour. The 31 year old American secured his first title since the 2009 US Open by defeating good friend Jonathan Byrd in a play-off. Both finished impressively in regulation, especially Byrd who followed a miracle par on 16 with a tricky up and down on 17 and a fantastic birdie on the difficult final hole. However, Byrd wasn't able to repeat the magic on the 18th in the play-off and lost to his former college team mate. Our top ranked player, Phil Mickelson, finished in tied 9th and we had nine of the top twenty four plus ties (9/27) in total.

2010 - Top 5 Easiest Courses/Tournaments on the European PGA Tour

Based on the average score in relation to par in the tournaments hosted on them, these were the 5 easiest courses on the European PGA Tour in the 2010 Season:

1. Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Trophee Hassan II)
2. East London GC (Africa Open)
3. Oceanico Victoria Clube de Golfe (Portugal Masters)
4. Golfclub Munchen Eichenried (BMW International Open)
5. Abu Dhabi Golf Club (Abu Dhabi Golf Championship)

This is almost a completely different list from the 2009 season. The African courses now seem to need to toughen up! You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Lowest Average Round vs Par' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page in the member section of Golf Predictor.

Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

2010 - Top 5 Hardest Courses/Tournaments on the European PGA Tour

Based on the average score in relation to par in the tournaments hosted on them, these were the 5 toughest courses on the European PGA Tour in the 2010 Season:

1. Pebble Beach (US Open)
2. Pula Golf Course (Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca)
3. Club de Golf Valderrrama (Andalucia Valderrrama Masters)
4. Saint Omer GC (Saint Omer Open pres by Neuflize OBC)
5. Wentworth (BMW PGA Championship))

Granted, the weather and relatively weak fields may have played a part in some of these events, but hopefully a useful list all the same. This is a completely different list from last year, except for the US Open, which of course is held on a different course every year. You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Highest Average Round vs Par' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page in the member section of Golf Predictor.

Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

2010 - Top 5 Easiest Courses/Tournaments on the US PGA Tour

Based on the average score in relation to par in the tournaments hosted on them, these were the 5 easiest courses on the US PGA Tour in the 2010 Season:

1. The Plantation Course (SBS Championship)
2. PGA West and sister courses (Bob Hope Classic)
3. MINES Resort & GC (CIMB Asia Pacific Classic Malaysia)
4. TPC Summerlin (Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open)
5. Sedgefield CC (Wyndham Championship)

There are several changes from the 2009 list. The Bob Hope loses its top spot and there are a couple of new entries in the list. You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Lowest Average Round vs Par' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page in the member section of Golf Predictor.

Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

2010 - Top 5 Hardest Courses/Tournaments on the US PGA Tour

Based on the average score in relation to par in the tournaments hosted on them, these were the toughest courses on the US PGA Tour in the 2010 season:

1. Pebble Beach (US Open)
2. PGA National - Champions Course (The Honda Classic)
3. Augusta National (The Masters)
4. Aronimink GC (AT&T National)
5. St. Andrews - The Old Course (British Open)

This list is similar to last year's and as usual, is top heavy with major tournaments. The US Open once again ranked as the toughest event. However, in normal set up, Pebble Beach also ranked as the tenth easiest course for the annual Pro-Am! You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Highest Average Round vs Par' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page in the member section of Golf Predictor.

Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

2010 - Top 5 Shortest Courses on the European PGA Tour

Based on the course information in Golf Predictor, these were the shortest courses on the European PGA Tour in the 2010 season:

1. Killarney Golf & Fishing Club (3 Irish Open) - 6566 yards
2. Hilversumsche GC (KLM Open) - 6634 yards
3. Hong Kong GC (UBS Hong Kong Open) - 6703 yards
4. Golf de Joyenval (Vivendi Cup) - 6729 yards
5. East London GC (Africa Open) - 6770 yards

There is only 1 survivor from the 2009 list. You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Shortest Courses' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page (Euro Tour, 2010 Season) in the member section of Golf Predictor. Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

2010 - Top 5 Longest Courses on the European PGA Tour

Based on the course information in Golf Predictor, these were the longest courses on the European PGA Tour in the 2010 season:

1. The Ritz-Carlton GC at Dove Mountain (WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship) - 7833 yards
2. Earth Course, Jumeirah Golf Estates (Dubai World Championship) - 7758 yards
3. Royal Johannesburg and Kensington GC (Joburg Open) - 7589 yards
4. Whistling Straits (US PGA Championship) - 7514 yards
5. Abu Dhabi GC (Abu Dhabi Golf Championship) - 7510 yards

There are two changes from the 2009 list. You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Longest Courses' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page (Euro Tour, 2010 Season) in the member section of Golf Predictor. Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

2010 - Top 5 Shortest Courses on the US PGA Tour

Based on the course information in Golf Predictor, these were the shortest courses on the US PGA Tour in the 2010 season:

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am/US Open) - 6816 yards*
2. TPC River Highlands (Travelers Championship) - 6820 yards
3. El Camaleon GC (Mayakoba Golf Classic) - 6923 yards
4. Seaside Cource (The McGladrey Classic) - 6945 yards
5. MINES Resort & GC (CIMB Asia Pacific Classic Malaysia) - 6966 yards

There are two changes from the 2009 list. You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Shortest Courses' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page (US Tour, 2010 Season) in the member section of Golf Predictor. Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.


 *Played longer (7040 yds) and to a par of 71 for the US Open.

2010 - Top 5 Longest Courses on the US PGA Tour

Based on the course information in Golf Predictor, these were the longest courses on the US PGA Tour in the 2010 season:

1. The Ritz-Carlton GC at Dove Mountain (WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship), 7833 yards
2. Torrey Pines, South Course (Farmers Insurance Open) - 7569 yards
3. Trump International Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Open) - 7569 yards
4. TPC San Antonio (Valero Texas Open) - 7522 yards
   
5. Walt Disney Word Resort, Magnolia GC (Children's Miracle Network Classic) - 7516 yards

There are two changes from the 2009 list. You can get more detailed information by looking at the 'Longest Courses' chart on the 'View Options/Tourn. Stats' page (US Tour, 2010 Season) in the member section of Golf Predictor. Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

More Enhancements to 'Golfer Details' Page on Golf Predictor

Career Statistics (since 2003) for Lee Westwood

The 'Golfer Details' page in the member section of Golf Predictor (accessible from many pages in the 'View Options' and 'Stats Analysis' menus) has been further enhanced (see information on recent changes here). In addition to a collapsible panel with overall statistics for the golfer in all events since 2003, you can now see similar panels for majors and WGC events.

This is shown above for current world number one, Lee Westwood. To fan the flames of the current ranking system debate, it shows Westwood has not won a WGC event, never mind a major, and has only eight wins on the two major tours since 2003*. Tiger would have called eight wins an average season in his pomp! To be fair to Westwood, the statistics also show the large number of top tens he has achieved (69) since 2003, albeit mostly in regular tour events. Some would say it's all about the wins though. Interestingly enough, his average finish in majors is slightly worse than his overall average, while his average WGC performance is considerably better. Say what you want about Tiger Woods, but the same page for him on Golf Predictor shows a page worthy of a world number one, even if the past eighteen months or so have been relatively barren for the fallen idol.

Note that you may to reload/refresh the page in your browser to see these new statistics. Everyone can view these new statistics panels, so sign up today and see this information and much more on Golf Predictor, the premium professional golf statistics site.


*He has won other events, like the recent Indonesian Masters on the Asian Tour, for example.

2011 - Week 20 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Open de Espana (European PGA Tour) and the Wells Fargo Championship (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. No Tiger Woods at Quail Hollow this week due to his latest injury woes, but a good field nevertheless. The higher ranked Rory McIlroy returns to defend the title he won in spectacular fashion last year. Meanwhile, the European PGA Tour is back in Europe after five tournaments on three other continents!

2011 - Week 19 Winners

Lee Westwood (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) won the Ballantine's Championship on the European PGA Tour. The world number one won for the second week running in Asia, making it a profitable eastern sojourn for the English man (especially when you factor in the rumoured appearance fees!). Including predicting the winner, we had nine of the top thirteen plus ties (9/23).

Bubba Watson (ranked 6th by Golf Predictor) won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the US PGA Tour. The 32 year old American won his second title of the season on the second hole of a play-off with Webb Simpson. The runner-up can count himself unlucky as he was penalised one shot on the 15th after his ball moved in windy conditions as he addressed a short putt. Our top ranked player, Luke Donald finished in tied 8th and we had six of the top thirteen plus ties (6/15) in total.

Table Availability Changed on Golfer Page

The access to the fully sortable tables (all wins/top tens/missed cuts/all results since 2003) on the 'View Golfer Details' page has been changed. This page is primarily accessible from the 'Golfers' page (Member section, 'View Options' menu) on Golf Predictor. Previously, all members could view the tables on this page, some of which were added recently.

However, this has now been changed to allow access to subscribed members only. This was done because these tables are now considered to be a premium feature. So sign up today to get the most out of Golf Predictor, the premier US and European PGA Tour statistics site.