2012 - Week 18 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Reale Seguros Open de Espana (European PGA Tour) and the Wells Fargo Championship (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Tiger Woods is back in action at Quail Hollow this week and no doubt he'll be looking to play better than his last outing there in 2010 (rare missed cut, finishing T140th on +9). Rory McIlroy will also hope to do better than his last outing here last year (missed cut, finishing T113th) and reclaim the top spot in the ranking (yet again!) from Luke Donald. Meanwhile, the European PGA Tour is back in Europe after four tournaments in the Far East and North America!

2012 - Week 17 Winners

Bernd Wiesberger (ranked 53rd* by Golf Predictor) won the Ballantine's Championship on the European PGA Tour. The 26 year old coasted to his maiden tour title with an impressive bogey free display over the final three days (59 holes to be exact!). Our top ranked player, Adam Scott, finished in tied 12th and we had eleven of the top fifteen plus ties (11/19).
 
Jason Dufner (ranked 5th by Golf Predictor) won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the US PGA Tour. The 35 year old American finally won his maiden tour title on the second hole of a play-off with Ernie Els. That should help defray the cost of his nuptials next week! Our top ranked player, Luke Donald, finished in third to reclaim the top spot in the world from Rory McIlroy. Overall, we had eight of the top eighteen plus ties (8/23) in total.




*See this post for information on a WR naming problem with the winner.

Bernd Wiesberger's Prediction Record Updated on Golf Predictor

On processing Bernd Wiesberger's impressive maiden victory in the Ballantine's Championship, I noticed he had an infeasibly low ranking (146) on Golf Predictor. On investigation, it turned out he was in most (but not all!) of the world ranking lists as "Bernard Wiesberger" and thus was not being matched in the system. This meant he was given the default world ranking of 1050 in such cases and thus was not being ranked correctly in some tournaments.

This happens occasionally on Golf Predictor where name variations (especially from the same source) are the bane of my life! Usually, they are caught much sooner in a golfer's career and this is the first time it has happened with a tournament winner. I have updated the 2012 Ballantine's Championship prediction for Berd Wiesberger and his correct ranking was 83. I will endeavour to update Wiesberger's other affected prediction records in the near future and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

2012 - Week 17 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Ballantine's Championship (European PGA Tour) and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. The US Tour are boasting that there are 12 major champions teeing it up in New Orleans this week. Among them is the newest entrant in to that exclusive group, Bubba Watson, who is the defending champion and playing for the first time since Augusta. Not such an exclusive field in Korea, but at least they have local hero and Tiger slayer Y.E. Yang and current British Open champion Darren Clarke to cheer on!

2012 - Week 16 Winners

Branden Grace (ranked 24th by Golf Predictor) won the Volvo China Open on the European PGA Tour. The 23 year old South African equalled Johan Edfors record of winning three times in his first season after Qualifying School by easily holding off defending champion Nicolas Colsaerts in the final round. Our top ranked player, Ian Poulter, finished in tied 29th, but we had eight of the top eighteen plus ties (8/22).

Ben Curtis (ranked 68th by Golf Predictor) won the Valero Texas Open on the US PGA Tour. The 34 year old American secured his first US PGA Tour title since 2006 by holding off Matt Every and rookie John Huh by two shots. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 13th and we had nine of the top eighteen one plus ties (9/23) in total.

Update and New Charts for 'Tournament Winners' Page

WR Distribution for all winners on the 2009 European PGA Tour

The 'Tournament Winners' page has been updated on Golf Predictor. The world ranking (WR) column has been made sortable (by clicking on the column header) and two new charts have been added to the page. You can now see the breakdown of the WR of the season winners on the European PGA Tour and the US PGA Tour. As shown above for the 2011 European PGA Tour season, these handy new charts show at a glance the most common WR of golfers who won a tournament in a given season. These charts are similar to the Field Strength chart on the main prediction page, which shows the field WR breakdown and uses different category divisions.

The page with these new charts also displays the average, standard deviation, highest and lowest* WR of the season winner above the chart, as shown in the screenshot. As usual, hovering over a bar shows more information, as displayed for the 101-150 category above. These new charts are only available from the 2009 season onwards, because this was our first full season and WR information is only available on Golf Predictor for tournaments we have predicted.

These two new charts bring the total number of charts on the site to 312. These breakdown charts are a premium feature and thus only available to subscribers. So, sign up today to get the most out of Golf Predictor, the premier US and European PGA Tour statistics site.


*2009 was the year then amateur Shane Lowry won the Irish Open, thus the default 1050 WR as shown above.

2012 - Week 16 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions for this week, the Valero Texas Open (US PGA Tour) and the Volvo China Open (European PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's another different course for the Chinese event this year as the golfers tee it up on the long Binhai Lake GC in Tianjin, a large city in the north east of the country. The Texas tournament stays put in San Antonio where Matt Kuchar is headlining the field.

2012 - Week 15 Winners

Louis Oosthuizen (ranked 2nd by Golf Predictor) won the Maybank Malaysian Open on the European PGA Tour. The 29 year old South African built on his third and second place finishes in the last two weeks to to claim his fifth tour title by three shots. The fact that he put last week's Masters disappointment so quickly behind him and conquered jet-lag made this victory even more impressive. Our top ranked player, Martin Kaymer, finished in tied 7th and we had eleven of the top twenty plus ties (11/23).

Carl Pettersson (ranked 25th by Golf Predictor) won the RBC Heritage on the US PGA Tour. The 34 year old Swede won his fifth tour title with an assured final day performance on the testing Hilton Head layout. Our top ranked player, Luke Donald, finished in tied 37th and lost his top spot in the world rankings to Rory McIlroy again. Overall, we had ten of the top twenty four plus ties (10/28) in total.

New Stats Added to 'Tournament Statistics (Rounds)' Page

Renamed panel with new stats for the 2012 US PGA Tour (to The Masters)

As above, but showing pop-up text for lowest round four so far this season

The statistics panel 'Tournament Statistics (Rounds)' page has been relocated, renamed and enhanced on Golf Predictor. As seen on the screenshots above for the 2012 US PGA Tour to The Masters, the panel now includes the number of rounds played, the lowest and the highest scores for rounds one to four played on a given tour in a given season. Because of these new stats, the panel has been renamed from "Season Averages" to "Season Round Statistics". It has also been relocated from below the round averages by tournament table/charts to above it. Hovering over a lowest or highest round value will display a handy pop-up table showing the golfer(s) and details of the tournament that he(they) achieved the score in. This is shown in the second screenshot above for low round four score for this season so far on the US PGA Tour. Some notes on these new changes:

1. The number of first rounds differs from the number of second rounds due to player withdrawals. 
2. Similarly, the number of fourth rounds differs from number of third rounds for the same reason and also due to weather shortened events.
3. The pop-up table shown in the second screenshot above does not have borders on Internet Explorer  (IE). This is due to what appears to be a rendering bug which made the table borders (but not the data!) visible on initial loading of the page. After wasting a considerable period of time on this, the easiest solution was to hide the lines on IE!

The final change to this panel is that it is now only available to subscribers. So, sign up today to get the most out of Golf Predictor, the premier US and European PGA Tour statistics site.

2012 - Week 15 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions for this week, the Maybank Malaysian Open (European PGA Tour) and the RBC Heritage (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's back to the usual grind after the excitement of Augusta. Masters runner up Louis Oosthuizen is teeing it up in steamy Malaysia, so hopefully he can put last week's disappointment behind him. He's joined by two fellow major champions, Martin Kaymer and Charl  Schwartzel, as headliners in the event. There are several major winners in South Carolina this week also, but the biggest draw is the world number one Luke Donald.

2012 - Week 14 Winner

Bubba Watson (ranked 10th by Golf Predictor) won the first major of the year, The Masters (European/US PGA Tour). The 33 year old American won his maiden major with a brilliant hooked wedge from the trees on the second hole of a play-off with Louis Oosthuizen. The South African had earlier created history with the first ever albatross on the second hole in Masters history (and the fourth overall), but was unable to fully capitalise on that 260 yard wonder shot. He was reeled in by Watson in regulation with four straight birdies from the 13th and it was the tearful American who eventually donned the famous green jacket. Our top ranked player, Rory McIlroy, faded very badly over the weekend to finish in tied 40th with an equally unimpressive Tiger Woods. Overall, we had nine of the top seventeen four plus ties (9/18)*.


* Jason Day withdrew, promoting Graeme McDowell into the top 18 of the rankings.

New Stats and 6 New Charts Added to 'Golfer Details' Page

Career performance data for Rory McIlroy with new Regular Tournament & FedEx Cup panels & new chart links in all five panels & by section title.

Chart of Rory McIlroy's career performance to date (click to enlarge)

Breakdown of Rory McIlroy's career performance to date (click to enlarge)

I am happy to announce the addition of two new performance panels and six new pop-up charts to the 'Golfer Details' page on Golf Predictor. These two new panels add the golfer in question's performance in regular and FedEx tournaments since 2003 to the existing panels for overall, major tournament and WGC performance. These panels can be seen in the first screenshot above for Rory McIlroy. This screenshot also shows the six new chart links on this page, one in each performance panel beside the 'Tournaments Played' metric and one by the 'Statistics (since 2003)' section title

The five new pie charts accessible from the performance panels are similar to the new charts on the 'Prediction Data' page and show the performance breakdown (wins/other top tens/missed cuts/non-finishes/finishes) for the golfer in the following:

1. All tournaments since 2003
2. All regular tournaments since 2003
3. All major tournaments since 2003
4. All WGC tournaments since 2003
5. All FedEx Cup tournaments since 2003

The second screenshot above shows the new pop-up chart for McIlroy's performance in all tournaments since 2003. This chart shows graphically his impressive performance in that period, finishing in the top ten over 40% of the time (when wins are included). The sixth new chart is accessible from the section title and is a stacked chart showing the breakdown of career performance by tournament type. As shown in the third screenshot above for Rory McIlroy, you can see the overall career, regular tournament, major tournament, WGC tournament and FedEx Cup tournament performance graphically side by side. This allows you to see at a glance what type of event a golfer plays better at.Some notes on the new charts:

1. In the performance statistics on the Prediction Data page, wins are also counted as top tens (which they are!). However, it made sense to separate wins and top tens for charting purposes.
2. Zero values are excluded from the five pie charts for legibility. This because the charting technology used in Golf Predictor tends to put the zero labels right on top of each other! The zero values are noted above the chart instead.This is shown in the second screenshot above for non-finishes.
3. As usual, hovering over a pie slice/bar segment shows more information, as shown in the second and third screenshots above.

These six new charts bring the total number of charts on the site to 310. The five new pie charts are available to all users, but the stacked performance breakdown chart is a premium feature and thus only available to subscribers. So, sign up today to get the most out of Golf Predictor, the premier US and European PGA Tour statistics site.

2012 - Week 14 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, The Masters (European/US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Only one tournament this week, but it's the big one! It's that time of the year again and excitement is mounting among golf fans ahead of the first major of the season at Augusta. With the re-emergence of one Tiger Woods and the good recent performances of the likes of Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Hunter Mahan, it promises to be an exciting week's golf. Of course, you can't rule out Phil Mickelson or big hitters like Dustin Johnson either. Let battle commence!

2012 - Week 13 Winners

Thorbjorn Olesen (ranked 11th by Golf Predictor) won the Sicilian Open on the European PGA Tour. The 22 year old Dane held off a gallant final day charge from Chris Wood (64, -8) to win his maiden tour title. Our top ranked player, Matteo Manassero, added to his Masters disappointment by missing the cut on home soil. However, we had eleven of the top nineteen plus ties (11/26).

Hunter Mahan (ranked 3rd by Golf Predictor) won the Shell Houston Open on the US PGA Tour. The 29 year old American secured his second win of the season with an assured display on the back nine. As the new top ranked American in the world rankings, he must be confident ahead of the first major of the season, The Masters, which starts next Thursday. Our top ranked player, Lee Westwood, finished in tied 21st, but we had seven of the top eighteen plus ties (7/20).