2012 - Week 31 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the WGC - Bridgestone Invitational (European/US PGA Tour) and the Reno-Tahoe Open (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the first of two weeks of big tournaments in the US this week with the WGC event serving as usual  as a final tune-up for the final major of the season, the US PGA Championship next week. The second string event this week in Reno unusually has Padraig Harrington in the field, who has to do his tuning up there because of his fall down the rankings.

2012 - Week 30 Winners

Bernd Wiesberger (ranked 4th by Golf Predictor) won the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity on the European PGA Tour. The 26 year old local favourite delighted the home fans by winning his second tour title with a great final day charge. Wiesberger closed with a seven under par 65 to sweep to a three shot victory. Our top ranked player, Pablo Larrazabal, finished in tied 10th and we had eleven of the top eighteen plus ties (11/25) in total*. 

Scott Piercy (ranked 19th by Golf Predictor) won the RBC Canadian Open on the US PGA Tour. The 33 year old American won his second tour title after his two nearest challengers, William McGirt and Robert Garrigus, both missed putts on the final green to force a play-off. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 34th and we had twelve of the top nineteen plus ties (12/27)**. 


*Non-finishes promote Aguilar into the top 25 of the rankings.
**Non-finishes promote Cameron Tringale into the top 27 of the rankings.

Thorbjorn Olesen's Prediction Records Fixed on Golf Predictor

Similar to the problem with Bernd Wiesberger, there was an issue with Thorbjorn Olesen's* world rankings on Golf Predictor. I noticed that long time leader in Austria had an infeasibly low ranking for the event. Upon investigation, it turns out that he is also known as Jacob Olesen (apparently interchangeably) on my world ranking data source, This meant his correct world ranking was not getting picked up when he was in the world ranking data as "Jacob", which included this week's event. The 41 tournaments that he played in that were affected by this naming issue have now all been updated. This means that in addition to all his statistics being updated for those tournaments, the GP rankings for all these events have been retrospectively updated with him in his correct position. Unfortunately with many thousands of golfers, many of whom known by one or more variants of their name, this happens occasionally.

For this week's event, this promotes him to second place (from somewhere in the 70s as I recall!), which was his true rank. Apologies for the late adjustment for this week's tournament. I would have noticed earlier, had I been able to tip this event. However, the unexpected Wednesday start and travel early in the week caused me to miss out this week.

Chart Icon Change

Snippet of Prediction page showing new pie and line chart icons

Snippet of Tournament page showing new bar chat icon

Snippet of Compare Form page showing new stacked bar chat icon

The chart icon used on Golf Predictor data pages has been changed. While before a single line chart icon was used for every type of chart, now there are separate icons for line, pie, bar and stacked bar charts. The screenshots above show these new icons on the various data pages. This improves things slightly by indicating the chart type you can expect by clicking on a particular icon. It will also make it much easier in the future to have chart icons side by side where the chart types are different. Just another way to make Golf Predictor a little better!

Sung-Hoon Kang Prediction Records Fixed on Golf Predictor

Similar to the problem with Bernd Wiesberger, there was an issue with Korean golfer Sung-Hoon Kang's* world rankings on Golf Predictor. The seven tournaments that he played in that were affected by this naming issue have all been updated. This means that in addition to all his statistics being updated for those tournaments, the GP rankings for all these events have been retrospectively updated with Kang in his correct position.

*Also known as Sung Kang these days on the US PGA Tour!

2012 - Week 30 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity (European PGA Tour) and the RBC Canadian Open (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Not many big names in action in Austria this week after The Open Championship. However, there is a pretty strong line up in Ontario, where newly crowned Champion Golfer of the Year, Ernie Els, is due to tee it up, assuming the celebrations have not got out of control!

2012 - Week 29 Winners

Ernie Els (ranked 30th by Golf Predictor) won The Open Championship on the European/US PGA Tour. The 42 year old South African crowned his recent return to form with a fourth major title after long time leader Adam Scott faltered badly on the back nine. In contrast, Els finished in style, covering the difficult closing nine holes in 32 shots, including a birdie at the last. Our top ranked player, Lee Westwood, suffered yet more major disappointment, finishing in tied 45th place. Overall, we had seven of the top nine plus ties (7/18). 

Scott Stallings (ranked 26th by Golf Predictor) won the True South Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 27 year old American won his second tour title by two shots, turning around his poor recent form to set a tournament scoring record of 264 (-24). Our top ranked player, Brendon de Jonge, finished in tied 31st and in an event with a lot of late withdrawals, we had six of the top eighteen plus ties (6/20)*. 

*When non-starters are excluded from the rankings. 

2012 - Week 29 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, The Open Championship (European/US PGA Tour) and the True South Classic (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. The excitement is mounting this side of the pond for the most venerable major of them all, which returns to Royal Lytham St. Annes this year. Meanwhile, as usual a second string line up will be battling it out for the True South Classic in Mississippi. The weather is promised wet for both tournaments, but those in Lancashire are promised to have cold and windy conditions to contend with as well!

2012 - Week 28 Winners

Jeev Milkha Singh (ranked 34th by Golf Predictor) won the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on the European PGA Tour. The 40 year old Indian finished early and waited while several players did their best not to surpass him. Eventually, Francesco Molinari holed a clutch par putt on the final hole to force a play-off after both ended on -17. However, Singh was not to be denied and he won with a birdie on the first extra hole to win his fourth tour title. Our top ranked player, defending champion, Luke Donald, finished in tied 16th place and in an event where a lot of the bigger names didn't perform, we had six of the top sixteen plus ties (6/23).  

Zach Johnson (ranked 2nd by Golf Predictor) won the John Deere Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 36 year old American also needed a play-off, beating Troy Matteson on the second extra hole. Local favourite Johnson won with a brilliant approach from a fairway bunker to less than a foot to pip the long time leader. Our top ranked player, defending champion, Steve Stricker, just came up short in his effort to win the event four times in a row, finishing in tied 5th and we had eleven of the top nineteen plus ties (11/24)*. 

*Due to withdrawals, Rory Sabbatini make the top 24 in our rankings.

'Field Rankings' Page Enhanced on Golf Predictor

Enhanced Field Rank Page with new Metrics

I am happy to announce the addition of further metrics to the field rankings page added recently to Golf Predictor. In addition to those announced on the launch of the page, the following nine metrics are now also available:

1. Season Round 1 Average
2. Season Round 2 Average
3. Season Round 3 Average
4. Season Final Round Average
5. Same Course Round 1 Average
6. Same Tournament Round 1 Average
7. Last 12 Similar Events Round 1 Average
8. Cut Streak
9. Winless Streak

The new metrics are shown in the screenshot above, which shows the season round one average ahead of the 2012 Greenbrier Classic. These nine new metrics give a grand total of fifteen available from the metrics drop down list. Like the previously available metrics, these new ones have two charts:

1. The overall GP ranking chart, which is the same for all metrics. 
2. The chart showing the best in the field for the relevant metric (e.g. best season round one average)

Again, these charts were already available on other pages on Golf Predictor. However, for this new page they appear conveniently in modal pop-up dialogue boxes over the underlying page. Some notes on this new additions:

1. You may have to reload your current Golf Predictor page to see these new metrics in the dropdown list.
2. Golf Predictor results go back to the start of the 2003 season. Keep this in mind if you are perusing old tournaments on this page.
3. For each of the round metrics, the average and number of rounds played are displayed. For streaks, the streak length and average points are shown.
4. Like before, the world ranking is displayed in the pop-up box when you hover over a golfer name.
5. Players with no relevant statistics are omitted from the results. 
6. The results for the winless streak may show players who have played a small number of tournaments. However, the accompanying chart only shows streaks for previous winners (since 2003).

Like the existing metrics, non-subscribers can only see the statistics for the golfers ranked 11-25* in each category and just the round two average chart. Therefore, sign up today and reap the full benefits of Golf Predictor, the premium professional golf statistics site.


*Ties may change the exact number and ranks of golfers shown to non-subscribers.

2012 - Week 28 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the John Deere Classic (US PGA Tour) and the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open (European PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Although it's the final week before the British Open and the Scottish Open is being held once again on a links course, not many big names are competing this week. Only one of top ten in the world is in action and that is world number one Luke Donald, who is defending his title in in Scotland. Meanwhile, three time winner, Steve Stricker, headlines the PGA Tour event in Illinois.

2012 - Week 27 Winners

Marcel Siem (ranked 14th by Golf Predictor) won the Alstom Open de France on the European PGA Tour. The 32 year old German gave himself an early birthday present by winning his second tour title, holding off a charging Francesco Molinari in the process. Our top ranked player, Lee Westwood, finished in 40th place but we had nine of the top seventeen plus ties in total (9/22).

Ted Potter Jr (ranked 127th by Golf Predictor) won the Greenbrier Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 28 year old American became the sixth rookie winner of the season when he birdied the first play-off hole against fellow journeyman Troy Kelly (133, 33. Our top ranked player, Tiger Woods, followed up last week's win by missing the cut. He wasn't the only big name to disappoint as a host of them failed to perform, leaving us with five of the top seventeen plus ties (5/21).

Alstom Open de France Predictions for Past 3 years Re-run

The predictions for the Alstom Open de France (European PGA Tour) for the past three years have been updated on Golf Predictor. This had to be done as there was a misspelling in the tournament name in the system for these years.This meant that the tournament history data was incorrect for some golfers. The course history was generated correctly and since this tournament is always held on the same course, the prediction rankings were unaffected. The system has been corrected and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Note that you may have to reload any pages for any of these tournaments that you have already viewed to see the updated data.

Do-Kyu Park Prediction Records Fixed on Golf Predictor

Similar to the problem with Bernd Wiesberger, there was an issue with Korean golfer Do-Kyu Park's world rankings on Golf Predictor. The five tournaments that he played in that were affected by this naming issue have all been updated. This means that in addition to all his statistics being updated for those tournaments, the GP rankings for all these events have been retrospectively updated with Park in his correct position.

2012 - Week 27 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Alstom Open de France (European PGA Tour) and the Greenbrier Classic (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Lee Westwood headlines the European PGA Tour event and if he wants to keep his position in the world rankings from Tiger Woods, he better perform. The newly crowned triple 2012 champion on the US PGA Tour is unusually playing two regular events in a row and is closing in fast on Westwood's third place in the rankings!

2012 - Week 26 Winners

Jamie Donaldson (ranked 15th by Golf Predictor) won the Irish Open on the European PGA Tour. The 36 year old Welshman finally won his maiden tour title at his 255th attempt at Royal Portrush. In the hugely successful event, Donaldson won in some style, finishing with a 66 (-6) to win by four shots in front of a huge crowd. Our top ranked player, Rory McIlroy, rallied on Sunday to finish in tied 10th and we had eight of the top sixteen plus ties (8/17) in total. 


Tiger Woods (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) won the AT&T National on the US PGA Tour. The 36 year old American continued his latest comeback with his third title of the season after a final round battle with Bo Van Pelt. This latest win also sees Woods overtake Jack Nicklaus on the all-time winners list with his 74th PGA Tour career victory. Including the winner, we had an impressive ten of the top fifteen plus ties in total (10/16).