2013 - 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 as usual serving as a final tune-up for the last major of the season, the US PGA Championship next week. The second string event this week in Reno once again has to make do with Padraig Harrington as its biggest name.

2013 - Week 30 Winners

Michael Hoey (ranked 32nd by Golf Predictor) won the M2M Russian Open on the European PGA Tour. The 34 year old Northern Irishman overcame recent ropey form to easily win his fifth tour title. Hoey had surged five shots clear after the third round and kept his composure to close out a four shot victory. Our top ranked player, Gaganjeet Bhullar finished in tied 58th and we had seven of the top seventeen plus ties (7/23) in total. 

Brandt Snedeker (ranked 2nd by Golf Predictor) won the RBC Canadian Open on the US PGA Tour. The 32 year old American won his second tour title of the season, despite not playing his best golf on Sunday. It helped that his nearest challenger, Dustin Johnson, suffered a treble bogey seven on the 17th! When then leader Hunter Mahan withdrew before the third round to attend the birth of his first child, it didn't do Snedeker any harm either. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 2nd and we had eight of the top sixteen plus ties (8/20)*. 




*Mahan's non-finish promoted Charley Hoffman into the top 20 of the GP rankings.

'Round Performance Analysis' Added to Golf Predictor

Part of the Round 3 Performance Analysis page for the 2013 RBC Canadian Open field, showing the pop-up text for Luke Donald

Part of the Round  Performance Analysis page ahead of the 2013 RBC Canadian Open for Luke Donald, showing his performance in similar events depending on his position after round 3. There are similar panels for round 1 and 2 on this page.

 GP video tutorial on this new functionality

I am delighted to announce the addition of a new level of analysis to Golf Predictor. For the week of each tournament, you will now be able to see how golfers have finished in similar tournaments (regular/WGC/major/FedEx) in the previous five years when in certain positions after rounds one to three in those events. The positions analysed are:

1. Leading after the round in question.
2. Positions 2-5 after the round in question i.e. top 5, excluding leading.
3. Positions 6-10 after the round in question i.e. top 10, excluding top 5. 
4. Positions 11-20 after the round in question i.e. top 20, excluding top 10. 
5. Positions 21-40 after the round in question i.e. top 40, excluding top 20.
6. Outside the top 40 after the round in question.

This will help you make decisions about golfers depending on their positions after the same round(s) in the current tournament. I have called this new functionality "Round Performance Analysis" and it will make the task of picking fantasy golf substitutes or making in-play betting picks much easier. Three new options (one for each round) have been added to the Form menu in the Member section for accessing these new stats. Some notes on this new functionality:

1. If there are no similar tournament records for the golfer, all tournaments in the previous five years will be used, if there are any.
2. Only regular 72 hole stroke play events are analysed. However, any such events that are shortened (e.g. due to weather) are included in the analysis.
3. If the golfer misses the second round cut in a similar tournament, that tournament is ignored for round three calculations as there is no round three score to process. However, such events are still displayed in the Results Analysed tournament list.
4. The round performance information for a tournament will be available from when the predictions are generated until when the results for one of the tournaments that week are inputted into the database. This will usually be from Monday evening to Sunday evening (GMT) of the tournament week.

The first screenshot above show the round three performance analysis for the field for the 2013 RBC Canadian Open. It shows the average finishing position for each golfer in each of the above six categories after round three and the number of tournaments that were analysed in each category. Hovering over a golfer first name shows more information as shown above for Luke Donald. Clicking on a golfer name shows the complete round performance analysis (rounds one to three) for the golfer, plus a list of all the tournaments which were analysed. This is shown in the second screen shot above, also for Luke Donald. Similar to before, hovering over the tournament name or finishing position column displays more information, as shown above for his result for the 2013 Players Championship. You may also sort the rank columns (R1R-R3R) to see the tournament results sorted by the golfer's position after the round in question.

Looking at the second screenshot, it can be seen that, for example, Luke Donald does very well as a frontrunner after round three. In the eight similar tournaments in which he lead going into the final day, his average finish is an impressively low 2.25. Sorting the table on the R3R column will show the actual results were 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 7 & 2. His stats when leading after rounds one and two are on the same page and are similarly impressive, which tells us Donald is a hard man to beat after he take the lead. Hopefully, you will be able to spot much more similarly useful information using these new stats.

Eighteen new charts have also been added as part of this new round performance analysis functionality. These charts are available from the Round Performance pages for each round (see first screenshot above) and are comprised of the golfers with the best average finishing position in the above six categories for rounds one to three, that is the.:

1. Golfers in field with best average finishing position when leading after the round in question (rounds 1-3).
2. Golfers in field with best average finishing position when in positions 2-5 after the round in question (rounds 1-3).
3. Golfers in field with best average finishing position when in positions 6-10 after the round in question (rounds 1-3).
4. Golfers in field with best average finishing position when in positions 11-20 after the round in question (rounds 1-3).
5. Golfers in field with best average finishing position when in positions 21-40 after the round in question (rounds 1-3).
6. Golfers in field with best average finishing position when outside the top 40 after the round in question (rounds 1-3).

This brings the total number of charts on the site to 347. This new functionality is a terrific addition to the site and will greatly assist in picking golfers after an event has started. The new round performance analysis functionality is available to all users, although only for the golfers you are permitted to view (all golfers for subscribers, those ranked 11-25 for non-subscribers). However, non-subscribers will only be able to view one of the new charts (golfers in the field with best average finishing position when in positions 21-40 after round one). So, sign up today to get the most out of Golf Predictor, the premier European and US PGA Tour statistics site.

2013 - Week 30 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the M2M Russian Open (European PGA Tour) and the RBC Canadian Open (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. There are no big names in action in the new Russian event this week. Indeed, with only one of the top 150 in the world is taking part and currently only 108 golfers in the entry list, the field strength.for this event is very low. However, there is a pretty strong line up in Ontario, where a lot of combatants from Muirfield are jetted over from Scotland to tee it up.

2013 - Week 29 Winners

Phil Mickelson (ranked 11th by Golf Predictor) won The Open Championship on the European/US PGA Tour. The 43 year old American completed the third leg of a career grand slam with an unbelievable final day performance. Trailing by five coming in to the final day, Mickelson won like a champion with a magnificent 66 (-5) on the tough Muirfield layout. Mickelson finished in style with four birdies in the last six holes to win his fifth major by three shots and banish the demons of Merion. Adam Scott faltered badly on the back nine for the second year running and overnight leader Lee Westwood will rue frittering away his two shot advantage. Our top ranked player, Tiger Woods, once again was not the Tiger of old on the Sunday of a major, finishing in tied 6th place after a lacklustre final round of 74 (+3). Overall, we had eight of the top fifteen plus ties (8/20). 

Woody Austin (ranked 52nd by Golf Predictor) won the Sanderson Farms Championship on the US PGA Tour. The 49 year old American won his fourth tour title in a play-off with Cameron Beckman and Daniel Summerhays. Beckman and Summerhays both birdied the par five final hole to force a play-off, but Austin was not to be denied his first title in six years. Our top ranked player, Brendon de Jonge, finished in tied 46th and we had eleven of the top seventeen plus ties (11/25)*. 


*When non-finishers and non-starters are taken into account.

2013 - Week 29 Predictions/Statistics Updated (Open Championship)

The predictions for the Open Championship(European/US PGA Tour) have been updated on Golf Predictor. This was done due to an updated weather forecast of somewhat higher winds since the forecast on Monday. Given the import of the tournament, I decided to re-run the predictions engine at this unusually late juncture. In any event, the overall rankings haven't changed very much as the GP Score for each golfer has been amended by a small amount. However, the similar weather panel on prediction pages for each golfer may be considerably different.

Note that you may have to reload any pages for this tournament that you have already viewed to see the updated data.

2013 - Week 29 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, The Open Championship (European/US PGA Tour) and the Sanderson Farms Championship (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 Muirfield this year. Interestingly, Ernie Els is the defending champion in two ways: he won both last year and also the last time it was played at Muirfield in 2002!

Meanwhile, as usual a second string line up will be battling it out in Mississippi, where the weather is once again promised wet. Only three out of the world's top one hundred will be playing in the event which is sporting yet another new name! Unusually for this part of the world (the British Isles), the weather should be good in Scotland though!

2013 - Week 28 Winners

Phil Mickelson (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) won the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on the European PGA Tour. The popular 43 year old American won his first European Tour event on European soil the hard way. Despite three putting the last in regulation to fall into a play-off with Branden Grace, Mickelson made no mistake on the same hole in the play-off, sealing the title with an impressive birdie. After three days of benign weather, the castle Stuart links showed its teeth on Sunday and will sure to be excellent preparation for next week's Open Championship. Including the winner, we had six of the top seventeen plus ties (6/23).  

Jason Spieth (ranked 22nd by Golf Predictor) won the John Deere Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 19 year old American became the first teenage tour winner since 1931 by beating Zach Johnson and David Hearn on the fifth extra hole. It looked like it was going to be Spieth's day when he holed out from the bunker on the last in regulation for an unlikely birdie. However, he still needed some help from defending champion Johnson, who bogeyed the same hole to fall into the play-off. Our top ranked player, Steve Stricker, finished in tied 10th and we had six of the top twenty-two plus ties (6/26). 

2013 - 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 Open Championship and the Scottish Open is being held once again on a links course, not many big names are competing this week. Phil Mickelson is the only one of top ten in the world is in action, but defending Open champion Ernie Els is also teeing it up at Castle Stuart. Meanwhile, as usual, three time winner Steve Stricker headlines the PGA Tour event in Illinois.

2013 - Week 27 Winners

Graeme McDowell (ranked 4th by Golf Predictor) won the Alstom Open de France on the European PGA Tour. The 33 year old Northern Irish man won his ninth tour title by four shots on the testing Le Golf National layout. In securing his third title of the season, McDowell extended his unusual streak of either winning or missing the cut to a remarkable eight events. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 49th place and we had five of the top thirteen plus ties (5/17) in total.

Jonas Blixt (ranked 42nd by Golf Predictor) won the Greenbrier Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 29 year old Swede overcame poor form to win his second tour title at the rain delayed event. Despite having no top tens this season, Blixt prevailed when third round leader Johnson Wagner faltered on the back nine. Like last year, most of the big names failed to perform, leaving us with only four of the top seventeen plus ties (4/22)*.


*Hanson withdrew, promoting Lingmerth to the top 22 in the rankings.

2013 - 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. There are four of the world's top twenty playing on both sides of the pond this week and Americans headline each event. Phil Mickelson is probably the biggest draw in West Virginia, while Matt Kuchar has made the trip across to Paris. I'm sure the ever smiling Kuchar will be more tolerant of phone/camera toting fans than his compatriot Bubba Watson was!!