2013 - Week 35 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the ISPS Handa Wales Open (European PGA Tour) and the Deutsche Bank Championship (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. The top twenty seven in the world are playing in Boston this week which is impressive, even if Tiger Woods has to pull out. Consequently, the field in Wales is not very strong, as is usually the case. However, as it marks the beginning of the 2014 European Ryder Cup qualification process. a lot of the lesser lights will be looking to take advantage and jump start their bid for a place on the team.

2013 - Week 34 Winners

Tommy Fleetwood  (ranked 39th by Golf Predictor) won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on the European PGA Tour. The 22 year old Englishman built on his recent promise by landing his maiden title in a play-off. Fleetwood prevailed at the first extra hole after finishing tied with Ricardo Gonzales and Stephan Gallacher, who both had calamities in their final round. Our top ranked player, Francesco Molinari, finished in tied 42nd and we had nine of the top seventeen plus ties (9/22) in total. 

Adam Scott (ranked 3rd by Golf Predictor) won The Barclays on the US PGA Tour. The 33 year old Australian's season just got even better with victory in the first FedEx Cup play-off event. Mind you, Scott got a lot of help from the field which seemed to go out of its way to drop shots after he posted his winning score. Our top ranked player, Tiger Woods, finished in tied second and did battle back from a bad back spasm to come within an inch of forcing a play-off. Overall, we had nine of the top nineteen plus ties (9/24).

Why I got rid of my New Bookmaker (William Hill)

Recently, I waxed lyrical about my new my new bookmaker (William Hill). Unfortunately, the love affair hasn't lasted very long! As I wrote a post promoting William Hill, I couldn't in good conscience fail to update you all with my less than satisfactory experience with them this past week or so.

Things went swimmingly well in the first week, when I lost my bet! However, that changed when I won a dead heat place last Sunday with the free matched bet that I received for signing up. I had €10 each way on Zach Johnson at 16/1 for the Wyndham Championship and I was happy to see that he ended up in a three way tie for 5th (the last of the places that my former new bookie was paying out on). However, my happiness was dispelled pretty quickly when I checked my account the following day and found it credited with a paltry €6.67. Even if this was won with a free bet, which doesn't return the original stake (somewhat tight, but fair enough as they say it up front), it was half of the approximately €13.34 that I was expecting.

Now, I've won on dead heats with my other bookie and they calculate the return by dividing the initial stake by the number of dead heat finishers and applying the full odds to that. In this case it would be:

((10/3)*4/1)+ 10/3 = €16.67

where 4/1 is a quarter of the odds for the place and the second 10/3 is my initial (dead heat adjusted) stake returned. This of course reduces their payouts by reducing the amount of your original stake that they have to return. This seems to be the industry standard and is in the dead heat betting rules for William Hill also. I've checked this on a popular golf betting forum, where knowledgeable contributors backed up my understanding. So far so good.

However, despite their own dead heat betting rules which clearly state they do the same, William Hill has calculated the win as:

 ((10* 4/1)+10)/3 = €16.67

which is the same as before, but it retains the original stake of €10. As this was won with a free bet, they deduct the entire €10 stake from the winnings to leave €6.67. Using the dead heat rule as I understand it and the first calculation above, I should have lost €3.33 from the €16.67, leaving €13.34. As I could not see anything which altered the dead heat rule for free bets, I was perplexed by this payout. This led me to contact them for an explanation, which was an extremely frustrating experience, to say the least.

First I live chatted with a couple of customer service agents and then I had an increasingly frustrating and almost comical lengthy email exchange (see below for transcript) with the various agents manning the support email line, where they consistently avoided my questions/points and stuck religiously to a stock answer (that was obviously at odds with their own rules). It was clear to me that they were ignorant of the dead heat rule and the correct calculation and steadfastly opposed to countenancing a possible error in their system or admitting to a deliberate miscalculation.

Clearly, this isn't about the small amount money, but the principle! Anyone can make a mistake and if they investigated it properly, said there was an error in their systems and apologised, all would have been perfectly fine. Ditto if they gave me a valid reason for retaining the entire €10 stake from the winnings. Instead, the customer service seemed clueless and operate with a set series of useless replies that were obviously designed merely to clear support calls (see transcript below). Instead of finding out if could there be an error, they repeatedly provided useless information, such as the rules for horse racing betting. They even give me a bet calculator link that I had already used (and quoted in a previous mail) to prove my own point. In all my years, I have never seen such useless customer service.

Assuming I am correct, either there is an error in their systems and their customer service is woefully incompetent or they wilfully adjusted the formula to minimise the payout. I can not in good faith recommend William Hill in either case (especially the latter) and I would urge you to take your on-line business elsewhere. 

Even if I turn out to be completely wrong, I can not be a customer of a company that supports paying customers so poorly. I'm sticking with my original bookmaker for the time being. Their prices may not as good sometimes, but their customer service is excellent and they have never pulled a stroke like this in the two years I have been with them.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slightly edited (mainly for typos) transcript of most of my electronic correspondence with what passes for Customer Support in William Hill. Their contributions are in red and my increasingly frustrated replies are in green:

(Please read from the bottom up. I gave up after this final mail (which I asked them not to send!), which once again missed the point completely, confused the issue further and referred me yet again to horse racing betting rules).

Hi Aidan,

Thank you for your e-mail and we apologize for the delay.

Upon checking your account, we have checked your transaction details as requested and note that it has been settled correctly with returns of £6.67 credited to your account.

Your selection Zach Johnson was involved in a dead heat with Matt Every for the Wyndham Championship. In the event of a dead heat your stake is divided by the number of selections involved in this case your stake is £20.00, so your wager becomes £20 with the odds of 16/1 unfortunately your tied with Matt
Every and you used a free bet of £20 (free bets are not paid out in the total winnings) thus returning you a total of £6.67.

For a better review of our free bets and horse racing rules kindly click on the links below:
https://williamhill-lang.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5652/session/L3RpbWUvMTM3NzIyNDA3OC9zaWQvV3FBQTZzeWw%3D/#4
https://williamhill-lang.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8339/kw/horse%20racing%20rules

We hope this answers your query. If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

With regards,

Al

Customer Services
William Hill Online

Thank you one again for outdoing your usual useless response.

Once again you have completely ignored my point with a stock answer that
appears to be blatantly wrong. Thank you for adding further confusion to
the mix though by finally acknowledging the "unit stake" of 3.33. By your
comment, this is applied to the bet apparently, but not to the original
stake returned which is magically back up to the original stake (10).
Conveniently for you, you don't have to return this as it's the free bet
component.

Please do not reply to this email as you are just infuriating me.

--
Rgds,

Aidan

On 21 August 2013 18:10, support@willhill.com wrote:

Hi Aidan,

Thank you for your email.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. Please be informed that the Dead Heat rules was applied to your bet, and this was settled correctly. This was already explained to you on the previous email that you have received.

Here is the guide on how to calculate your bet:
Please select single each way. Please note that your unit stake should be
10 only as it is divided into 2 for place part and win part.
Please enter placed as the status of the bet at 16/1 odds to 1/4 place.
After you enter calculate, the returns total returns is £50.00
£50.00 divided by the number of winning selections for placed 5th which is
3 = £16.67
£16.67 minus the stake = £6.67

Your unit stake will only be 3.33 since only 1/3 of the unit stake will be calculated due to the Dead Heat on Place 5. You may use the below free bet calculator to calculate your returns:

http://www.free-bet-calculator.co.uk/

We hope this answers your query. Should you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail at support@willhill.com or via our Live Chat facility. We are here to assist you 24/7.

Kind regards,

A

Customer Services
William Hill Online
Thank you for yet another useless response.

I realise I am wasting my time, but here goes:

I agreed to the terms and conditions. It is you who are breaking them (by
not applying your dead heat rules as YOU STATE IN YOUR DEAD HEAT BETTING
RULE at
https://williamhill-lang.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/135/kw/DEAD%20HEAT/related/1).
That link you supplied relates to horse racing and is not pertinent to
golf. I already studied the golf betting rules (
https://williamhill-lang.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7460/kw/DEAD%20HEAT)
and it referred to the dead heat rule (link above) which clearly divides
the stake by the number of players in the dead heat.

I apologise for a link that I supplied in a previous mail (
http://www.willhill-sportsbetting.com/golf), that on closer inspection
isn't a William Hill site at all (but obviously designed to fool people
that it is) ***NOTE - I now think this is a WH site!***. The fact that you did not spot this honest mistake tells me
you haven't investigated this matter properly and are content to fob me off
continuously. In any event, your real dead heat page says exactly the same
thing and this and my previous correspondence clearly shows you are
calculating the bet in a manner inconsistent with this (and every other
bookmaker I am aware of). However, you still steadfastly refuse to admit it.

I shall be taking my modest business elsewhere. It might be a small amount
of money, but it's a matter of principle. I would have thought WH to be an
honourable company, but apparently I was wrong. I have no interest to do
any business with a company that treats its customers in such a shoddy
manner.

Please do not respond for the sake of responding, especially if you totally
ignore my questions/concerns.

--
Rgds,

Aidan

On 21 August 2013 13:18, support@willhill.com wrote:


Hi Aidan,

Thank you for your email.

With regards to your concern about the Terms and Conditions, please be advised that this is the same Terms that you have agreed to when you have signed up for the account. In which concludes that you have agreed to the process of the settlement and the process that is done. You may read and take not of the rules on the help section of the website as provided on this link.

: https://williamhill-lang.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9095

Should you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail at support@willhill.com or via our Live Chat facility. We are here to assist you 24/7.

Best Regards,

P

Customer Service
William Hill Online

Hi,

Thank you for the reply which ignored my point completely and reiterated
your previous point about how you calculated the final amount.

My point was that this calculation that you applied is not the same as the
one in your terms and conditions or that used by other bookmakers. You
purposely divided by the dead heat number (3) at the very end (to the 50
due had the bet not been a dead heat) so as to maximise the free bet
component (10) in the final result, thereby reducing the amount due to me.
The dead heat number (3) should have been applied to the stake/free bet
component (10) first, giving 3.33. This is what I should have lost out of
the 16.67 (3.33 * 4/1 + dead heat original stake).

This is not my first dead heat bet and I know how they work. I shall not be
using WH any more and I will be updating my thousands of readers/followers
with new information after my previous positive blog article and social
media posts last week.

--
Rgds,

Aidan

On 21 August 2013 02:03, support@willhill.com wrote:


Hi Aidan,

Thank you for your e-mail.

We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused you and for any delays in our response. In relation to your query, please be informed that you have placed your bet using free bet bonus. Free bet stakes are not returned as part of the settlement of successful free bets, as per terms.

Here is the guide on how to calculate your bet:
Please select single eachway. Please note that your unit stake should be
10 only as it is divided into 2 for place part and win part.
Please enter placed as the status of the bet at 16/1 odds to 1/4 place.
After you enter calculate, the returns total returns is £50.00
£50.00 divided by the number of winning selections for placed 5th which is
3 = £16.67
£16.67 minus the stake = £6.67

We hope this answers your query. Should you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail at support@willhill.com or via our Live Chat facility. We are here to assist you 24/7.

With regards,

J

Customer Services
William Hill Online

Hi,

Thanks very much for the detailed reply. I now understand how you arrived at
that amount, which is exactly what I wanted to know.

My only issue now is that your method of calculation is at variance with
your own dead heat rules on http://www.willhill-sportsbetting.com/golf ,
which I referred to previously:

- For Place/Show/Top 4/Top 10 betting - when there is a dead heat where
the number of tied participants exceeds the places available for that
particular bet, the stake money/amount wagered is multiplied by the number
of places on offer but divided by the number of tied participants.
- The full odds are then paid to the divided stake, with the remainder
of the stake money being lost.
- Example - a 3 way tie for third on a top four bet would result in the
stake money /amount wagered being multiplied by 2 but divided by 3.

This clearly states that my stake money (10) should be multiplied by the
number of places (1) and divided by the number of dead heats (3) and the
full odds (1/4 of 16/1 = 4/1) applied to this. This gives the value I
quoted in my previous mail:

(€10*1)/3 =€3.33 = stake money
Full odds = 1/4 of 16/1 = 4/1

return = €3.33*4 = €13.32 (excluding original stake of €3.33, which was a
free bet).

I verified this amount with a couple of online bet calculators (e.g
http://www.free-bet-calculator.co.uk/) and tried to do the same on your
calculator. This seemed to be always the amount without a dead heat (50)
regardless of what dead heat options are selected and isn't very intuitive
to use unfortunately.

It appears to me that you have changed the calculation rules in order to
maximise the initial stake (free bet) in the final amount and reduce the
payout in this case. That is very disappointing. I had blogged and tweeted
recently to my many readers/followers very positively about WH, but I now
may have to overrule my first impressions.

--
Rgds,

Aidan


On 20 August 2013 10:02, support@willhill.com wrote:

>
> * Subject: William Hill Online* Hi Aidan,
>
> Good day!
>
> Firstly, we do apologise for the inconvenience this matter caused. We are
> writing with regard to your bet **Bet No.***. We have checked your
> transaction details as requested and note that it has been settled
> correctly with returns of £6.67 credited to your account.
>
> Your selection Zach Johnson was involved in a dead heat with Matt Every
> and Matt Jones for the Wyndham Championship - Tournament Winner. In the
> event of a dead heat your stake is divided by the number of selections
> involved.
>
> Here is the guide on how to calculate your bet:
> Please select single eachway. Please note that your unit stake should be
> 10 only as it is divided into 2 for place part and win part.
> Please enter placed as the status of the bet at 16/1 odds to 1/4 place.
> After you enter calculate, the returns total returns is £50.00
> £50.00 divided by the number of winning selections for placed 5th which is
> 3 = £16.67
> £16.67 minus the stake = £6.67 We can see that you have placed a free bet.
> Please note that Free Bet stake is not included in any winnings. The
> Estimated Return on the Bet Slip and the Bet Receipt indicate returns with
> stake.
>
> We can confirm that your bet has been settled correctly. You may click the
> link provided to work out on your bet:
> http://form.williamhill.com/betcalc/EN/calc.html . 
>
> We hope this answers your query. If we can be of any further assistance
> please do not hesitate to contact us.
>
> With regards,
>
> C
>
> Customer Services
> William Hill Online Hi Mae,
>
> Thanks for the email. Unfortunately, it doesn't address my issue. I asked
> for an explanation of how my bet (*** bet No ***) returned €6.67, no
> a
> blanket yes/no it is wrong or right. Since I have now asked both you and a
> colleague this question, I'm started to believe you do not know how to
> calculate dead heat bets either.
>
> From http://www.willhill-sportsbetting.com/golf
>
> - For Place/Show/Top 4/Top 10 betting - when there is a dead heat where
> the number of tied participants exceeds the places available for that
> particular bet, the stake money/amount wagered is multiplied by the number
> of places on offer but divided by the number of tied participants.
> - The full odds are then paid to the divided stake, with the remainder
> of the stake money being lost.
> - Example - a 3 way tie for third on a top four bet would result in the
> stake money /amount wagered being multiplied by 2 but divided by 3.
>
> I had €10 e/w (5 places) on Zach Johnson at 16/1. He finished T5th with 2
> other golfers. From your definition above,
>
> (€10*1)/3 =€3.33 = stake money
> Full odds = 1/4 of 16/1 = 4/1
>
> return = €3.33*4 = €13.32 (excluding original stake of €3.33, which was a
> free bet).
>
> Can you please point out where this calculation is wrong? I seem to be
> only
> getting 2/1 on the Zach Johnson bet as per the infoin my WH account:
>
> Patrick Reed (9/2) Y Jordan Spieth (4/1) (Place 2) John Huh (9/2)
> (Place 3) Brian Harman (20/1) (Place 3) Zach Johnson (2/1) (Place 5) Matt
> Jones (-) (Place 5) Matt Every (16/1) (Place 5) Scott Stallings (void)
>
> Why is Johnson at 2/1, not 4/1 and what is wrong with my calculation?
>
> Please respond to these specific questions.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
>
> Aidan
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 19 August 2013 10:00, support@willhill.com
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Aidan,
>
> Good day!
>
> We have checked bet **Bet No.*** as requested and confirmed that it
> was settled correctly as you have placed the bet using £20 free bet. Please
> be advised that Free Bet stake is not included in any returns. The
> Estimated Return on the Bet Slip and the Bet Receipt indicate returns with
> stake.
>
> If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to email us.
> Alternatively, you may contact us through our Live Chat facility and we
> would be more than happy to discuss any issues or concerns that you have
> with our products and services.
>
> With regards,
>
> M
>

AJAX Update Panels Added to Data Tables

Snippet of Tiger Woods' recent season results ahead of the 2013 The Barclays showing new update message when sorting on a column (Position in this case)

Further to this old post from 2009, I have finally gotten around to reintroducing AJAX update panels to Golf Predictor. As noted previously, this will make the site more responsive for all users. AJAX allows the partial updating of a web page and you can continue to interact with the page while the data is loaded in the background. The implementation this time is restricted to the data tables on each page. This means that now when you sort a data table (or go to a different page of a large one), instead of the full web page being reloaded and you being brought back to the top of the page, only the data table itself is updated and you stay where you were on the page. This is a much better experience, especially on larger pages such as the Prediction Data page.

Unlike last time, when you select a new season, tour or tournament from a drop down box, there will still be a full page refresh. This mitigates the problem with the browser back button which resulted in the removal of the panels before. In addition, the gains in performance by placing these data tables in update panels outweighs any unexpected back button behaviour. Just to be aware, clicking on a data table column header or data table page number now doesn't affect the browser history. Therefore, pressing the back button will not return to the previous sort/page like it did before this update. You can now either reload the page to reset the table back to its original state or simply sort on another column.

This reinstatement of AJAX update panels should make Golf Predictor even better to use. If  a partial update isn't instantaneous, an updating message and graphic will appear just above the data table during the partial update to inform you that your request is being carried out. This is shown in the screenshot above, which shows a portion of the GP Season Results data table on the Prediction Data page for Tiger Woods ahead of The Barclays this week.

As part of this update I have added sorting to most of the columns on the data tables on the Season Statistics page for each golfer and the information page for each golf course. The number of rows on each page of some data tables have also been reduced for legibility reasons, e.g. the Tournament Winners table on the Tournament page. Finally, the calendar view of tournaments has also been updated with an AJAX panel to improve performance.

I hope this major enhancement will add to your Golf Predictor experience. Please contact me immediately if you experience any problems on the site. Note that you may have to reload a page for these changes to take effect.

Golf Predictor Outage/Tee-off Group Information Delayed

Unfortunately, there was a database connection issue with Golf Predictor this morning (Irish time). This was an issue with the hosting service, not Golf Predictor itself. I raised the issue with my provider immediately and got the system up and running again within a short period of time. The system may have been down for several hours, but luckily it happened during the night for most users.

This outage means that, due to a prior commitment, I will probably not be able to enter the tee-off group information for the tournaments this week until this evening (Irish time, or about lunch time EST). I apologise for any inconvenience caused by this issue, which was beyond my control.

2013 - Week 34 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles (European PGA Tour) and The Barclays (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the first week of the lucrative FedEx Cup play-offs on the US PGA Tour and 123 of the top 125 in the rankings will be slugging it out for the large pot of cash! The two missing players are Steve Stricker, who is skipping the event, and Zach Johnson, who is attending his brother's wedding. Meanwhile, the rank and file pros in Europe must be chomping at the bit to play in Scotland after a long enforced lay-off!

Some Predictions Rankings Updated on Golf Predictor

A small number of prediction rankings have had to be updated on Golf Predictor. While analysing the results from last week's Wyndham Championship, I noticed that the GP Rank for Ernie Els was unfeasibly low (62). Upon investigation, it turned out that when adding tee-off group information (a recent addition to Golf Predictor), the weighting for world ranking was not being applied correctly for golfers who were late entrants, i.e. golfers who were in the tee-off list but not the entry list. Luckily, this mainly only affected lesser known golfers until Els' late entry last week. The problem only affected the GP Rank - no statistics were incorrect. Els and other affected golfers had their correct world ranking, but were not in the correct position in the rankings for the tournaments they entered late. I have fixed this for all affected golfers/tournaments and addressed the issue that caused it.

I have re-ranked the golfers and re-calculated the correct approximate odds for the affected tournaments. There hasn't been many noticeable changes, save for Els, who has been promoted to his rightful place at number six in the rankings for the Wyndham Championship. I apologise for any inconvenience caused by this slight issue with the new Add Groups functionality.

2013 - Week 33 Winner

Patrick Reed (ranked 39th by Golf Predictor) won the Wyndham Championship on the US PGA Tour. The 23 year old American won his maiden PGA Tour title with an impressive birdie on the second play-off hole against fellow young gun Jordan Spieth. It looked like Reed had missed his chance when he missed a short putt for victory on the first play-off hole and almost hit it out of bounds off the tee on the next. However, he kept his cool and hit a great approach from the trees to six feet to set up the win. Our top ranked player, Brandt Snedeker, missed the cut and finished in tied 82nd place. In a good event for the bookies, we only had a disappointing four of the top sixteen plus ties (4/19).

New 'Tournament Winners by Round Rank' Page Added to Golf Predictor

Partial screenshot of 2013 US PGA Tour winners up to the US PGA Championship

Further to the recently added 'Results by Round Rank' functionality, a new 'Tournament Winners by Round Rank' page has been added to Golf Predictor. This new page is available from the Other Stats menu in the member section and shows the winner for each tournament in the chosen GP season with his ranking (position) after each round. This is shown in the screenshot above for the 2013 US PGA Tour up to the week of the US PGA Championship. Hovering over a player first name or the tournament name shows more information. This is shown above for Jordan Spieth, who came through the field impressively after being only 64th after round one. Incidentally, Kevin Streelman holds the record for coming through the field on the 2013 US PGA Tour. He was only 70th after round one in Tampa before coming through to win. Brett Rumford holds the corresponding record on the 2013 European PGA Tour, coming from 75th after round one to win the Ballantines Championship. Some notes on this new page:

1. Round rankings are only shown for winners of knock out tournaments and 72 hole stroke play events. The round ranking columns will be blank for winners of all match play, Stableford and five round events (e.g. the Bob Hope Classic). This can be seen for the Reno-Tahoe Open in the screenshot above.
2. Round rankings are shown for winners of 72 hole stroke play events that were shortened due to weather (or any other reason).
3. Ties are not indicated for any round ranks.
4. As shown in the screenshot above, the round ranking columns (R1R etc) on the results table have been colour coded. This will allow you to identify golfers who were leading (red), in top five (pink), in top ten (yellow), in top twenty (grey), in top forty (blue) and outside top forty (brown) much more easily. The colour code itself is shown over the results table.
5. You can sort the winners by any column except score. 
6. The winner round position pie charts (from the main Tournament Winners page) are also available on this new page as they are pertinent to this new round ranking information.
7. You may have to reload your current Golf Predictor page to see this new menu option in the Other Stats menu.

Just another way to make Golf Predictor even better! This new page will allow you to track the progress of the season winners at a glance though the tournaments they won. However, only subscribers can see the data on this new page. So, sign up today and reap the full benefits of Golf Predictor, the premium professional golf statistics site.

  

2013 - Week 33 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Wyndham Championship (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Just the one event this week as there is no European Tour event this week for the third week in a row. There are not many big names competing this week, with the Wyndham Championship coming between the last major of the season and the first FedEx Cup play-off event next week. However, there are still a few big guns teeing it up this week, along with a host of middle tier guys trying to improve their place in the FedEx Cup standings.

2013 - Week 32 Winner

Jason Dufner (ranked 17th by Golf Predictor) won the US PGA Championship on the European/US PGA Tour. The 36 year old undemonstrative American won his first major title with an impressive final day performance, holding off nearest challenger and third round leader Jim Furyk to win by two shots. The wait for that elusive 15th major goes on for our top ranked player, Tiger Woods, who had another disappointing major and finished in tied 40th. Overall, we had seven of the top twelve plus ties (7/18).

Some Statistics Updated on Golf Predictor - Update

Further to the recent post on updating some statistics on Golf Predictor, I have corrected the similar tournaments data for events after last year's Reno-Tahoe Open. As you may recall, this data processing problem only affected the golfers who missed the cut at that event. In any case, all the statistics should now be correct.

With regard to the "Final Series" events mentioned in the referenced post, on further investigation, these new events on the 2013 European Tour will include the WGC - HSBC Champions tournament. As this is already a WGC event, it can not be assigned another tournament type. Also, unlike the season ending FedEx Cup series on the US PGA Tour, there are no special qualifying criteria for these events (save for the season finale in Dubai). Therefore, I have decided to leave these Final Series events as they are (regular events, except for the aforementioned WGC event).

My New Bookmaker (William Hill)

Note: This post has been superseded by this one.

As you probably know by now, I like to have a flutter on golf tournaments using the powerful stats that are available on Golf Predictor. Recently, I’ve been looking around for a new on-line bookie, one with generally better prices and a cleaner interface than my current one. Luckily, I was approached by a marketeer for William Hill this week, so I decided to give it a go.

Signing up was quick and painless and within about five minutes, I was perusing its many different markets for this week's US PGA Championship. Lodging my initial stake money was just as easy, with fourteen different options to choose from, including credit card, PayPal and bank transfer. As one of the biggest and best known bookmakers in the United Kingdom, I did not have any trust issues nor was I worried about account security. Although I haven’t had to use this feature (yet!), withdrawing cash from your account is just also straightforward and is easily accessible from your account page.

Once you are set up and ready to go, there are an impressive number of betting options in many different tournaments to choose from. I like the interface, which is very uncluttered and easy to navigate. Within each tournament, there are comprehensive match ups in addition to the markets for winner, top ten finish, top European, top American, first round leader and so on. In general, the prices seemed more generous than my previous bookie, so I was happy to make the change. As a new customer, I even received a golf betting bonus - a free matched bet of up to £25 Sterling. So, if my first punt on the winner of the US PGA Championship doesn’t work out, at least I’ll get another bet of the same value to try my luck again! However, with William Hill offering a generous six places on this market, I’m confident of a return on my each way bet!

Helpfully, William Hill also provide a podcast with a former European PGA Tour professional to analyse the upcoming golf tournaments. I found listening to this very useful ahead of the last major of the season. All in all, I was impressed with the site and look forward to building on my stake money in the next few months! If you are considering opening an on-line account or changing your on-line bookie, I recommend that you give William Hill a try*. 


*If you do, please remember to gamble responsibly.