2014 - Week 14 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the NH Collection Open (European PGA Tour) and the Shell Houston Open (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Back as the final tune-up for the Masters, there's a strong field in Houston, where the course is as usual set up like Augusta. While five of the top ten in the world are teeing it up on the US Tour (although Phil Mickelson is doubtful), the field is unsurprisingly not as strong for the new event in Spain. Only three of the top hundred in the world are competing in Cadiz, which makes it somewhat more difficult to predict!

2014 - Week 13 Winner

Steven Bowditch (ranked 94th by Golf Predictor) won the Valero Texas Open on the US PGA Tour. The 30 year old Australian did what his more famous compatriot Adam Scott couldn't do last week - he held out on Sunday to win! He needed some help from the field though, as he won despite closing with 76 (+4). It was Bowditch's first US PGA Tour title and it also earned him a spot in The Masters in a couple of weeks. Our top ranked player, Phil Mickelson, became the latest big name player to suffer an injury and he withdrew during round three with a pulled muscle. Overall, we had eleven of the top sixteen plus ties (11/25) in total.
 
There was no event on the European PGA Tour this week.

2014 - Week 13 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions for this week, the Valero Texas Open (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. There are only two tournaments left now before Augusta and there are many golfers still desperate for either a golden ticket or some form in advance of the first major of the year. The latter brings Phil Mickelson to the event, twenty two years after his first and only other appearance in the event. There is no individual stroke play event on the European PGA Tour this week. Golf Predictor is not designed for team match play events such as the new EurAsia Cup.

2014 - Week 12 Winner

Matt Every (ranked 25th by Golf Predictor) won the Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by Mastercard on the US PGA Tour. The 30 year old American won his first ever tour title after an amazing collapse by reigning Masters champion Adam Scott. Despite being seven shots clear after 36 holes, the Aussie managed to fritter away his lead and ended up only finishing third. That won't do his confidence much good for his Masters defence. Scott was our top ranked player after Tiger Woods pulled out with continued back trouble. Overall, we had eight of the top fourteen plus ties (8/19)*. There was no event on the European PGA Tour this week.




*Due to withdrawals etc. George McNeill is promoted to the top nineteen  in the rankings.

2014 - Week 12 Predictions/Statistics Updated

I have had to update all the predictions for the Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by Mastercard on Golf Predictor as our top ranked player, Tiger Woods, has withdrawn from the event. He pulled out due to the continuing problems with his back. I can only hope he's 'back' in time for The Masters in a few weeks, although even if he is, his preparation will hardly have been ideal. Woods has been replaced by Brice Garnett in the field.

Since Tiger was the top world ranked player in the field, his absence has affected the GP Score (probability of winning) for all the remaining players in the field. Therefore, I have rerun the prediction engine with the very latest entry list for the event. Note that you may have to reload/refresh the page to see the new rankings.

2014 - Week 12 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by Mastercard (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. There's a strong field (five of the top ten in the world) in Orlando as the first major of the season looms large on the horizon! Tiger Woods will be hoping his back has recovered sufficiently to allow him to win Arnie's event yet again and put his Masters preparations back on track. There is no event on the European PGA Tour this week.

2014 - Week 11 Winners

Alejandro Canizares (ranked 17th by Golf Predictor) won the Trophee Hassan II on the European PGA Tour. The 31 year old Spaniard won his third tour title with a comfortable wire-to-wire victory in Morocco. Canizares won by five shots, despite an unfortunate double bogey at the final hole. Our top ranked player, George Coetzee, finished in tied 11th and we had seven of the top seventeen plus ties (7/22).

John Senden (ranked 43rd by Golf Predictor) won the Valspar Championship on the US PGA Tour. The 42 year old Australian won won his first PGA Tour event in over seven years with a late spurt to beat the glacial Kevin Na by a single shot. Our top ranked player, Justin Rose, finished in tied 8th and we had ten of the top twenty plus ties (10/24).

2014 - Week 11 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Trophee Hassan II (European PGA Tour) and the Valspar Championship (US PGA Tour) are now available on Golf Predictor. It's another year and another new name for the Tampa tournament! While a few big names are teeing it up in Florida, as usual no big guns have made the trip to Morocco. However, recent winners George Coetzee and Ross Fisher will be hoping to keep their good form going in Agadir.

2014 - Week 10 Winners

Patrick Reed (ranked 47th  by Golf Predictor) won the WGC - Cadillac Championship on the European/US PGA Tour. The 23 year old American won his third and biggest tour title by defeating an elite field at the revamped Doral layout. The weather, course changes and an injured Tiger Woods all contributed to making the event less predictable than expected. Our top ranked player, Adam Scott, finished in tied 25th and we still had twelve of the top sixteen plus ties (12/24).

Chesson Hadley (ranked 14th by Golf Predictor) won the Puerto Rico Open pres. by seepuertorico.com on the US PGA Tour. The 26 year old American rookie won his first tour title by two shots, closing with two birdies in windy Puerto Rico. Our top ranked player, Chris Stroud, finished in tied 9th and in this usually difficult to predict event, we had eight of the top nineteen plus ties (8/23).

New 'Field Rankings (Form)' Page Added to Golf Predictor

Composite screenshot showing new page with player pop-up for Garcia and T9 (second most recent) tournament result for Stenson ahead of the 2013 WGC -HSBC Champions event.

I am happy to announce the addition of a very useful new 'Field Rankings (Form)' page to Golf Predictor. This new page is available from the "Form" menu and is basically a cross between the existing Field Rankings and Compare Golfer Form pages. As can be seen in the screenshot above, you can now rank the field by certain key metrics (the Field Rankings part) and see up to their last ten matching results on which that metric is based (the Compare Golfer Form part). The metrics ranked on this page are:

1. Average finishing position for the current GP season
2. Average finishing position in previous five events in the current GP season
3. Average finishing position on same course in the previous five years
4. Average finishing position in same tournament in the previous five years
5. Average finishing position in previous twelve similar events (reg./major/WGC/FedEx Cup)
6. Average finishing position on similar.length courses.
7. Average first round score in the current GP season
8. Average second round score in the current GP season
9. Average third round score in the current GP season
10. Average final round score in the current GP season
11. Average first round score on same course in the previous five years
12. Average first round score in same tournament in the previous five years
13. Average first round score in previous twelve similar events (reg./major/WGC/FedEx Cup)

Consolidating this data on this new page should make it much easier to spot good fantasy golf or betting picks for an upcoming tournament. While this information was available previously on Golf Predictor, it was only available on different pages for each individual golfer. This new 'Field Rankings (Form)' page is perfect for a quick overview of the relative performance of all the players in the field in the above metrics.

The screenshot above shows the field rankings for average season finish ahead of the 2013 WGC -HSBC Champions event in Shanghai. Like the original Field Rankings page, each metric has two charts associated with it:

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 average)

All 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 page:

1. You may have to reload your current Golf Predictor page to see this new 'Field Rankings (Form)' menu option.
2. Golf Predictor results go back to the start of the 2003 season and some metrics are not available for older events. Keep this in mind if you are perusing old tournaments on this page.
3. For each of the first six metrics listed above (the finishing position averages), the average, standard deviation and number of tournaments played are displayed. 
4. For each of the last seven metrics listed above (the round averages), the average and number of rounds played are displayed. Standard deviation is not available for round averages.
5. Standard deviation for finishing positions are not available for older tournaments (before week 16, 2009 - the week of the Madeira Islands Open BPI/Transitions Championship).
6. As usual, you can hover over a player name for more information, as shown above for Sergio Garcia ahead of the 2013 WGC -HSBC Champions event. For each of the first six metrics listed above,  it displays the number of results in each category (wins/top tens/missed cuts/non-finishes) out of the (up to) last ten matching results. For the round metrics, it shows the number of rounds in the 60s, 70s, 80s and other for up to the last ten matching results.
7. You can also hover over a tournament result to see more information. This is shown in the composite screenshot above for Henrik Stenson for the T9 (second most recent) tournament result ahead of the 2013 WGC-HSBC Champions event.
8. The Golf Predictor field rankings for some metrics (e.g. course/tournament form) are based on the golfer performance in the previous five years. However, on this new page, you can see up to ten previous results. Any older results not counting towards the golfer's field rank are shown in grey text in the results table (counting results are in black text).
9. Following on from the last point, the average and standard deviation are calculated using all results in the table. This means for the metrics based on the previous five years (e.g. course/tournament form), the top ranked players may not necessarily have the best average over the previous ten years. Similarly, season ranks are calculated using all season results, but the average and standard deviation are calculated using only the results shown in the table (up to ten of the most recent).
10. Players with no relevant statistics are omitted from the results.
11. Because this new page is relatively computationally intensive, it shows the field in tranches of 25 golfers.

I trust you will find this new functionality very useful for your fantasy golf or betting needs. Like the existing Field Rankings page, non-subscribers can only see the statistics for the golfers ranked 11-25 in each category and none of the charts. In addition, if a matching golfer is not ranked from 11-25 in the overall GP Rankings, non-subscribers will not be able to view his information. Therefore, sign up today and reap the full benefits of Golf Predictor, the premium professional golf statistics site.

2014 - Week 10 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions/statistics for this week, the WGC - Cadillac Championship (European/US PGA Tour) and the Puerto Rico Open pres. by seepuertorico.com (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. All eyes will be on Tiger Woods and his back after this withdrawal from The Honda Classic last week. For the first time in a while, Woods isn't the highest GP ranked golfer in an event he is playing in. 

While almost the big names (including the entire top fifty in the world rankings again this year) will be teeing it up at Trump National Doral, it's the usual second string line up for the Puerto Rican tournament. The Donald will have to make do with only eight lowly members of the top one hundred in the world at the second of his courses in use this week!

2014 - Week 9 Winners

Ross Fisher (ranked 6th by Golf Predictor) won the Tshwane Open on the European PGA Tour. The 33 year old Englishman won his first tour title since 2010 by a three shot margin over Danie von Tonder and the gallant Michael Hoey. The Northern Irish man had closed to within one stroke of Fisher before a double bogey on the twelfth put paid to his chances. Our top ranked player, George Coetzee, finished poorly in tied 50th and we had seven of the top fifteen plus ties (7/20).


Russell Henley (ranked 68th by Golf Predictor) won the Honda Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 24 year old American won his second tour title in a four man play-off with Rory McIlroy, Russell Knox and Ryan Palmer. While no one seemed to want to win the event in regulation, Henley prevailed with a birdie at the first extra hole. Despite a succession of dropped shots in a poor final round, Rory McIlroy almost won with a wonder shot on the seventy second hole. However, he was unable to hole his 12 foot eagle putt after a fantastic approach with a fairway metal from 245 yards. Like last year, a huge name withdrew from the event, citing injury. This time it was world number one (and our top ranked player) Tiger Woods, who walked off after the thirteenth hole of his final round, with back spasms. Woods was +5 for the day at the time. Overall, we had a disappointing seven of the top twelve plus ties (7/23)*. 



*Due to a couple of withdrawals, Chris Stroud gets promoted to the top 23 in our rankings.