Another Metric Added to Field Ranking Page

The 'Field Rankings' page has been enhanced with the similar weather metric. This page is available on the 'Predictions' menu in the member section of Golf Predictor. This new weather option has been added to the 'Metric' dropdown list on the 'Field Ranking' page. There is also a new 'Best in Similar Weather' chart along the top of the data table, which shows the top performers graphically. Note that similar weather information is not available prior to week seven of the 2013 GP season and you may have to refresh the page to see the changes.

Just another way to make Golf Predictor a little better!

2015 - Week 48 Winners

Marc Leishman (ranked 22nd by Golf Predictor) won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the European PGA Tour. The 32 year old Australian won his first tour title with an impressive weekend performance. After a steady opening couple of days, Willett shot -11 over the two closing rounds in blistering heat to win comfortably by six shots. Our top ranked golfer, Henrik Stenson, finished in second place and as the now annual joke goes, we had thirty of the top thirty plus ties (30/30) in total!! 

Nathan Holman (ranked 11th by Golf Predictor) won the Australian PGA Championship on the European PGA Tour. The 24 year old Australian won his maiden tour title on soil soil in difficult conditions on the Gold Coast. Despite an opening double bogey and two closing bogeys, Holman won on the first extra hole in three man play-off with Harold Varner III and Dylan Frittelli. The trio were the only players not over par on a difficult course in windy conditions, finishing on even par after 72 holes. Our top ranked golfer, Brandt Snedeker, was one of the biggest casualties of the weather, slumping to an opening 84 and missing the cut. In an event difficult to predict because of the weather and a lack of history in the system, we only had four of the top nine plus ties (4/17) in total. 

There was no "proper" event on the US PGA Tour this week! Golf Predictor doesn't cover the (very) restricted field junket that is the Hero Challenge. 

2015 - Week 48 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Nedbank Golf Challenge (European PGA Tour) and the Australian PGA Championship (European PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. While this marks the first year that the Australian PGA has been on the European Tour (and hence on Golf Predictor), it has a long history, dating all the way back to 1905. However this tournament history (or the last two years of course history) are not in Golf Predictor, so please factor that into your analysis.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, although the Sun City event has a large purse and a small field, only one really big name (Henrik Stenson) has made the trek to South Africa. That should change next year when the field expands further and it becomes part of the reduced Final Series on the European PGA Tour.

There is no event on the US PGA Tour this week, except for Tiger's invitational junket. As in previous years, Golf Predictor is not not covering that event.

2015 - Week 47 Winner

Charl Schwartzel (ranked 7th by Golf Predictor) won the Alfred Dunhill Championship on the European PGA Tour. The 31 year old South African won his fourth title at Leopard Creek and although he won by four shots in the end, it wasn't his most convincing performance over the weekend. Our top ranked golfer, defending champion Branden Grace, finished in tied 8th. In an event that is usually difficult to predict, we had twelve of the top eighteen plus ties (12/26) in total. 

There was no event on the US PGA Tour this week.

2015 - Week 47 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Alfred Dunhill Championship (European PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the first event of the 2016 European Tour, even though it's still 2015 and of course, it's not in Europe! Like previous years, there is a strong South African contingent and not much by way of international competition. However, having said that, there are a fair number of French golfers teeing it up at Leopard Creek for some reason!

There is no event on the US PGA Tour this week.

2015 - Week 46 Winners

Rory McIlroy (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) won the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai on the European PGA Tour. The 26 year old Northern Irishman won his first title since returning from injury with an impressive weekend performance in Dubai. In doing so, McIlroy sowed up the Race to Dubai for the third time in four years. He was pushed all the way for his fourth title of the year by Andy Sullivan. However, despite holding a three shot lead early in the final round, the Englishman was overpowered by McIlroy, who drove the ball imperiously over the weekend. After a lapse in concentration on the penultimate hole, McIlroy saved a bogey with a crucial thirty foot putt and held on to win by a single shot. Including the winner, we had twelve of the top seventeen plus ties (12/21) 

Kevin Kisner (ranked 3rd by Golf Predictor) won The RSM Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 31 year old American became the latest to win his first PGA Tour title with an emphatic victory in Georgia. After a series of near misses, including three play-off defeats, Kisner finally got over the line in some style. After taking a three shot lead into the final round, he came out firing and led by seven at the turn. That allowed him to coast home and win by six shots in the end. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 25th and in an event that's usually hard to predict, we had only four of the top nine plus ties (4/17) overall. 

Same Region Stat Added to More Pages

Custom Predictions page for the 2015 RSM Classic with new Region slider and HR column

Further to the recent addition of same region analysis to Golf Predictor, I am pleased to announce that three other pages have been updated with this new metric. These pages are:

1. The Compare Field Rankings page on the Predictions menu. A colour coded HR (Historical -  Region) column has been added to the data table, showing the field rank for each selected golfer in that metric. The stack chart on this page has also been updated to include this new field ranking.
2. The Compare Field Rankings (Tee-off Groups) page on the Predictions menu. Same changes as above.
3. The Rankings (Custom) page on the Predictions menu. As shown in the screenshot above for the 2015 RSM Classic, there is a new Region slider and a new HR (Historical -  Region) column in the data table.

As a result of these changes, you can now compare the same region field rankings for your selected golfers and also factor in the same region performance into your custom predictions. Barring any oversights, his completes the upgrade of the system with the same region stats. Just another way to make Golf Predictor even better.

2015 - Week 46 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions/statistics for this week, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai (European PGA Tour) and The RSM Classic (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the last event of the season (but not the year!) on the European PGA Tour and the last event of the year (but not the season!) on the US Tour! Although Rory McIlroy is again leading the Race to Dubai heading into the season finale, this year he'll have to fend off several big name pursuers for the title. The field is more modest in Georgia, where it will be the last chance before January to put some FedEx Cup points in the bag.

2015 - Week 45 Winners

Kristoffer Broberg (ranked 52nd by Golf Predictor) won the BMW Masters on the European PGA Tour. The 29 year old Swede won maiden title at the first hole of a play-off with Patrick Reed. After both players had left their birdie efforts just short on the eighteenth in regulation, Broberg made no mistake in the play-off, taking the title with a birdie on the same hole. The Swede was feted by compatriots Henrik Stenson, Rikard Karlberg and Alex Noren and was understandably emotional after his break through win. Our top ranked player, Justin Rose, finished in tied 7th and we had eleven of the top seventeen plus ties (11/21).

Graeme McDowell (ranked 9th by Golf Predictor) won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba on the US PGA Tour. The 36 year old Northern Irish man won his first tournament on the US PGA Tour in over two years with a gutsy Monday finish in Mexico. McDowell put a poor year behind him to hole a crucial par putt on the last and also win at the first extra hole. McDowell did it in style, almost holing his five iron approach in the play-off with Jason Bohn and last week's winner, Russell Knox. Our top ranked player, Matt Kuchar, finished in tied 68th and in an event plagued by weather delays and which is usually hard to predict, we only had eight of the top seventeen plus ties (8/24).
 

Same Region Form added to Golf Predictor

New Same Region Form page (for the 2015 WGC - HSBC Champions)

New Same Region panel  & Performance table column on the Prediction Data page (for Rory McIlroy in the 2015 WGC - HSBC Champions)

New Same Region tournament list on the Prediction Data page (for Rory McIlroy in the 2015 WGC - HSBC Champions)

In addition to the existing GP season, recent, course, tournament, similar tournament, similar weather, similar length course and time of season form on Golf Predictor, I am pleased to announce that geographic analysis has also been added to the system.

A new 'Same Region' option has been added to the Form menu and the functionality is available for tournaments from week 44, 2015 (the week of the WGC - HSBC Champions and the Sanderson Farms Championship). This analysis is based on the matching results for each golfer in the previous five/six seasons (see point 1 of the notes below) and should be very helpful for your fantasy golf, DFS golf or betting needs. It is well known that some golfers perform better or worse in certain parts of the world. This can be for several reasons, including:

1. The golfer grew up, lived in or played often in the region at some stage in his life.
2. The type of grass typically used on golf courses (particularly for the greens) in the region suits the golfer's game.
3. The tournaments in this region are held at the time of year that the golfer typically plays best in.
4. The golfer feels comfortable in the region, e.g. with the climate, type of course etc.

This new functionality allows you to easily spot the golfers in the field who perform well in the region that the tournament is being held in. The analysis breaks the world into the following 33 regions, roughly half in the Americas and half in the rest of the world:

Americas Regions (17)

California US
Eastern Canada
Eastern US
Florida Swing US
Florida US
Hawaii US
Mid Western US
Mid Western US East
Mountain US
North East US
North Western US/Western Canada
Northern US
South Eastern US
South Eastern US Atlantic
Texas US
West Coast Swing US
Western Desert US

Rest of the World Regions (16)

Australasia
British Isles
Caribbean
Central Europe
Eastern Europe
Far East
Iberia/North Africa
India
Indian Ocean
Middle East
Northern Europe
South Africa
South Eastern Asia
South Eastern Europe
Southern Europe
Western Europe

Obviously, the first group of regions covers the US PGA Tour (and the shared events with the European PGA Tour!), while the second group is largely the more geographically diverse European PGA Tour (there are shared events with the US PGA Tour and the CIMB Classic is in South East Asia). The stats produced are similar to the other form stats available on Golf Predictor:

1. Average finishing position and standard deviation (consistency).
2. Best and worst finishing positions.
3. Number of tournaments played, wins, top tens, missed cuts and withdrawals/disqualifications.
4. Scoring average and stroke average.
5. The Field Rank for the golfer in this new metric. The 'Average Field Rank' stat and chart have also been updated to include this new form metric.

The first screenshot above shows the new 'Same Region' form page and most of the stats listed above for the 2015 WGC - HSBC Champions field. This page is very similar to the existing form pages, and like those pages, is sorted by GP Rank and has fully sortable columns. Hovering over the golfer's first name will show his world ranking, as shown above for Rickie Fowler.

The final two screenshots above show snippets from the updated Prediction page for Rory McIlroy for the 2015 WGC - HSBC Champions. The second screenshot above shows the new 'Same Region' stats panel and the new Hist (R) column in the Performance panel. The third screenshot shows the list of  tournaments in the same region analysed for Rory McIlroy. Again, you can get more information by hovering over a tournament name, as shown in the final screenshot above.


 Some notes on this new functionality:

1. The time scale analysed to produce these statistics is the previous five seasons, plus any results from the current season. This means that at the start of a new GP season (year), the stats will encompass the tournaments from previous five years, while at the end of that GP season, they will encompass six years.
2. All 267 courses (all courses used on both tours since 2003) in the system have been updated with one of the regions specified above. Most of the regions are based on established geographical areas (e.g. Far East or American Mid West) or other logical groupings (e.g. Florida Swing). However, some course locations were not straightforward to categorise, so judgement calls had to be made in some instances.
3. Some 90 of the above mentioned 267 courses have not been used in the previous five years, but they were also assigned a region, in case of future use on either major tour.
4. As alluded to above and as you can see from the list of American regions, I have included "Florida Swing" and "West Coast Swing" as regions also. This is because these are important logical groups of tournaments every year on the US PGA Tour and therefore would be useful to aggregate for performance analysis purposes.
5. The facilitating of the "Florida Swing" and "West Coast Swing" complicates the region analysis in several instances. For example, region analysis of tournaments in Florida not in the Florida Swing (e.g. The Players Championship), also include the Florida Swing events, but not vice versa. It's much more complicated for the West Coast Swing, because the US Open has been held at Torrey Pines and one of the events is in Arizona, technically the Western Desert US region. Therefore, region analysis of tournaments in California not in the West Coast Swing also use the California tournaments from the West Coast Swing, but not vice versa. Also, region analysis of West Coast Swing events do not include majors held on courses in the region, as these are held at different times of the year and the courses are set up differently. Finally, the PGA West course in Palm Desert and TPC Scottsdale in Arizona are also analysed for the Western Desert Region to give a comprehensive performance analysis on US desert courses.
6. As alluded to above, these region stats have some crossover with time analysis and course type analysis. This is because regions such as the "Florida Swing" and "West Coast Swing" correspond to a specific time of the year. Also, courses in the some regions may largely use the same type of grass for climatic reasons, thereby giving an insight into a golfer's performance on such courses.
7. Some regions have very few courses (e.g. The Indian Ocean region has only 1 in Mauritius), while others have quite a number of courses (e.g. the British Isles region has 36, of which 20 were used in the last five years).
8. The region analysed is shown in the title of the data table on the 'Same Region' form page, in the title of the new 'Same Region' stats panel and heading for the matching tournament list on the golfer Prediction page (see screenshots above).
9. I have also updated the Field Rank, Field Rank (Summary) and Field Rank (Form) pages with this new Same Region metric. All charts on these pages have have updated also.
10. You may have to refresh a page to see the new Form menu option or the new stats/charts on Prediction pages.

These new stats also come with twelve new charts. In each case, the tournaments analysed are those that are in the period outlined in the first point above. The following charts have been added to the system:

1. Top performers in the same region in the previous 5 years.
2. Most consistent performers in the same region in the previous 5 years.
3. Least consistent performers in the same region in the previous 5 years.
4. Players with the most number of wins in the same region in the previous 5 years.
5. Players with the biggest winning percentage in the same region in the previous 5 years.
6. Players with the most number of top tens in the same region in the previous 5 years.
7. Players with the biggest top ten finishes percentage in the same region in the previous 5 years.
8. Players with the least number of cuts missed in the same region in the previous 5 years.
9. Players with the smallest cuts missed percentage in the same region in the previous 5 years.
10. Performance breakdown (wins/top tens/missed cuts/finishes/non-finishes) for a golfer in the same region in the previous 5 years.
11. Results in the same region in the previous 5 years for the selected golfer (line chart).
12. The Same Region stats panel has a new box plot, as shown above. 

These twelve new charts brings the total number of charts on the site to 457.   

This new functionality should greatly assist in picking golfers, depending on where the tournament is held. As you can probably tell from the length of this post, a lot of work has gone into this new analysis and I trust you will find it useful. As usual, any feedback (via comments on this article or email) would be most welcome. The new same region 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). In addition, non-subscribers will not be able to view all of the new charts listed above. Therefore, sign up today to get the most out of Golf Predictor, the premier European and US PGA Tour statistics site.

2015 - Week 45 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions/statistics for this week, the BMW Masters (European PGA Tour) and the OHL Classic at Mayakoba (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Although there is no Rory McIlroy in China again this year, there is still a pretty strong field with seven of the top twenty in the world teeing it up. Meanwhile, except for Matt Kuchar and last week's big winner Russell Knox*, it's the usual second string line up for the Mexican tournament this year.


*Don't be surprised though, if he pulls out!

2015 - Week 44 Winners

Russell Knox (ranked 48th by Golf Predictor) won the WGC - HSBC Champions on the European/US PGA Tour. The 30 year old Scot finally won his first tour title with an assured final day performance in Shanghai. Knox was never really threatened on the back nine and was able to close out a two shot victory, in what was a great performance by a last minute reserve into the tournament, his very first WGC event. Our top ranked player, Rory McIlroy, finished in tied 11th place, despite food poisoning and lacklustre play by his high standards. Overall, we had eight of the top eighteen plus ties (8/18) in total.

Peter Malnati (ranked 79th by Golf Predictor) won the Sanderson Farms Championship on the US PGA Tour. The 28 year old American became the latest first time winner in the new wraparound season, winning by a shot, courtesy of an impressive long distance two putt par at the last under pressure. After torrential rain flooded the course, play had to be extended to Monday to complete the 72 holes. All the delays didn't faze Malnati however, who finished with 67 (-5) and endured a short wait while his pursuers failed to catch him. Our top ranked player, Jason Bohn, finished in tied 39th and we had only five of the top fourteen plus ties (5/19) in the weather plagued event. 

2015 - Week 44 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the WGC - HSBC Champions (European/US PGA Tour) and the Sanderson Farms Championship (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Although world number one Jason Day isn't playing (due to the imminent arrival of his second child), there is still a very strong field for the last WGC of the season. While thirteen of the top twenty in the world will be teeing it up in Shanghai, a second string line up will be battling it out in Mississippi. Only five out of the world's top one hundred will be playing in the event, so there is a good chance of yet another first time winner!

2014/15 - Top 5 Shortest Courses on the US PGA Tour

Based on the course information in Golf Predictor, these were the shortest courses on the US PGA Tour in the wraparound 2014/15 season::

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am*) - 6816 yards, par 72.
2. TPC River Highlands (Travelers Championship) - 6841 yards, par 70.
3. PGA West (Palmer Course (Humana Challenge in pship with the Clinton Foundation) - 6950 yards, par 70.
4. Kuala Lumper G & CC (CIMB Classic) - 6985 yards, par 72.
5. El Camaleon GC (OHL Classic at Mayakoba) - 6987 yards, par 71.

You can get more detailed information for the course lengths for GP Seasons (calendar years) by looking at the 'Shortest Courses' chart on the 'Other Stats/Tourn. Stats' page in the member section of Golf Predictor. Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.


*This event is held on three different courses, all of which are under 7000 yards and would feature on this list. Pebble beach is the main course, as it is also used for the final round.

2014/15 - Top 5 Longest Courses on the US PGA Tour

Based on the course information in Golf Predictor, these were the longest courses on the US PGA Tour in the wraparound 2014/15 season:

1. Chambers Bay (US Open), 7742 yards, par 70.
2. Torrey Pines, South Course (Farmers Insurance Open) - 7698 yards, par 72.
3. Quail Hollow CC (Wells Fargo Championship) - 7562 yards, par 72.
4. Trump National Doral (WGC - Cadillac Championship) - 7528 yards, par 72. 
5. Whistling Straits (US PGA Championship) - 7514 yards, par 72. 

You can get more detailed information for the course lengths for GP Seasons (calendar years) by looking at the 'Longest Courses' chart on the 'Other Stats/Tourn. Stats' page in the member section of Golf Predictor. Click on the "Lists" category opposite to see more such lists.

2015 - Week 43 Winners

Victor Dubuisson (ranked 13th by Golf Predictor) won the Turkish Airlines Open on the European PGA Tour. The 25 year old Frenchman won his first title since winning his maiden title here two years ago. The normally impassive Dubuisson became very emotional after two putting the par five finishing hole for the winning birdie. Our top ranked player, Rory McIlroy, finished in tied 6th, despite not really firing on all cylinders. Overall, we had nine of the top eighteen plus ties (9/19).

Justin Thomas (ranked 12th by Golf Predictor) won the CIMB Classic on the US PGA Tour. The 22 year old American finally won his first tour title, winning by a single shot from a charging Adam Scott. Thomas made it hard on himself, double bogeying the fourteenth on Sunday and leaving himself a real tester for par on the last for the victory. However, he prevailed and became the third first time winner in a row on the 2015/16 US PGA Tour. Our top ranked player, Henrik Stenson, finished in tied 47th and we had ten of the top seventeen plus ties (10/20*). 


*Lee withdrew, promoting Summerhays into the top twenty of the GP rankings.

Season Segment (Field) Page Added to Golf Predictor

Snippet of new Season Segment From page for the 2015 Turkish Airlines Open

New Season Segment Data panel on prediction data page ( for Rory McIlroy ahead of the 2015 Turkish Airlines Open)

Following on from the season segment analysis added earlier in the year, I am pleased to announce the adaptation of this functionality for the prediction data for tournaments on Golf Predictor. A new "Season Segment (Field)" page is available on the Form menu and it allows you to see at a glance which golfers in the field for the current tournament(s) perform better at the time of year (early/mid/late) the tournament is held in. While the original season segment analysis is based on all golfers on both tours who have played at least 45 tournaments in the previous five years, this new page lists only the golfers in the field for the current tournament, sorted by their GP Rank. This page should be very helpful for your fantasy golf, DFS golf or betting needs as it shows who in the field tends to play well versus his peers at the time of the year the tournament is held.

The first screenshot above shows a snippet of this new "Season Segment (Field)" page for the 2015 Turkish Airlines Open. Hovering over the golfer's first name will show the golfer's overall season segment rank (i.e. the rank for his average finish in all tournaments played in previous five years) and GP Score for the tournament, as shown above for Shane Lowry. The first screenshot above also shows the colour coding for the season segment (late season in this case) rank column. The colour coding goes from green to yellow to red. Green shades represent good rankings and red shades represent bad rankings, with deeper shades representing better/worse rankings. Yellow represents mid rankings from the almost 500 golfers in the system with season segment data.

As part of this adaptation, some season segment stats have been added to a new panel on the prediction data page for current tournaments. This new panel is shown in the second screenshot above for Rory McIlroy ahead of the 2015 Turkish Airlines Open. You can see his rank, average finishing position and number of tournaments played for each season segment on this panel. The season segment that the current tournament is in is highlighted in bold text, as can be seen above. This will help you easily compare his form in the current season segment with his form in the others. You can also click on the link in the bottom of the panel to see his more detailed season segment stats page.


 Some notes on this new functionality:

1. This new functionality is only for tournaments in the current week (have prediction stats, but no results). This is because the season segment stats are cumulative and thus only correct for upcoming events.
2. Further to the previous point, you will only see the current week's tournaments in the dropdown list on this new "Season Segment (Field)" page. In practice, these will generally be available from Monday evening to Sunday evening of the tournament week. Similarly, the new season segment panel on the prediction data page will only be available for golfers in the same tournaments.
3. The season segment stats are calculated across both tours, so while golfers on one tour (e.g. the European PGA Tour) may have a relatively modest ranking, many golfers above them may play mainly on the other major tour (e.g. the US PGA Tour) or may not be playing that particular week. Therefore, the rank column colour coding should be used to quickly identify the relative ranks in the field.
4. Columns where low is good (e.g. missed cuts or average finishing position) have high default values when null to help sorting. The converse is true for columns where high is good (e.g. wins or top tens). In either case, null values are displayed as "n/a" in the relevant column(s). Nulls will occur when a golfer hasn't played enough tournaments (45) to feature in the season segment stats or has not played any tournaments in a particular season segment.
5. You may have to refresh a page to see the new Form menu option or the new season segment panel on the prediction data page.

 As part of this enhancement, the following charts have been added to the system:

1. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the best average finishing position (rank) in the early season segment (for early season events).
2. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the most wins in the early season segment (for early season events).
3. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the most top tens in the early season segment (for early season events).
4. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the least missed cuts in the early season segment (for early season events).
5. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the best average finishing position (rank) in the mid season segment (for mid season events).
6. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the most wins in the mid season segment (for mid season events).
7. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the most top tens in the mid season segment (for mid season events).
8. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the least missed cuts in the mid season segment (for mid season events).
9. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the best average finishing position (rank) in the late season segment (for late season events).
10. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the most wins in the late season segment (for late season events).
11. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the most top tens in the late season segment (for late season events).
12. Bar chart showing the golfers in the field with the least missed cuts in the late season segment (for late season events).

These twelve new charts brings the total number of charts on the site to 445. This new functionality makes it much easier to use the season segment stats to pick golfers for the current tournament, as it shows each golfer's performance at that time of the year over the previous five years. I trust you will find it useful and any feedback (via comments on this article or email) would be most welcome. The new season segment  functionality is available to all users, although only for the golfers you are permitted to view (all golfers for subscribers, those ranked 11-25 in the GP Rankings and ranked 26-40 for the overall season segment metric for non-subscribers). In addition, non-subscribers will be similarly restricted for the new season segment panel on the prediction data page and will  not be able to view the new charts listed above. Therefore, sign up today to get the most out of Golf Predictor, the premier European and US PGA Tour statistics site. 

2015 - Week 43 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Turkish Airlines Open (European PGA Tour) and the CIMB Classic (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. Both major tours are in Asia this week and like last year, the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, the home of the Maybank Malaysian Open on the European Tour for the past few years, is hosting the US Tour. As most of the field is from the US Tour, course history from the European Tour events is not much of a factor. The European Tour heads back to Turkey for the fist leg of the big money Final Series and several of the big European names are teeing it up on the Colin Montgomerie designed course. There are a few bigger names than usual in the Malaysian event this year, so it should make for a good week of golf on the US PGA Tour.

2015 - Week 42 Winners

Justin Rose (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) won the UBS Hong Kong Open on the European PGA Tour. The 35 year old Englishman won his eighth tour title in an exciting weekend battle with Lucas Bjerregaard. The duo pulled away from the field and traded birdies over the final two days. However, when nerves got to the young Dane on the back nine Sunday and he double bogeyed the fourteenth, there was only going to be one winner. Rose duly closed out to take the title by a single shot. Including the winner, we had only six of the top eighteen plus ties (6/23) in total. 

Smylie Kaufman (ranked 79th by Golf Predictor) won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on the US PGA Tour. The 23 year old American became the latest rookie to secure his first tour title quickly with a brilliant final round of 61 (-10). After posting -16, Kaufman had an anxious wait of several hours, watching the leaders try to overtake him. However, his score held up and he won in only his fifth tour start. Our top ranked player, Rickie Fowler, finished in tied 25th and we had eight of the top sixteen plus ties (8/24), in an event where several rookies played very well.

2015 - Week 42 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the UBS Hong Kong Open (European PGA Tour) and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (US PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. There are more big names than usual playing in Hong Kong Open this year, where Miguel Angel Jimenez will find it more difficult to once again raise his own record of oldest winner on the European PGA Tour! Perhaps Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed et al are there to warm up for the bigger events in China over the next few weeks or maybe they have other reasons for being there! Meanwhile, the Las Vegas event on the US PGA Tour hasn't got many big names competing this year. However, they do have Rickie Fowler, who's teeing it up as the favourite with the many bookies there!

2015 - Week 41 Winners

Andy Sullivan (ranked 8th by Golf Predictor) won the Portugal Masters on the European PGA Tour. The 29 year old Englishman won his third title of the season and his career in stormy Vilamoura. The tour used a shotgun start over the weekend to get the tournament finished, but that didn't faze Sullivan. He won easily with an impressive wire to wire performance, finishing nine shots clear of the field in the end. Our top ranked player, Martin Kaymer, finished in tied 50th and we had six of the top eighteen plus ties (6/21) in total in the weather affected event. 

Emiliano Grillo (ranked 20th by Golf Predictor) won the Frys.com Open on the US PGA Tour. The 23 year old Argentinian won his first tour title in his very first event as a PGA Tour member in a play-off with Kevin Na. Despite missing a tiddler for victory on the first extra hole, Grillo regrouped to take the title on the next when Na hooked his driver from the fairway on the par five final hole. Just a few weeks after winning the Web.com Tour Championship, Grillo probably wishes more events had websites as title sponsors! Our top ranked player, Rory McIlroy, finished in tied 26th and in a tournament traditionally hard to predict, we had only eight of the top seventeen plus ties (8/25). 

Remaining Data Tables Upgraded on Golf Predictor

Original data table (abridged)

Updated data table (inside Bootstrap panel)

Following on from the recent update to the data panels, all the remaining data tables (in addition to the Google Maps pages and input forms) have been similarly enhanced on Golf Predictor. The existing data tables (as shown in the first screenshot above) have been placed into attractive Twitter Bootstrap panels. As can be seen in the second screenshot above, these new panels make the data tables look much better, with a new title, rounded corners and shadowing. The panels shown above are the same portions of the main Prediction Rankings page for the 2015 British Masters on the European PGA Tour. Panels have been added to the following pages:

1. All pages on the Predictions menu
2. All pages on the Form menu
3. All relevant pages on the Information men (including the Tournaments Google Map page)
4. All remaining pages on the Results menu
5. All pages on the Other Stats menu
6. The Search page
7. The Change Password page (input form)
8. The Edit Profile page (input form)
9. The Member Registration page (input form)
10. The Course Location page (Google Map)

Some notes on these new data panels:

1. The format of some pages, e.g. the Edit Profile page, has been improved as part of this update.
2. As almost all these data tables are the only stats on the particular page, there is no need to make the new Bootstrap panels around them collapsible. The only exception is the Tournament Statistics (Rounds) page, which has a panel with record round scores under it. Therefore, you can now click on the title of the Tournament Statistics data table to collapse it and access the Season Scoring Records panel underneath quickly.
3. I have tested the data panels on the latest versions of Chrome, FireFox, IE and MS Edge and found them to work fine. There is a lot of pages involved, so it is possible I didn't catch everything. If you experience any issues, please contact me immediately.
4. The registration page is the only responsive page that has been updated. I have tested this at various screen sizes to ensure that it works correctly.
5. If you are using an older browser, you should not experience any significant issues. I have only been able to test this using compatibility settings on IE11, but the only issue appears to be the expected lack of rounded corners and shadowing on IE7/8. If you are still using a very old version of IE (or any other browser), it is really past time to upgrade or change it!
6. Golf Predictor is not really designed for mobile devices, but I have also tested these new panels on Chrome (Android 5.1.1) and Safari (iOS 6.1.3). They appear to work fine in both cases.
7. You may have to reload a page or empty your browser cache to see the new panels. 

I trust you will agree that these cosmetic updates to the input forms, Google Map pages and the remaining data tables are an improvement. Just another way to make Golf Predictor a little better!

2015 - Week 41 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Frys.com Open (US PGA Tour) and the Portugal Masters (European PGA Tour) are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the first event of the new 2014/15 US PGA Tour season, and there are a few big guns trying to get their new campaigns off to a flying start. Like several others, Rory McIlroy is fulfilling his obligation to play (unlike his injured Nike stable mate!) and there are several protagonists from last week's Presidents Cup teeing it up on the opposite side of the Pacific. The field in Portugal is more modest, but there are a significant number of the bigger regulars on the European Tour playing in the Algarve.

2015 - Week 40 Winner

Matthew Fitzpatrick (ranked 27th by Golf Predictor) won the British Masters supp. by Sky Sports on the European PGA Tour. The 21 year old Englishman fulfilled his early promise by winning his first tour title at the resurrected event in Woburn. Buoyed on by the strong home support, Fitzpatrick showed great composure down the stretch to take his maiden victory by two shots. Our top ranked player, Danny Willett, finished in tied 46th and we had eight of the top seventeen plus ties (8/21).

There was no individual stroke play event on the US PGA Tour this week as it is the short close season (and the week of the Presidents Cup!).

2015 - Week 40 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the British Masters supp. by Sky Sports (European PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. There is no event on the US PGA Tour this week as it is still the short close season and the Presidents Cup is being held. While the top golfers from outside Europe are duking it out in South Korea, there is another tournament revival in Europe. The British Masters returns to the schedule for the first time since 2008 and as a result, it is being well supported by the home contingent!

2015 - Week 39 Winner

Thorbjorn Olesen (ranked 82nd by Golf Predictor) won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the European PGA Tour. The 25 year old Dane overcame a bad start to win his third tour title in Scotland. Leading by three overnight, Olesen had given the shots back by his first three holes. However, he bounced back well and won by two shots with the help of a monster birdie putt on the fifteenth. After his injury troubles over the past year or so, it was an emotional victory for Olesen. Our top ranked player, Brooks Koepka, finished in tied 2nd and we had only eight of the top nineteen plus ties (8/26).

There was no event on the US PGA Tour this week as it is the short close season.

2015 - Week 39 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (European PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. There is no event on the US PGA Tour this week as it is the short close season. However, the European PGA Tour rolls on with the celebrity fest in Scotland this week! While there aren't many big golfing names teeing it up, there is a solid list of European Tour stalwarts teeing it up on the three courses. For once, it looks like golfers and celebrities alike have pretty decent weather for the event!

2015 - Week 38 Winners

Thongchai Jaidee (ranked 7th by Golf Predictor) won the Porsche European Open on the European PGA Tour. The 45 year old Thai won his seventh tour title with an assured final day performance. Leading by one overnight, Jaidee traded the lead with Graeme Storm before finishing solidly to secure a one shot victory. However, he did need a good up and down on the final hole to secure his latest victory. Our top ranked player, Bernd Wiesberger, missed the cut, despite being joint leader after the opening round. Overall, we only had six of the top nineteen plus ties (6/23).
 

Jordan Spieth (ranked 4th by Golf Predictor) won The Tour Championship by Coca-Cola on the US PGA Tour. The 22 year old American capped a fantastic season by banking the FedEx Cup jackpot with his fifth title of the season. Spieth was locked in a head to head battle for the title and the FedEx Cup with Henrik Stenson, but pulled away around the turn with some great putting to win by four shots. Following his wins, including the two majors and now the FedEx Cup, Spieth must be a shoe in for the Player of the Year award. Our top ranked player (and only other contender in the POY award), Jason Day, finished tied 10th and we had fourteen of the top sixteen plus ties (14/17) in the restricted field event.  

Data Panels Upgraded on Golf Predictor

Original sections (subset) on Prediction page

Updated sections on Prediction page

Following on from the recent update to the pop-up chart windows, all the data panels on Golf Predictor have been enhanced. Similar to the pop-up chart window update, the functional, but not very pretty, Microsoft AJAX collapsible panels (as shown in the first screenshot above) have been replaced with their more attractive Twitter Bootstrap equivalents. In addition, all non-collapsible data panels (e.g. Basic Details) have been similarly updated, as can also be seen above. As can be seen in the second screenshot above, these new panels look much better, with rounded corners, shadowing and better formatting. The panels shown above are the same portions of the prediction data page for Jason Day for the 2015 BMW Championship FedEx Cup event on the US PGA Tour. The panels have been updated on the following pages:

1. The golfer Prediction Data page
2. The main Tournament page
3. The main Course page
4. The main Golfer page
5. The golfer Season Segment Data page
6. The golfer Season Stats Data page
7. The golfer Tournament Result page
8. The golfer Performance Analysis Data page
9. The Tournament Statistics (Rounds) page
10. The Results by Player page

In addition, the data tables on most of these pages (e.g. the tournament results on the tournament page) have also been put into panels, so they can now also look better and can also be collapsed. Some notes on these new data panels:

1. I have tested them on Chrome, FireFox, IE11 and MS Edge and found them to work fine.
2. If you are using an older browser, you should not experience any significant issues. I have only been able to test this using compatibility settings on IE11, but the only issue appears to be the expected lack of rounded corners and shadowing on IE7/8. If you are still using a very old version of IE (or any other browser), it is really past time to upgrade or change it!
3. Golf Predictor is not really designed for mobile devices, but I have also tested these new panels on Chrome (Android 5.1.1) and Safari (iOS 6.1.3). They appear to work fine in both cases.
4. There are no arrow icons on the new collapsible panels to collapse/expand the panel. However, you can simply click on the panel title to accomplish this.
5. You may have to reload a page or empty your browser cache to see the upgraded data panels. 
6. The images are different widths above, because the second image is slightly longer than the first one and this confuses the blogging software! The page width (i.e. the white page on the green background) is the same in both cases, although the new panels are slightly wider than the old panels.

I trust you will agree that these cosmetic updates to the data panels are an improvement. Just another way to make Golf Predictor a little better!

2015 - Week 38 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions for this week, The Tour Championship by Coca-Cola (US PGA Tour) and the Porsche European Open (European PGA Tour) are now available on Golf Predictor. Only the top thirty in the FedEx Cup rankings are playing in the US season finale this week, while the other big US names rest in advance of the Presidents Cup and the start of the new PGA Tour season. Not many big names at the revived European Open, which moves to the continent for the first time. It was last played in England in 2009, but there are a considerable golfers from the mid to lower end of the world's top one hundred in action.

2015 - Week 37 Winners

Rikard Karlberg (ranked 22nd by Golf Predictor) won the 72° Open D'Italia pres. by Damiani on the European PGA Tour. The 28 year old Swede won his maiden tour title with a play-off victory over long time leader Martin Kaymer. Karlberg holed a birdie putt on the second extra hole to leave Kaymer ruing his mini collapse on the back nine. Leading by three at one stage, the German hit a succession of poor short shots to come back to the bunched field. Kaymer was our top ranked player and we had eleven of the top twenty plus ties in total (11/24). 

Jason Day (ranked 1st by Golf Predictor) won the third event of the FedEx Cup play-offs, the BMW Championship. The 27 year old Australian continued his brilliant recent form by winning yet again, this time by six shots in Chicago. After he opened with 61, there was only ever going to be one winner and Day eased to his fifth title of the season. In doing so, Day, our top ranked player, deservedly became world number one for the first time. Overall, we had ten of the top thirteen plus ties (10/18).

Pop-up Chart Windows Upgraded on Golf Predictor

Original pop-up chart window (Microsoft AJAX)

New Pop-up chart window (Twitter Bootstrap)

Loading screen for new pop-up chart window

The "Twitter Bootstrapification" of Golf Predictor has continued with the replacement of the pop-up chart windows on the site. The functional, but not very pretty, Microsoft AJAX pop-ups (as shown in the first screenshot above) have been replaced with their more attractive Twitter Bootstrap equivalents. As can be seen in the second screenshot above, these new pop-ups look much better, with a title row (complete with close button and new title!), rounded corners and a footer row (with main close button). The chart shown above is a comparison of the average finishing positions for the big three (McIlroy, Spieth and Day) ahead of the 2015 BMW Championship FedEx Cup event on the US PGA Tour.

This turned out to be a bigger and more difficult task than originally anticipated. However, with the assistance of the additional eModal helper, I was finally able to get them to look and work as desired. This eModal helper even inserts a loading message and bar while the content loads, as can be seen in the third screenshot above. Some notes on these new pop-up windows:

1. I have tested them on Chrome, FireFox, IE11 and MS Edge. One of the advantages of using Twitter Bootstrap is better cross browser compatibility. The old pop-ups did not display as well on Chrome as they did on other browsers.
2. If you are using an older browser, you may experience issues. I have only been able to test this using compatibility settings on IE11, but the only issue appears to be the expected lack of rounded corners on IE7/8. If you are still using a very old version of IE (or any other browser), it is really past time to upgrade or change it!
3. Golf Predictor is not really designed for mobile devices, but I have also tested these new pop-up windows on Android 5.1.1 and iOS 6.1.3. They work, but like the original pop-up windows, it isn't a perfect experience.
4. There are hundreds of pop-up chart windows on the site. The main Compare Predictions page alone and its tee-off group equivalent each contain 57 chart pop-ups, for example! It was not feasible to check every single chart, but as the code changes are the same in each case, if one chart works on a page/dropdown choice, they all should work. I have done a considerable amount of testing, but it is possible I missed something. If you experience any issues, please contact me immediately.
5. You may have to reload a page or empty your browser cache to see the upgraded pop-up window content correctly.

I trust you will agree that these new pop-ups look a lot better. Even though the change is mainly cosmetic, the loading message will help slightly when the pop-up contents are slow to slow for any reason. Just another way to make Golf Predictor a little better!

2015 - Week 37 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions/stats for this week, the BMW Championship (US PGA Tour) and the 72° Open D'Italia pres. by Damiani (European PGA Tour) are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the third leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs in the US this week and the pressure will be on to qualify for the lucrative Tour Championship next week. The players should be refreshed though, after the rest week last week. As usual, the bigger names are still in FedEx Cup contention in America, but there still are a few players in the top fifty in the world rankings teeing it up in Italy this week.

2015 - Week 36 Winners

Thomas Pieters (ranked 17th by Golf Predictor) won the the KLM Open on the European PGA Tour.  The in-form 23 year old Belgian won his second tour title in three weeks by a single shot over an even more recent winner Lee Slattery! A play-off between the last two tour winners looked to be on the cards until Slattery unfortunately three putted from long range on the last to hand Pieters the title. Our top ranked player, Martin Kaymer, finished in tied 57th and we had nine of the top eighteen plus ties (9/22).
 

There was no tournament on the US PGA Tour this week.

2015 - Week 36 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions for this week, the KLM Open (European PGA Tour) are now available on Golf Predictor. Just the one tournament this week as it's the rest week in the FedEx Cup series on the US PGA Tour. There are not many big names in The Netherlands, but at least double major winner Martin Kaymer is there with a supporting cast of tour regulars.

2015 - Week 35 Winners

Lee Slattery (ranked 21st by Golf Predictor) won the M2M Russian Open on the European PGA Tour. The 37 year old Englishman won his second tour title with a one shot victory over Tano Goya. After trading the lead with his Argentinian adversary on the final day, Horsey chipped in on the seventeenth for a birdie and held his nerve for a par on the last to seal his first victory in four years. Our top ranked player, defending champion David Horsey, finished in third and we had seven of the top seventeen plus ties (7/21) in total in this weak fielded event. 

Rickie Fowler (ranked 11th by Golf Predictor) won the Deutsche Bank Championship on the US PGA Tour. The 26 year old American won his third event of the year with a one shot win over Henrik Stenson. While the Swede looked comfortable in the lead for most of the day, Fowler reeled him in and overtook him on the sixteenth after Stenson found the water and double bogeyed. The formerly overrated Fowler held on impressively on the final two holes to land another big title! Our top ranked player, Jason Day, finished in tied 12th and in an event where many of the bigger names did not perform, we had only six of the top twelve plus ties (6/21).

Prediction Data Page Updated on Golf Predictor

Updated General panel and new DFS panel for Jimmy Walker ahead of the 2015 Deutsche Bank Championship    

Updated Season panel for Jimmy Walker ahead of the 2015 Deutsche Bank Championship    

I am pleased to announce several updates to the golfer 'Prediction' page on Golf Predictor. These updates vary from the cosmetic to the functional and are outlined below.

1. I have moved the GP Score and the Performance Likelihood percentages to the same row in the General panel and enhanced their display with radial dials. The length of the arc on the dials is proportional to the values for the golfer. This can be seen in the first screenshot above for Jimmy Walker ahead of the 2015 Deutsche Bank Championship.
2. I have moved the DraftKings DFS data out of the General panel and put it in a new panel of its own. This panel will only be visible for tournaments that have this DFS information. This can also be seen in the first screenshot above.
3. I have added the best and worst results for the last five events for the golfer to this page. This brings the last five stats in line with the other historical stats on the page and allows for the creation of a box plot (see below) for last five events also. This can also be seen in the second screenshot above, also for Jimmy Walker ahead of the 2015 Deutsche Bank Championship.
4. I have added seven new box plots directly to the page. These charts use the existing average, standard deviation, best finish and worst finish for each historical metric (GP season/last five events/course/tournament/last twelve similar events/similar weather/similar length course) and shows the results distribution for the golfer at a glance. The box plots for the GP season and last five events can also be seen in the second screenshot above. Much more on these great new plots here.

These updates should improve the prediction page for each golfer considerably. The radial dials and the box plots use JavaScript to work, but don't appear to impact on page load times. Just another way to make Golf Predictor even better!