2016 GP Season Stats Available

Following the conclusion of the last event of 2016 on either of the major tours in Hong Kong today, the statistics for the 2016 GP season are now available on Golf Predictor (Other Stats menu, Season Stats options). The numbers have been crunched for all 542 golfers who played at least five tournaments (excluding non-finishes) on the European/US PGA Tour during the course of the GP season (2016 calendar year).

This year, I have listed the best golfers in various categories. In each case, only golfers who played at least fifteen tournaments across both tours in 2016 are included in the analysis.

Best Performers 

As measured by their average finish over the year across the two major tours, these are the top performers:

1. Jason Day (15.61)
2. Dustin Johnson (16.82)
3. Adam Scott (17.24)
4. Rory McIlroy (19.55)
5. Henrik Stenson (20.11)

An unsurprising list, with the possible exception of Scott, but even he won twice earlier in the year.

Most Consistent Performers 

As measured by the standard deviation (spread) of their finishes over the year across the two major tours, these are the most consistent among the top performers:

1. Adam Scott (17.24)
2. Rafa Cabrera Bello (19.49)
3. Charl Schwartzel (21.63)
4. Richard Bland (22.69)
5. Jason Day (22.94)

As you can see, Scott had an impressively low standard deviation, which means he finished consistently very high up the leaderboard all year. This can be seen in his results, where his worst results were a couple of  finishes in the 50s.

Most Wins

As a percentage of tournaments played, these are the golfers with the most wins across the two major tours this year:

    1. Alex Noren (4 in 22, 18.18%)
    2. Jason Day (3 in 20, 15%)
    3. Dustin Johnson (3 in 22, 13.64%)
    3. Rory McIlroy (3 in 22, 13.64%)
    5. Adam Scott (2 in 21, 9.52%)

No surprise that most of these golfers have featured in previous lists! However, the great end to the season for Noren sees him make his only appearance on this page in first place.

Most Top Tens

As a percentage of tournaments played, these are the golfers with the most top tens across the two major tours this year:

    1. Dustin Johnson (14 in 22, 63.64%)
    1. Rory McIlroy (14 in 22, 63.64%)
    3. Henrik Stenson (12 in 21, 57.14%)
    3. Jason Day (10 in 20, 50%)
    5. Adam Scott (10 in 21, 47.62%)

Once again, no surprise that most of these golfers have featured in previous lists! Note Matt Kuchar had eleven top tens, but he played 28 tournaments which gives him a lower percentage. Also, several other golfers also had ten top tens, but from more tournaments.

Least missed cuts

As a percentage of tournaments played, these are the golfers with the least missed cuts across the two major tours this year:

    1. Adam Scott (0 in 21, 0%)
    2. Rafa Cabrera Bello (1 in 27, 3.7%)
    3. Charl Schwartzel (1 in 22, 4.55%)
    3. Dustin Johnson (1 in 22, 4.55%)
    5. Bubba Watson (1 in 21, 4.76%)

Another impressive 2016 stat for Scott, who is the only golfer who played more than six events to have made every cut this season.

Most Tournaments Played

These are the golfers who played the most events across the two major tours this year:

    1. Kyle Riefers (34)
    1. Renato Paratore (34)
    3. Danny Lee (33)
    3. Si-Woo Kim (33)
    3. Spenser Levin (33)
    3. Peter Malnati (33)

As you can see, US PGA Tour golfers feature very heavily in this list!

Lowest Stroke Average

These are the golfers with the lowest stroke average across the two major tours this year:

    1. Henrik Stenson (69.57)
    2. Dustin Johnson (69.66)
    3. Rory McIlroy (69.68)
    3. Adam Scott (69.70)
    5. Jason Day (69.71)

As you can see. all the golfers above have very similar stroke averages, especially those ranked second to fifth.

No surprise that most lists contains the same golfers, given the interrelated nature of the lists. See these and many more interesting 2016 GP season statistics on Golf Predictor!

2016 - Week 47 Winner

Sam Brazel (ranked 77th by Golf Predictor) won the UBS Hong Kong Open on the European PGA Tour. The 37 year old Australian finally won his first tour title in an exciting finish in Hong Kong. At one point, there were six tied for the lead on the back nine and although Brazel pulled away, he was caught by long time leader Rafa Cabrera Bello after the Spaniard birdied the sixteenth and seventeenth holes. However, the Australian was not to be denied, as he hit his second shot close (with a slight mis-hit, as he admitted afterwards!) on the last to set up the winning birdie. Our top ranked player, Patrick Reed, didn't really feature and finished in T43rd. Overall, we had ten of the top fourteen plus ties (10/24) in total. 

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

2016 - Week 47 Predictions/Statistics Online

The predictions and statistics for this week, the UBS Hong Kong Open (European PGA Tour), are now available on Golf Predictor. It's the last event of the long GP Season and like last year, there are several big names playing in Hong Kong Open this year. It's not hard to guess what brings the likes of Justin Rose, Danny Willett and Patrick Reed half way around the world in December! Rose pulled out of the Hero Challenge in the Bahamas a few days ago with a bad back, so you might want to factor that into your deliberations this week.

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

2016 - Week 46 Winners

Brandon Stone (ranked 9th by Golf Predictor) won the Alfred Dunhill Championship on the European PGA Tour. The 23 year old South African won his second tour title (and second in his home country) with an impressive performance at Leopard Creek. Leading going into the final day, Stone was caught on the front nine by a fast starting Charl Schwartzel. However, event specialist Schwartzel fell away badly on the home stretch and Stone saw out the win easily, winning by seven shots in the end. Schwartzel was our top ranked golfer and still finished in tied 4th, despite that surprising meltdown. In an event that is usually difficult to predict, we had ten of the top seventeen plus ties (10/19) in total. 

Harold Varner III (ranked 9th by Golf Predictor) won the Australian PGA Championship on the European PGA Tour. The American won his maiden European tour title in an exciting battle down the stretch with long time leader Andrew Dodt. Varner, who co-led after the third round here last year but lost in a play-off, came from two shots back this time with a closing 65 to win by two himself in testing conditions on the Gold Coast. Our top ranked golfer, Adam Scott, finished third and despite the weather and limited history in the system, we had eight of the top fifteen plus ties (8/20) in total. 

There was no official event on the US PGA Tour this week! Golf Predictor doesn't cover the (very) restricted field junket that is the Hero Challenge, even if Tiger Woods made his latest comeback there!

Log in/Log out Pages Enhanced on Golf Predictor

Original Login Page

New Login Page

The log in and log out pages on Golf Predictor have been improved. Similar to the fairly recent changes to other site elements, these pages have been enhanced with more attractive Twitter Bootstrap components. This can be seen in the screenshots above, which show the old and new log in pages. As you can see, the two column layout with green panels have been replaced with an attractive new Bootstrap panel with snazzier fields and effects!

This new look is much cleaner, with the Forgotten Password functionality now accessible via the link on the right hand side of the panel header. Clicking this link will change the panel displayed to the Forgotten Password one, which in turn has a link back to the log in panel in the same location.

The much simpler log out page has been updated in a similar manner. The message on this page has been simplified and displayed in an attractive Bootstrap panel. Both these newly updated pages should work fine on any size screen from mobile phone up to a large monitor. I have tested these updated pages on several browsers and all appears to work as expected. Please contact me immediately if you experience any problems logging in or recovering your password.

I trust you will agree that these cosmetic updates to the log in and log out pages are an improvement. Just another way to make Golf Predictor a little better!