HSBC Champions Event Gets Promotion!

In a great boost for golf in Asia, the HSBC Champions event in China has been upgraded to WGC status. This is a landmark decision for world golf and it creates the most prestigious event on the Asian continent. Formerly the opening event on the European PGA Tour, this new status will mean more prize money and more stringent qualification criteria. Although already attracting big names, the organisers can expect a truly world class field for the revamped tournament in Shanghai this November.

The reaction has been universally good from players and administrators alike, with Tiger Woods and defending champion Sergio Garcia among those welcoming the news.

2009 - Week 22 Predictions Online

We have published the predictions for week 22, the Open de Espana (European PGA Tour) and the Quail Hollow Championship (US PGA Tour). The Quail Hollow (formerly the Wachovia) Championship boasts a strong field this year, including the world number one and previous winner Tiger Woods. In all, ten of the top fourteen ranked players in the world are competing in North Carolina this week. Hopefully Phil Mickelson and Tiger will serve up another treat! That leaves relatively slim pickings for the Open de Espana in Girona, with even Sergio 'Sourpuss' Garcia shunning his national Open! However, the return to action of John Daly should provide some excitement in Spain!

The only pre-2004 champion in the Quail Hollow Championship (Golf Predictor uses the results from the previous 5 years) is David Toms, who won the inaugural event in 2003. The corresponding list for the Open de Espana is Kenneth Ferrie (2003), Jarmo Sandelin (1999), Thomas Bjorn (1998) and Colin Montgomerie (1994).

2009 - Week 21 Winners

Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (ranked 12th by Golf Predictor) proved himself to be the most durable in difficult conditions by winning the Ballantine's Championship in Korea. Jaidee secured his fourth European PGA title with a brilliant birdie on the first hole of a three way play-off with Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ranked 5th) and Sung-Hoon Kang (ranked 132nd). That's three runner up finishes in a row now for Fdez-Castano, who seems to be turning into the new Padraig Harrington! In a tournament with high scoring (including a third round average of 78.55), we had two of the top four plus ties. Our top pick Henrik Stenson finished in a tie for 52nd.

On the US PGA Tour, Jerry Kelly (ranked 34th) finally secured another title at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Despite leading by 3 strokes overnight, a nervy Kelly soon found himself trailing Charles Howell III by the same margin. However, he battled back admirably to win for the first time in seven years. Our top pick Kenny Perry finished down in tied 59th place and we had Steve Stricker and Rory Sabbatini in the top ten.

2009 Ballantine's Championship - Tournament History & World Ranking Issues

The tournament history for the Ballantine's Championship was missing from Golf Predictor due to a misspelling of the 2009 tournament name. This has now been corrected and the information is now available. For this tournament, the tournament and course history are identical as the same course has been used to host the event since its inception onto the European PGA Tour last year. In addition, the world rankings for a few problematic golfer names* were not taken into account. This included the in-form Gonzalo Fdez-Castano who was down the rankings as a result (having been assigned the default world ranking of 1050). This has also been corrected.

Note that you may have to reload/refresh the prediction pages to see the tournament history information and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.


*Some golfers (particularly Korean and Chinese golfers!) are known by multiple variations of their names, even on the same official source.

Another New 'Field Nationalities' Chart added to Golf Predictor

Further to our last post, We are pleased to announce the addition of another 'Field Nationalities' chart to Golf Predictor. This latest chart enables you to see the breakdown of the nationality of the golfers for all completed tournaments on the European and US PGA Tours since 2003. This new chart is available on the "Results By Year" page (or any Tournament page) on the "View Options" menu (member section). The chart introduced in the previous post is only available for events that we have predicted (since around May 2008) and may include golfers who did not tee it up (alternates or late withdrawals). We have also added sortable round scores to the results table on the "Results By Year" page and changed the hover text to the total number of strokes taken by the golfer.

The screenshot above shows the nationality breakdown chart for all golfers who actually competed in the 2009 US Masters. Due to the nature of this event (a prestigious major tournament), there were no alternates or late withdrawals, so this chart is identical to the one on the previous post (except for the colour scheme). As usual, hovering over a bar shows more information, as shown above for the US.

This brings the total number of charts on Golf Predictor to 169. This new chart is available to all members, regardless of subscription status. Golf Predictor keeps on improving!

New 'Field Nationalities' Chart added to Golf Predictor

We are glad to announce the addition of a 'Field Nationalities' chart to Golf Predictor. This enables you to see the breakdown of the nationality of the entrants for any tournament that we have predicted. This new chart is available on the "Tourn Predictions" page ("Stats Analysis" menu, Member section).

The screenshot above shows the nationality breakdown chart for the 2009 US Masters. Unsurprisingly, the US makes up most of the entrants for this and all US PGA Tour events. The European PGA Tour usually has much more diversity in its tournaments! Like every other chart, hovering over a bar shows more information, as shown above for the US. Note that this chart includes any alternates for the tournament and may have late withdrawals included.

This brings the total number of charts on Golf Predictor to 168. This new chart is available to all members, regardless of subscription status. Just another way to make Golf Predictor even better!

Note: Similar chart available for all completed tournaments since 2003 on the European and US PGA Tours.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans - Memorable Moments

Just to whet your appetite for this week's Zurich Classic of New Orleans (covered by Golf Predictor), here are some memorable moments from previous years. These moments include several great bunker shots/chip ins and a good comeback from Vijay Singh.

2009 - Week 21 Predictions Updated

We have had to update the predictions for this week's tournaments on Golf Predictor due to the incorrect weighting of previous course history. This has now been corrected and the new ranking lists are now online. Note that you may have to reload/refresh the prediction pages to see the new rankings and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

2009 - Week 21 Predictions Online

We have published the predictions for week 21, the Ballantine's Championship (European PGA Tour) and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (US PGA Tour). There was a slight delay this week due to the late availability of some statistics. For the second week in a row, an Irish man is defending a title in the Far East. Graeme McDowell will have a tougher task to retain his title as a good quality field has been assembled in Korea.

The list of pre-2004 champions in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (Golf Predictor uses the results from the previous 5 years) includes K.J. Choi (2002), David Toms (2001), Carlos Franco (2000 & 1999), Brad Faxon (1997) and Scott McCarron (1996). This is only the second year of the Ballintine's Championship.

2009 - Week 20 Winners

Australian Scott Strange (ranked 17th by Golf Predictor) has won his second European PGA Tour victory at the Volvo China Open. A timely birdie burst on the back nine consigned Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ranked 1st) to his second runner up finish in a row. In a tournament with high scoring, we had five of the top eleven plus ties.

On the US PGA Tour, Brian Gay (ranked 27th) also secured his second title with a run away victory at the Verizon Heritage. Gay finished in style with a 64 for a ten shot victory as none of the pack did much chasing. The winning score (-20) and winning margin were both records. Whatever big names came down from Augusta had a Masters hangover as almost all failed to perform. Robert Allenby's long cut streak of 32 came to an end, but our top pick Paul Casey rallied with a 66 on Sunday to finish in a tie for 11th place.