2018 GOLF COMPETITION - MASTERS SERIES

PRIZES

£800 in Amazon gift vouchers up for grabs!

2018 Champion = £500,
Second place = £200,
Third place = £100.

To be eligible for prizes, competitors must tweet their picks to @tipsterstour throughout the Final Series.

REGULAR SEASON

For each event, competitors select 5 players (plus one reserve player).

Entries can be made on Twitter @tipsterstour or on the Betfair golf forum.

The reserve will be used if one of the 5 first choice players doesn’t start the tournament.

Deadline for posting picks, unless otherwise stated, will be on the Wednesday prior to the tournament, at 22:00 UK time. Selections made after the deadline will NOT be accepted.

Scoring

Points are awarded for ALL of the 5 selected players.

Winner = Odds x 100,
2nd place = Odds x 30,
3rd place = Odds x 23,
4th place = Odds x 17,
5th place = Odds x 12,
6th place = Odds x 8,
7th place = Odds x 5,
8th place = Odds x 3,
9th place = Odds x 2,
10th place = Odds x 1.

Dead heat rules will apply for tied positions. For example, a 2-way tie for 3rd place would be Odds x 20, a 2-tie for 4th would be Odds x 14.5, and a 6-way tie for 8th would be Odds x 1.

The 4 majors are x3 points, and the following tournaments will be x2 points in 2018: All WGC’s, PLAYERS Championship, plus all Rolex Series events on the European Tour.

Where a player’s score results in a fraction, it will be rounded down to the nearest whole number. Scores for all players earning points will be posted each week along with the updated standings.

For any tournament featuring 20 players/teams or less (eg GolfSixes), competitors pick ONE player/team, and score Odds x 100 if their player/team wins, and no points otherwise.

For team events (eg EurAsia Cup), competitors make ONE score prediction, and score Odds x 100 if it’s exactly right, and no points otherwise.

Odds

Odds used for scoring are published on the Tuesday prior to tournament. The odds used, taken from Oddschecker, will be the best price from 10 boomakers. See https://tipsterstour.wordpress.com/2018-masters-series/ for list of bookmakers used.

Automatic Picks

So that it’s not a disadvantage to miss the occasional week, competitors who fail to post on time will be assigned automatic picks. These will be the 5 lowest odds selections.

This year, only exempt competitors (see list below) will be eligible for automatic picks.

3 allowed uses of automatic picks during the first 16 weeks, and a further 3 allowed uses during the remaining 16 weeks.

Exemptions

There is a limit of 72 competitors in the 2018 Masters series.

Category 1 (42 tipsters) – Top 50 from the 2017 Season with 40+ ranked tournaments in the August 2017 WGTR.

applehunter
bigH
buffythebookieslayer
Catch Me ifyoucan
Clerkmore
CrowsEye
crystalhunt
denis foley
dibble27
donny osmond
dukeofpuke
El Bandido
fatboynotslim
FCH
feastorfamine
FRANKIETHETORY
gecko6
GT
Hank Hill
Humbert The Priest
mighty
NonShy
old applejack
padlock
PinChaseGolf
PQ
punter66
qqking
Quincy
raspberrybottom
ROBBO ROBBO
scarlet
Sing when ur winning
SkintofGreatYarmouth
stephaniebot
STUDYFORM
tictacman1
toberaheena
tv man
uptheboro
wedge1
wowiezowiee

Category 2 (7 tipsters) – Entered 10+ tournaments of the 2018 Qualifying Stage.

6troytown
batboy4ever
MC Roller
mulldog
SportTalkSport
swimmer
tomwba1982

(Category 3 – Competitors who enter 10+ tournaments of the 2018 Regular Season will be granted exemption status, meaning they become eligible for automatic picks.)

So that’s a total of 49 exemptions, which means there are 23 spots available to make up the field of 72 elite golf tipsters.

These 23 spots will be allocated on first come first served basis in January 2018. Up to 8 additional entries may be allowed as alternates.

FINAL SERIES

The Final Series will be a knockout format with 16 qualifiers.

Scoring will be as for the Regular Season, with x10 points.

Qualification

There will be 16 qualifiers:

1. 2017 Champion FRANKIETHETORY.
2. Winner of the 2018 Qualifying Stage.
3. The remaining qualifiers will be determined by Regular Season standings. So top 14 guarantees qualification. The cut mark might be anywhere between 14th and 16th.

Tied positions are somewhat unlikely with the new scoring system, but any ties will be resolved using the August 2018 World Golf Tipster Rankings (WGTR), which will be published following week ending 26 July 2018.

Schedule

Round of 16
23 August – The Northern Trust
31 August – Dell Technologies Championship

Quarter-Finals
6 September – BMW Championship
20 September – TOUR Championship

Semi-Finals
25 October – WGC HSBC Champions
1 November – Turkish Airlines Open

Grand Final & 3rd place match
8 November – Nedbank Challenge
15 November – DP World Tour Championship

Format

The 16 qualifiers will be seeded 1 to 16 according to the week 32 Regular Season standings, and at this point, the bracket will be set for the entire Final Series.

Round of 16: (a) 1v16, (b) 8v9, (c) 5v12, (d) 4v13, (e) 6v11, (f) 3v14, (g) 7v10, (h) 2v15,
Quarter-Finals: (A) winner a v winner b, (B) winner c v winner d, (C) winner e v winner f, (D) winner g v winner h,
Semi-Finals: winner A v winner B, winner C v winner D.

For each tournament, competitors select 5 players (plus one reserve player). A competitor cannot select ANY of the same players as their opponent.

The points in the Final Series are as for the Regular Season, multiplied by 10.

Competitors begin each round of the Final Series with their Regular Season points total.

There are 2 tournaments in each round. Points are carried forward from the 1st leg to the 2nd leg, within each round. However, points are NOT carried forward from one round to the next.

The competitor with the highest points total after the 2nd leg is the winner, and goes through to the next round. If there is a tie, the higher seed will go through.

Priority

For the 1st leg in each round, the lower seeded competitor in each match will have the priority until 14:00 UK time on the day before the tournament.

For the 2nd leg in each round, the higher seeded competitor in each match will have the priority until 14:00 UK time on the day before the tournament.

After this time, and until the deadline (22:00 UK time), the priority will go to whoever picks first. This means whoever picks last is obliged to select 5 different players to their opponent.

OTHER RULES

This section contains the finer details of the rules not already covered.

Incomplete Lineups. If a competitor has fewer than 5 players who start the tournament (due to withdrawals, or any other reason provided the initial entry was made in good faith), additional players will be supplemented according to the list used for the automatic picks. Such cases will not be deemed an actual use of automatic picks.

Ambiguous Picks. Consider these examples: “D Lee” could mean Danny or Dong-hwan, “Molinari” could mean Francesco or Edoardo. Generally speaking, a common sense approach will be adopted, and it will be assumed that the intended player is the one with the higher rank in the Official World Golf Rankings. To avoid doubt, it is always better to specify the full name (first and last) of all selected players.

Entries via Twitter. Any tweet to @tipsterstour containing selections will be accepted, but Direct Messages will NOT be accepted. Tweets containing selections must NOT be deleted for at least 7 days following the conclusion of the tournament. Also, tweets must be public (not protected).

Multiple Entries. Only one entry is allowed per person. In case an individual is found to be entering multiple times under different names, all such entries will be disqualified. In order to prevent possible abuses, we will NOT accept entries from newly opened Twitter accounts, except for competitors migrating from the Betfair forum (or possibly from another Twitter account).

Editing Picks. Once selections have been entered for a tournament, it is NOT allowed to change them later, except to replace a withdrawn player where no reserve is available or to nominate a new reserve player. Simple corrections or amendments to entries are also permitted, provided they are made within 10 minutes of the original entry and before any deadline.

Shortened Tournaments. If a tournament is cancelled, or where not enough holes are completed to make it an official result (usually 36 for European Tour, 54 for PGA Tour), all bets are void. In these cases, all competitors will score zero.

Deadlines. Deadlines for posting picks, unless otherwise stated, will be on the Wednesday prior to the tournament, at 22:00 UK time. Selections made after the deadline will NOT be accepted. For week 1 of the Regular Season, the deadline will be on Thursday 4 January at 14:00 UK time.

Early Deadlines. Will apply during week 32 of the Regular Season for competitors around the cut mark. The earliest such deadline will be 11:00 UK time on the day before the tournament.

Automatic Picks (Ties). The Official World Golf Ranking at the start of the tournament will be used to resolve any ties (for players with equal odds). For tournaments with a pairs format (eg Zurich Classic), it will be the player with the higher Official World Golf Ranking from each team. For team events (eg EurAsia Cup), the correct score prediction assigned will be the tie.

Automatic Picks (During the first weeks). Competitors receiving automatic picks during the first (up to 3) weeks of the Regular Season will only be shown on the leaderboard once they have become active in the competition.

Automatic Picks (Final Series). There are no automatic picks in the Final Series for competitors who fail to post. However, automatic picks may be called on if opponents select identical players, or if a player doesn’t start the tournament and there is no available reserve.

Competitors who fail to post for 4 consecutive weeks. Will be removed from the competition, and will lose their exemption status. They may enter again later on, if there are spots available, starting from zero points. Note that failing to post for ANY tournament on a given week goes down as a strike.

REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE (PROVISIONAL)

Week 1
4 January – Tournament of Champions (deadline Thursday 14:00 UK time)

Week 2
11 January – Sony Open in Hawaii
11 January – SA Open
12 January – EurAsia Cup (Correct Score Prediction)

Week 3
18 January – CareerBuilder Challenge
18 January – Abu Dhabi Championship

Week 4
25 January – Farmers Insurance Open
25 January – Dubai Desert Classic

Week 5
1 February – Phoenix Open
1 February – Maybank Championship

Week 6
8 February – Pebble Beach Pro-Am
8 February – World Super 6 Perth

Week 7
15 February – Genesis Open
15 February – Oman Classic

Week 8
22 February – Honda Classic
22 February – Qatar Masters

Week 9
1 March – WGC Mexico Championship (x2 points)
1 March – Puerto Rico Open
1 March – Tshwane Open

Week 10
8 March – Valspar Championship
8 March – Indian Open

Week 11
15 March – Arnold Palmer Invitational
15 March – Philippines Championship

Week 12
21 March – WGC Match Play (x2 points, Wednesday Start)
22 March – Punta Cana Championship

Week 13
29 March – Houston Open

Week 14
5 April – THE MASTERS (x3 points)

Week 15
12 April – RBC Heritage
12 April – TBA (European Tour)

Week 16
19 April – Texas Open
19 April – Trophee Hassan II

Week 17
26 April – Zurich Classic
26 April – China Open

Week 18
3 May – Wells Fargo Championship
5 May – Golf Sixes

Week 19
10 May – PLAYERS Championship (x2 points)
10 May – Rocco Forte Open

Week 20
17 May – Byron Nelson
17 May – Belgian Knockout

Week 21
24 May – Dean&Deluca Inviatational
24 May – BMW PGA Championship (x2 points)

Week 22
31 May – Memorial Tournament
31 May – Italian Open (x2 points)

Week 23
7 June – St Jude Classic
7 June – Austrian Open

Week 24
14 June – US OPEN (x3 points)

Week 25
21 June – Travelers Championship
21 June – BMW International Open

Week 26
28 June – The National
28 June – Open de France (x2 points)

Week 27
5 July – Greenbrier Classic
5 July – Irish Open (x2 points)

Week 28
12 July – John Deere Classic
12 July – Scottish Open (x2 points)

Week 29
19 July – THE OPEN (x3 points)
19 July – Barbasol Championship

Week 30
26 July – Canadian Open
26 July – European Open

Week 31
2 August – WGC Bridgestone Invitational (x2 points)
2 August – Barracuda Championship

Week 32
9 August – PGA CHAMPIONSHIP (x3 points)
8 August – European Team Championships (Wednesday Start)

Seems to be making it complex for the sake of doing so to me, but I'm an old stick in the mud, so maybe its just me? I think the current system worked pretty fairly, in truth. Glad I wont be settling it, for sure!

I'll think on it, before January, anyway

No it's not change for the sake of it. Let's face it, the comp got a bit boring towards the end of the year, and even a couple of finalists dropped out. Same has happened in previous years. So the aim is to add a whole lot of excitement to the closing stages, and that's why we will have a knockout stage. Regular season points still make a difference. I think it's a good balance now (the new format has been tested extensively btw).

The new scoring system works well with the Regular Season and the knockout format, and that was the main reason to try to change it. But I think what we've come up with is just a million times better all round! There will be some big seeming numbers being scored but we will soon get used to it, and I am confident most will like the new format once we get going.

As for settling, it's all programmed and not a problem.

I will be disappointed if you don't enter, stephanie, as you are a stalwart of the competition and would be missed. But no way will anything be changing back.

That's fine, its your competition after all

Good stuff EB. I like the points system for the first 10 places. The difference between the winner and the places in the last comp was too big.

You should be in charge of Brexit negotiations

Cheers CH!

Yes, sometimes I think that might be an easier job

Sorry EB but I don't like the idea at all. Stating the obvious; I, or anyone else, could have a blinding main season and come up with some great winners, sitting clear at the top, only to be knocked out a week later from someone potentially miles behind. Just feels a little off for me.

Also my picks are based on guys I find value odds so if I'm matched v someone who goes ahead and picks a few of the golfers I had planned, meaning I can't, it defeats my way of playing totally.

Admire the work you're putting into the competition though.

FRANKIE, yes, that could happen. Regular Season points do still count in the Final Series knockout stage. Chances are the difference between 1 and 16 seed will be at least 50k points. That's equivalent to a 50/1 winner in the Final Series, and probably then some. The 16 seed is going to have to pull out all the stops to win. But it could happen. We might see a few gubbings! The whole point is to add excitement.

As for not being able to pick the same as your opponent. It's at most 4 tournaments where you might have players that you want but can't pick. So in that case, just pick the next best that you can. Don't see a big issue there.

Ah I see. I had read it wrong. Good stuff

To all potential competitors in 2018, please find the time between now and January to READ THE RULES!

(btw this is not aimed at you FRANKIE)

ANNOUNCEMENT: This competition will be discontinued on this forum from January 2018.

Various reasons for taking this decision now:

1) Firstly, some of the messages I've had to deal with in recent days from (a minority of) forumites. Well, the less said the better, but it's a good job I have a sense of humour!

2) Forum seems to be in terminal decline. Impossible to grow the competition if it is only on this forum.

3) It's a waste of time for me (and others) to post entries/threads/scores simultaneously on Twitter and here.

4) I'm just a bloke who is a fan of golf betting/fantasy games, and run the competition for the fun of it. It's not a business, and I have no intention of it ever being one. Betfair is not involved in the competition (I think some on here seem to think I'm in customer services lol)! So for these reasons, I just feel more comfortable with the competition being on Twitter.

Make no mistake, I am committed to this competition and am looking forward to 2018 already!

Obviously, not everybody from here will join us for whatever reason. Thank you to all who have entered on this forum over the past years, and sorry if this news comes as a disappointment to some.

I will of course continue to post threads/scores etc on this forum for the remainder of the Qualifying Stage.

good work sir

not sure how its all going to work in practice but sounds good

entries on wednesday before start of tournament might be stuffed by a wednesday start and somebody will complain !

good luck to all too, hope others can do as i did and open a twitter account, its been easy.

WD stephanie / FRANKIE

Not quite sure what I'm getting congrats for, but thanks

Cheers donny!

CMI - I was referring mostly to PM's I received. Anyway, all will be forgiven in the new year and ALL are welcome as ever.

I'm happy for the decision that's been made. People might have different views about Twitter, but one thing I do know, is that nobody can write on your timeline, except you!

El Bandido, I like the new format and scoring. Good that some more credit is given for a nearly result by an outsider.

Cheers qqking. I glad most are happy about the new format, and especially the scoring. It's been designed to reflect the each way terms offered by bookmakers in golf markets (1/4 odds 5 places, 1/5 odds 6 places, etc), while maintaining a progression for positions 2 to 10.

Now, with that in mind, the committee has approved a small amendment to the 2018 scoring system outlined above. There will be a 200 point bonus for picking a winner. This change goes some way to addressing the fact that the "stake" is retained when a winner is picked.

In any case, the competition will be on Twitter only and NOT on this forum in 2018. The official version of the rules is here:

https://tipsterstour.wordpress.com/2018-masters-series/

And if there are any changes to that page, it will be announced on Twitter (@tipsterstour).

I thought you said that it would be the final series that had to be posted on twitter. Are you saying now that all posts and info will be on twitter only?

Good riddance I say

Yes qqking, that's correct. See post above from 30 November.

Cheers CMiyc

el bandido
very simple question this how do get twitter account I only use an lap top cheers

I use a laptop, and have been annoying people on Twitter for years!

steph, tink he means the 'dancing' types, cheers

wedge1, you just go to https://twitter.com and click "Sign up".

^ I can see you've managed it already, wedge1. Well done!

steph, tink he means the 'dancing' types, cheers

In that case, he definitely doesn't want me!

known as FunPlayLand1 on twitter - is this okay El Bandido? As you can tell im a novice on twitter

Yes, you're in! Just wanted confirmation to guard against multiple entries.

Same goes for anyone else joining from this forum with a newish Twitter account. Please just PM me your TwitterID on here to confirm.

Sorry guys. Packed in ashamedly last year when ye all were just too good. I do not  do twitter so am posting here in the hope that this can be my re introduction to the fold.

Sentry Tournaments of Champions 2018

Rahm
Matsuyama
Speith
Fowler
Koepka

1st Res Leishman.                 Thanks for the thumbs up Gareth.

Sorry toberaheena, not accepting entries here.

Catch Me ifyoucan • December 5, 2017 11:52 AM GMT
Good riddance I say

EB. I entered last week on Tuesday on Twitter. I know I had Dustin, Koepka and Matsuyama, can't remember the others.  Can you check and tell me if I'm doing anything wrong.  Sent two tweets today, don't seem have arrived on Tipsterstour. Many thanks.

You've arrived, don't worry. Check the leaderboard. You are in 4th place.

PS might help if you follow the @tipsterstour account.

Must check on my automatic picks - hopefully we all had Dustbin

Hi, EB. I entered the Sony and the other one last night, but I was probably too late.

How do I locate the @tipsterstour account, please.

Making haste slowly.

Hi Quincy. If you are using a PC, then there's a search box on the top right of the page. If on mobile, it's the magnifying glass. This is very useful! Just type tipsterstour in there, and you will find what you are looking for.

Jan 9, 2018 -- 6:29PM, Catch Me ifyoucan wrote:

Must check on my automatic picks  - hopefully we all had Dustbin

Yes automatic picks do apply and if you joined this week you'd be in 13th overall. That's out of 56 entries so far. But you need to enter no later than next week to take advantage of this. After that, there is no guarantee that you will be able to enter at all, because there is a limit of 72 competitors.

To all who haven't entered yet, you are missing out on the best competition ever!

These changes are good, imo. There were some pieces of closeness and bad fortune which would have put me somewhere near the top of the leaderboard had these rules been in place last year (that isn't meant to sound remotely sour grapes, btw).
It might take a few readings of the finer points to grasp the system properly.
So, Kudos to you sir.

I don't use twitter... I'm going to need to go against a social media principle if I want to enter, aren't I?
Am I too late anyway?

It has to be said, the decline of the forum together with some of it's trolling users has contributed to my no linger running any competitions as well, so I completely understand where you're coming from.

Hi there Study!

Well yes, as you rightly say the new format would indeed have benefited you last year. So much so, I actually had you as the number 1 ranked tipster coming into this year's competition if you would have entered. But knowing your views about "social media", I didn't bother to even contact you about the competition this year.

You are of course very welcome to come and join in on Twitter. Please PM on here with your Twitter ID if you do decide to join (so I know that you are not someone trying to enter multiple times).

You would be at a slight disadvantage because next week is week 5 already, and all automatic picks have now expired.

We've got a great competition going on this year (3 comps in fact). And I think you will like it once you try it!

Thanks mate,
I'll become a Twit, just for you!
Once done, probably later today, I'll PM you.

Week 5 doesn't faze me, I'm Ranked 1

The mrs has a twit account.... She's let me use that!
Sorted.