Analysis of Results in 2015-2016

 

- the GC Masters winner in both years so far is one of the few playe players who competed in 2 or more events outside their "home" country event, and nobody competed in more than 3. The AC Masters winner is the only player competing in more than 1 event - full stop ...  suggesting strongly that it helps to play outside your "home" country event. Many of both years' events in both AC and GC could have welcomed more players.

 

- In the AC Masters, 8 out of the 10 players with the most points reached at least the semi-finals of the 1 event they played in, suggesting they would probably have won a load of points also in any other event they took part in.

In the GC Masters, 5 of of the 10 players with the most points reached at least the semi-finals in at least one of the events they played in, so the same argument applies.

 

- Making yourself available and being selected by your country to play in the European Championships helps a lot in scoring points for the Masters. In AC, admittedly with only a handful of relevant events in either year, the top 4 scoring players all picked up extra points for playing in the Europeans in 2015. In GC, amongst the top 4 scorers in 2015n Ian Sexton is the exception in not having played in the Europeans, but he played and did well in several other events. For 2016, Martin French won 1 Open and performed well in the Europeans.

 

- regarding England's win in the Country Masters, strength in depth has counted yet again. The English contingent scoring Country Masters points for 2015 comprised 8 different people. For 2016 , 7 English players each scored 10 points or more. Spain picked up speed in 2016, with 5 players scoring each 12 points or more,

 

- participation of players in another country's events was not enormous in either year so far. On average there were 43% of "foreigners" at each Open (not counting the European Championships of course), but this ranges from 80% in Portugal down to 0 at the Sussex GC Open. The gap between the average of 43% and the median 53% of "foreigners" shows the domination of entries by locals at many events.