Ya, we’ll cover them. Not sure how in-depth our coverage will be – depends on interest level from sportsbooks as well as the quality of their website (if they even have one…).
As a golf fan I think these events are going to be awful. WGCs have already proven themselves to be the worst events on the PGA Tour (I think this in part due to no cut), and these events are going to be significantly worse given the field quality / headliners. I’m not sure why anyone thinks there is a better format for professional golf than 72-hole stroke play with a cut. Zurich Classic last week proved again how bad alternative formats can be. Also having no Shotlink is a big negative, especially from a bettor’s standpoint.
If it’s covered under the sub tour model it’s probably sufficient, I just want to be able to bet the place markets pre-tournament before the books move the prices
I wish I could the sub-tour model to simulate odds mid-tournament though. The place markets after Rounds 1 and 2 are very very beatable
As for alternative formats, the single elimination match play format was very very fun while it lasted but the sponsors nixed it (because it was less predictable). The Stableford can be kind of fun but I think they got it backward, it would be much more fun if you lost a boatload of points from the blowup holes.
Another possible format would be a hybrid of stroke play and match play:
156 players
Days 1 & 2:
Field cut to 64 players after 2 rounds (playoffs used to get it down to 64)
Day 3:
Field cut down to 32 players after 3 rounds
Field cut down to 16 players after 4 rounds
Day 4:
Round of 16 and quarterfinals
Day 5:
Semifinals and Final
From a betting perspective you would have the following place markets:
Top 64
Top 32
Top 16
Top 8
Top 4
Top 2
Winner
I think this format is OK, certainly an improvement over the current round-robin format we have in match play
If you’re asking whether the Invitational Series will produce more entertaining golf than the PGA Tour the answer is probably a no.
But if the question is whether it will be more entertaining than the European Tour or the run-of-the-mill Asian Tour events you might get a different answer
Also the big-field appearance fee money full field events will probably make a re-appearance during the silly season, we may see a handful of tournaments similar to the Saudi International soon.
Re sub-tour (we need to change the name because we have PGA Tour in there now): what do you want to simulate mid-tournament? The finish probs are on the live model (obviously), so you must be getting at something else.
Round 2 and 3 leaders
Adjusted place odds
Adjusted matchup/group odds would be nice too (for things like nationality props)
The biggest thing would be the adjusted place odds. That’s where you can earn the most money
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Anyway at this point I’m following the Norman/Mickelson saga for the soap opera elements, the golf is kind of a sideshow
We’re seeing some real fractures in the world of golf
What are adjusted place / matchup / group?
For example let’s say 18 holes have been played
Then the sub tour model would have the previous scores and the adjusted skill levels for each golfer
Then when you push “simulate” you can get the win and place odds for each golfer
For Matchup and group odds I would like to manually choose the golfers to include in the matchup/group before simulating. The other golfers are needed because we need to account for the cut too, but they’re excluded in the final calculation of the odds
Basically I need to get similar information that I can get from the Prop page for PGA Tour/European Tour
Oh, I see. I was confused because I didn’t understand why you couldn’t do this in the prop tool. But you want this for other tours. It’s possible but it requires us having access to good leaderboards with clean ID systems, which can be hard to come by on the minor circuits.
International Series England is coming next week
We’re getting some defections from the DP World Tour. Let’s see if they get Phil Mickelson’d
Phil, show up. PGA Tour has already handed you a lifetime ban, they can’t ban you twice
Leaders of Rounds 2 and 3
Adjusted place odds would be nice, as would adjusted matchup/group odds (for things like nationality props)
The adjusted place odds would be the most important factor. That is where you will make the most money.
Here we go!
Lots of big names in the first Invitational Series event
Thank you Dustin Johnson, when Norman talked about a 2 time Major Champion I was thinking of Bubba Watson, this is quite a scoop
Talor Gooch and Kevin Na are two more big scalps
Still 6 more spots, I’d probably lean towards Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Harold Varner III, Peter Uihlein, and the winner of International Series England (if not otherwise eligible)
Invitational Series event not listed in the OWGR site
I understand that there is a vendetta against Greg Norman and LIV Investments but I think this is going a bridge too far
So, no World Golf Rankings points awarded for these events?
If LIV events will eventually count for OWGR points (which my guess is they will, if the tour succeeds to any degree) it will probably just take time. The Hero World Challenge didn’t award points either for a long time even though it was an elite field.
I thought this was part of the Asian Tour?
No these LIV Invitational events aren’t associated with the Asian Tour.
Matt, any plans to cover the LIV events?
We’re working on it now, hopefully posted by end of the day.
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Under matchup/3-balls tool it says 72-hole matchup, but I suppose the simulations is done with 54 holes and that 72-hole text is just by default?
Yes, that’s correct. An unfortunate naming convention we chose… didn’t envision 54-hole events taking off 
.
(This tour is doomed to fail though: format is awful, players don’t care, fans won’t care).
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