Rules and Info

Welcome to the pool! Please read the following for details on how to play, how to enter, and other assorted miscellany.

Entry Deadline: Thursday, April 11th, 2024 7:00 AM Eastern!

How to Play. Select one player from each category of the eighteen categories on the Entry Form (login required) The sum total of your top eight players' scores determines your overall team score. The Golf Pool entrant with the lowest team score wins!!

NOTE: You must have at least eight of your players make the tournament cut in order to make the pool "cut", see below.

The Pool "Cut". There will be a pool "cut" after the second round. The cut will NOT revolve around a score as in regular tournament golf but is determined by how many of your selections make the tournament cut. You MUST have 8 of your 18 picks make the cut, otherwise your team misses the pool "cut". For example, if you pick the lowest scoring players in 7 of the 18 categories but your other 11 selections miss the cut, your overall team still misses the cut and finishes tied for last in the pool. However, if you pick 12 or 13 players who make the cut, your top eight scoring players will be used to determine your team score.

Note 1: In the unlikely event that half the pool "field" is cut, the pool will automatically change the the cut line from 8 of your 18 picks making the cut to 7 of your 18 picks making the cut. This new rule is merely an insurance policy for yours truly; in the 10 previous pools I've run the most poolies cut were 5 in the 2005 Open pool (28% of the field) but in that pool the rules were 9 of your 18 picks must make the cut. After instituting 8 of 18 for the remainder of the pools, the number of poolies cut averaged around 10% of the pool. The highest being 17% (4) for the 2006 Open and the lowest being 0% (0) in the 2008 and 2010 US Open Pools.

Note 2: There is the possibility, albeit very unlikely, that a poolie may be "cut" after the third or even fourth round of the tournament. For example, if a player withdraws because of injury, or any other reason, in the third or fourth round, and this golfer made up your team of 8 and only 8 tournament cut-making selections, your team would fall back to only 7 active players meaning your team would miss the cut and finish tied for last place. This scenario has yet to happen in the pool, but it conceivable could. ** Update ** It happened! In the 2020 US Open pool, after Danny Lee's infamous six putt and subsequent withdrawl, two additional teams missed the cut after round 3.

Pool Strategy. Take care with your picks because I believe picking 8 players to make the cut will be a challenge. I anticipate a number of entries will miss the pool "cut". Also be aware that one of your 8 picks who makes the cut could "back-up" on the weekend and affect your overall team score. For example, the entrant who picks 8 players who shoot even par (Team Score = E), by this pool, is determined to be better than the entrant who picks, say, the top 3 finishers (-10, -8, and -7) but has 5 other players who finish well back (+10, +3, +12, E, +6) for a Team score of +6.The aim of this pool is for you to pick golfers who make the cut and finish well. 

How to Enter. Log in to the entry form here. (You should have received the login and password via my email invitation; if you don't have this info contact me at golf.pool.admin@gmail.com). When the entry form page appears, enter your name (e.g., Phil Mickelson), create a team name (e.g., LIV free or die!), enter your e-mail address, enter the name of the person who referred you to the pool, and select a winning score pick (in case of ties). Then select one player in each of the 18 categories. Press Submit. You're entered! Any problems with the form, please let me know.

Note: It's assumed that you don't mind seeing your full name posted on the Web site along with your picks. However, no need to put down your full name if you don't want to see it online. I won't be posting e-mail addresses.

Form and Pool Update. I moved the pool files to a dedicated server (via an outside Web hosting company called Go Daddy!), as well as purchased a domain name - majorgolfpools.ca. This move has allowed me to add form scripts and a database to collect the pool entries (all forms and dynamic HTML are built using open-source PHP and the MySQL database.) There's still a lot of manual updating happening throughout the pool and my long-serving, trusty spreadsheet is still in use for now. Still chances for errors to occur so feel free to double check my calculations. I will be doing nothing with your email addresses other than potentially contacting you about your win!

Multiple Entries. Go for it! You may enter more than once; just create a different team name. That said, I am flirting with the idea of limiting the number of entries to three per person. What do you think?

How the Pool is Run. I will be updating a spreadsheet with entries populated from the database (until I teach myself SQL programming). There remain opportunities for keyboard miscues. Please review your team once I post it on the Web. If you provide a legitimate email address, your team will be mailed to you after entering. Again, please review your team on the Web and via email. After the pool deadline, the teams posted online will stand.

Team Updates. To encourage early entries, I will allow updates to your team up until the entry deadline. For example, if you change your mind about picking Rahm over Rory in category 1, simply let me know and I'll change your team. Please e-mail me your updates at golf.pool.admin@gmail.com  and  I will inform the general pool at large by writing an entry on the Pool News page. See next section.

Pool News. I've created this page to announce all my pool updates after the "official" launch of the pool. I'll add notices when I add teams or make changes to existing teams or for any other news of interest. This section has become a bit of a soapbox for me, so, you might need to filter through my commentary. Feel free to email me with your own and I can add it to the News (maybe soon I'll add a forum or comment widget.)

Final Standings, Pool. In the chance that there is a tie, first place goes to the entrant who guesses closest to the final winning score of the tournament winner. To determine who's closest -- assuming no one guesses spot on -- the number of absolute strokes away will win. For example, if the winning score is -10 and the two tied winners guessed -11 and -5,  the entrant who guessed -11 is the winner, as that pick is only 1 stroke off.  If two winning guesses were both the same amount of absolute strokes away, e.g. winning score is -10 and the two tied winners guessed -12 and -8, then the entrant who guesses "under"  would win, namely -8. If these efforts do not resolve the tie, we move on to the shoot out (goalies to be determined).

Final Standings, Tournament. In the chance that there is a tie in the actual tournament, the scores posted for the final round after 72 holes - including the score of the tied players in first place - are what will be used to determine the pool scores. That is, there will be no special acknowledgement score-wise for the player who goes on to win the tournament in any playoff. For example, in the 2008 US Open, had Rocco Mediate been in the pool, his and Tiger's final 72 hole score of -1 would be the scores used to tally up the team scores.

About the Categories. I created 18 total categories, each represent a hole at Augusta National. Each category/hole contains five players. I selected the players, for the most part, based on the top 50 in the world rankings; the latter 9 categories I try to create competitive groups based on the remaining players and qualifiers. With the split off of the LIV tour, I'll also be taking into account the many bookmaker sites out there to assist.

About the Field. I make no guarantee that all of the players included on the entry form will participate in the tournament. Some may have better things to do, some may have an injury, some might not have been invited, some might not have qualified. Part of the skill in picking players rests with your current golf knowledge or how much research you're willing to put in. That said, my goal when creating the entry form is to ensure all players are in the field. Check out my links page for help in your research and keep an eye on the pool news.

Any other comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to contact me at the email below.

Thanks,

Brian Duffield,

golf.pool.admin@gmail.com