Differential Scoring Method


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PGA Tour Adjusted Scoring Average

PGA Tour Calculation Method
for the Adjusted Scoring Average

The PGA Tour (the Tour) awards the Vardon Trophy to the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average of the year. The award is based on an average of the adjusted scores a player accumulates from 46 stroke-play events within a calendar year. Results from two events, the WGC Accenture Match Play and the International are not included in the calculations because they are not stroke play format.

Over a year's time, a players scoring and his scoring relationship to his fellow competitors, or to par, are influenced by numerous factors. All of the factors are subject to wide variations and only some of the factors are under a players control, while some are not. The key factors are:

The players performance
The differing par values of courses
The course condition and setup
The weather conditions
The quality or strength of the field

The Tour, recognizing that players competing in a tour with so many round-by-round and week-to-week variables, needed a formula to equalize at least some of those factors. To that end, the Tour implemented the Adjusted Scoring Average formula described in the following.

How the adjustment is calculated

The Tour describes its adjustment process in the following statement:

"Scoring Average is a weighted avg. which takes the stroke avg. of the field into account. It is computed by adding a player's total strokes to an adjustment, and dividing by the total rounds played. The adjustment is computed by determining the stroke avg. of the field for each round played. This avg. is subtracted from par to create an adjustment for each round. A player accumulates these adjustments for each round he plays in."

Using the above statement and the assumptions below, the following examples illustrate the calculation

Assumptions:

An event is played on a course with a par value of 72
The event is played over 4 rounds
The average score by all players for Round 1 is: 71.25
The average score by all players for Round 2 is: 73.50
The average score by all players for Round 3 is: 72.00
The average score by all players for Round 4 is: 71.50

Calculating the Adjustment

From the above statement the adjustment formula is:

Par minus - Field Average Score= Adjustment

Using the previous assumptions and formula above, an adjustment is calculated on a round-by-round basis that will apply to all players competing in a round.

	Par	-	Field Avg.	=	Adjustment
Round 1	72	-	71.25	=	+0.75
Round 2	72	-	73.50	=	-1.50
Round 3	72	-	72.00	=	+0.00
Round 4	72	-	71.50	=	+0.50

Applying the Adjustment to a players actual score

The formula for applying the adjustment to a players actual round or event is:

Actual score plus + Adjustment = Adjusted Score

The following three players will be used in the example:

Player A plays all four rounds with scores of: 73 - 72 - 69 - 70 = 284
Player B plays all four rounds with scores of: 69 - 68 - 68 - 67 = 272
Player C misses the cut and plays 2 rounds with scores of: 75 - 77 = 152

Using the previous assumptions and the example players above, the application of the adjustment for each player in each round follows:

	Score	+	Adjustment	=	Adjusted Score
Player A - Round 1	73	+	0.75	=	73.75
Player A - Round 2	72	+	(1.50)	=	70.50
Player A - Round 3	69	+	0.00	=	69.00
Player A - Round 4	70	+	0.50	=	70.50

Player B - Round 1	69	+	0.75	=	69.75
Player B - Round 2	68	+	(1.50)	=	66.50
Player B - Round 3	68	+	0.00	=	68.00
Player B - Round 4	67	+	0.50	=	67.50

Player C - Round 1	75	+	0.75	=	75.75
Player C - Round 2	77	+	(1.50)	=	75.50

The Final Adjusted Scoring Average

To calculate the Adjusted Scoring Average the following formula is used.
.
(Total Actual Scores + Total Adjustments) divided by / Rounds = Adjusted Scoring average

In the above example, the total adjustments for 4 rounds total +0.25 while the total adjustments for the first 2 rounds are -0.75. The example players adjusted scoring averages for the event described above are:

	( Scores	+	Adjustments )	/	Rounds	=	Adj. Scoring Avg.
Player A	( 284	+	0.25 )	/	4	=	71.0625

Player B	( 272	+	0.25 )	/	4	=	68.0625

Player C	( 152	+	(0.75) )	/	2	=	75.6250

The final Adjusted Scoring Average is calculated by totaling the the data from each stroke play event in which a player participates throughout the year.

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