GB2508847A - A method of operating an online golf prediction competition - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to a method of operating an online golf competition in which there is provided a central competition server and a plurality of remote competition entrant devices in communication with the central competition server over a communication network, such as the Internet or a mobile telecommunications network. The competition entrants predict the score of a designated player, preferably the eventual winner of a golf tournament, in the tournament. The competition entrants may predict one or more of: the overall four round score; the eighteen individual hole scores in a round; and, if desired, the order in which the designated player achieved each of the eighteen individual hole scores during their round. The round of golf may be the final round of a tournament and the competition may be split into front-nine and back-nine parts. The competition entrants may select the designated player or the competition organizers may specify who the designated player will be prior to the round commencing.

Description

"A method of operating an online golf competition"

Introduction

This invention relates to a method of operating an online golf competition. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of operating an online golf competition in which entrants are able to predict the score of a participant in a golf tournament thereby heightening the competition entrant's interest in and enjoyment derived from the golf tournament.

It is well known for sports enthusiasts and fans to place a wager on the outcome of a sporting event. This wager typically increases the levels of interest and awareness of the competition entrant in the sporting event. This has numerous advantages. From the competition entrant's point of view, they can become more engrossed in the outcome of the sporting event thereby heightening their enjoyment of the sporting event. From the tournament organisers point of view, the increased awareness in the event can lead to the perception amongst the general public of the event being more prestigious and helps to attract sponsors and the best players to the event.

There are already several competitions that allow competition entrants to attempt to correctly predict the outcome of a sporting event. For example, in the United Kingdom, a football pools competition has been run since the 1920s in which competition entrants can attempt to correctly predict the outcome of several of the football leagues matches over a given weekend. In one popular implementation of the football pools game, the competition entrants attempt to predict whether each of the selected matches will end in a scoreless draw, a score draw, a home win or an away win. The competition entrants pay a small fee to enter and if they correctly predict the outcome of the matches, they are entitled to at least a share of a jackpot prize fund. The attractiveness of this type of competition is that for a relatively modest entry fee, there is the possibility of winning a relatively large pay-out. Furthermore, in order to win, the competition relies in part on the skill and judgement of the competition entrant.

It is also well known for sports fans to place wagers on the outcome of football or rugby matches and indeed predict the final score of the matches. It is known to allow a combination of bets such as predicting the half time score as well as the full time score or to predict who the first goal scorer in a match will be or at what time the first score will occur. These bets have proven very popular amongst sports fans that like to place a wager on the sporting event. The disadvantage of this type of bet is that the winnings are usually relatively low and it is necessary for the person placing the wager to stake a relatively large sum of money on the line in order to win what is, relatively speaking, still a small amount compared to many other competitions.

One sport that has lagged behind in terms of competitions that more closely involve the sports fans and enthusiasts is golf. The golf competitions and golf betting are relatively primitive when compared with other sporting events. Typically, the golf betting is restricted to betting on the overall winner of a golf tournament or the winner of a matchplay round in a matchplay tournament. Other speciality bets are catered for such as "How many majors will Rory Mcllroy win next year?" but again these are quite limited.

The disadvantage of these bets and competitions is that they are relatively simplistic in nature and do not fully capture the imagination and attention of the golf enthusiast.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of operating an online golf competition that overcomes some of the difficulties with the known competitions and that provides a useful choice to the consumer.

Statements of Invention

According to the invention there is provided a method of operating an online golf competition in a system comprising a plurality of remote competition entrants each having access to a user device having means to communicate a competition entry electronically with a central competition server; a central competition server having a secure accessible memory and means to receive competition entries electronically from the competition entrants and store the competition entries in secure accessible memory; and a communication network providing a communication channel between the user devices and the central competition server; the method comprising the steps of: the competition entrants each entering into an electronic entry form on their user device the predicted score of a participant in a round of golf played at a specified golf tournament; the competition entrants each transrriitting their electronic entry form to the central competition server prior to commencement of the round of golf; the central coriipetition server receiving the electronic entry forms from the competition entrants and storing the electronic entry forms in secure accessible memoly; upon completion of the round of golf, the central competition server compaling the predicted scores in the electronic entry forms with the actual score of the participant in the round of golf and determining whethei any of the predicted scores in the electronic entry forms match the actual score of the participant; and if one or more of the electronic entry forms have a predicted score that matches the actual score, awarding a prize to at least one of the competition entrants whose predicted score matched the actual scorn.

By having such a method, the golf enthusiasts will be attempt to predict the actual score of a given participant in the round of golf theieby increasing the competition entrants interest in the golf tournament. Secondly, this type of competition will tend to keep the competition entrants inteiest in the golf tournament for longei than would otherwise be the case. Thirdly, this method introduces a new format of competition for the golf enthusiasts which will be a ielcome addition to the existing competitions that are available to them. The participant may be a favourite of the competition entrant or may be the eventual winner of the tournament.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the predicted score comprises the combination of pars, birdies, eagles, albatrosses, bogies, double bogies, triple bogies, quadruple bogies and quintuple bogies scored by the participant during the round of golf. This is seen as a particulaily preferred embodiment of the piesent invention in which the competition entrant will not only have to piedict the final score, but will also have to predict the individual scores that the competitor achieved during a round of 18 holes in order to arrive at the final score. This introduces more skill and requires greater consideration and judgment in arriving at the selection of the predicted score.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the predicted score comprises the actual score by the participant on each of the eighteen holes in sequential order. This is seen as a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this way, the competition entrant will not only have to correctly predict the number of birdies, pars, bogies and other scores that will be on the card of the participant in the golf tournament but they will also have to predict the order in which those scores will be achieved. This will add a further level of complexity into the competition encouraging those players with an interest in the sport to take an interest and active involvement in the competition.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the predicted score is the score of a participant in the final round of a golf tournament. In other instances! the earlier rounds of the competition may be used and indeed for some competitions, such as the Majors, it may be desirable to have a competition for each round of the tournament.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the predicted score is the score of the eventual winner in the final round of a golf tournament. This is seen as a simple way of operating the competition that will encourage a more general population to enter the golf competition as the competition rules will be simple to understand.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the electronic entry form includes the name of the participant in the round of golf played at the specified tournament. This is seen as an alternative way of operating the competition in which the competition entrant will have to specify the participant's name. In this way, supporters of a particular golf professional may follow their favourite player and attempt to predict their score correctly.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the name of the participant in the round of golf played at the specified tournament is the predicted winner of the tournament. By requiring the competition entrants to predict the winner of the tournament as well as their score, a greater degree of difficulty will be introduced into the competition and this will allow for different prizes to be awarded.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the predicted score is divided into two distinct sub-sections, a front nine sub-section and a back nine sub-section, and in which there are provided separate prizes awarded for both the front nine sub-section and the back nine sub-section.

In one embodiment of the invention there is piovided a method in which the step of the competition entrants each entering into an electronic entry form on their user device the predicted score of a participant in a round of golf played at a specified golf tournament further comprises the competition entrants entering into the electronic entry form on their user device the predicted score of a participant in all four rounds of golf played at the specified golf tournament; and in which the step of the central competition server comparing the predicted scores in the electronic entry forms with the actual score of the participant in the round of golf further comprises the central competition server comparing the predicted score of the participant in all four rounds of golf played at the specified golf tournament with the actual score of the participant in all four rounds of golf.

This is seen as another preferred embodiment of the present invention. Instead of predicting the score of their designated player, the score of their predicted eventual winner or the score of the eventual winner in a single round, the competition entrant may attempt to correctly predict the score of the participant in all four rounds of the competition. This will provide more opportunities for enjoyment of different, disparate competitions.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the predicted score comprises the actual score by the participant in each of the four rounds in sequential order.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in which the predicted score is divided into four distinct sections, one for each of the four rounds of golf played at the specified golf tournament, and in which there are separate prizes awarded for those competition entrants that correctly predict the participants actual scores in two or more of the rounds of golf played at the specified tournament.

In one embodiment of the invention the participant can download a predicted scorecard that is randomly generated within certain limits by means of a computer program. The computer program will pick a score between ranging from an eagle to a double bogey for each hole relevant to the particular game format. This is offered as a quick and convenient way for participants to enter any of the competition formats.

Detailed DescriDtion of the Invention The invention will now be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a system in which the method according to the invention may be performed; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation of an electronic entry form for use in the method according to the invention; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of an alternative electronic entry form for use in the method according to the invention; and Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of an electronic entry form for use in the method according to the invention.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Figure 1 thereof, there is shown a system, indicated generally by the reference numeral 1, in which the method according to the present invention may be carried out. The system I comprises a central competition server 3 having accessible memory 4, a plurality of competition entrants' devices, represented here by way of PC 5, laptop 7, tablet 9 and smartphone 11. Each competition entrant may have access to one or more different devices 5, 7, 9, 11 however for the purposes of this example, each competition entrant is understood to operate only one of the devices 5, 7, 9, 11. Only one instance of each device is shown for the purposes of simplicity however it will be understood that there may be several thousand competition entrants. The competition entrants' devices 5, 7, 9, 11 are all remote from the central competition server and are temporarily connected to the central competition server from time to time over a communication network, in this case, the internet 13. The central competition server 3 may comprise a web server delivering a website accessible by the devices 5, 7, 9, 11 over the internet.

In use, each of the competition entrants enters the competition by accessing the central competition server 3 over the internet 13 using their device 5. 7,9, 11 and rendering an electronic entry form on their device using a web browser such as, but not limited to, Google (Registered Trade Mark®) Chrome®, Microsoft® Internet Explorer® or Mozilla ® Firefox ® to name just three. The electronic entry form has one or more data fields in which the competition entrant is required to insert information in order to enter the competition. There may be several data fields that will allow the competition entrant to simultaneously enter multiple competitions. The nature of the electronic entry forms and the manner of play will be described in more detail with reference to Figures 2 to 4 inclusive below.

There may further be provided one or more data entry fields for information particular to the competition entrant such as, but not limited solely to, one or more of a first name field, a surname field, a telephone number field, a date of birth field, a contact address field and an email field to enable the competition entrant to be validated and/or contacted in the event of them winning a prize. Alternatively, depending on the manner in which the electronic entry form is submitted, an identifier such as a mobile phone number may automatically be sent with the electronic entry form. In a further alternative, the competition entrant may pre-register with the central competition server and have an account and their entry will be identified by referring to an identifier contained in the electronic entry form or attached to the electronic entry form upon transmission and attributed to that competition entrant.

Referring to Figure 2 of the drawings, there is shown a first diagrammatic representation of an electronic entry form 21 as displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI) 23 of the competition entrant's device 5, 7, 9, 11. The precise layout of the GUI presentation may vary from device to device depending on a number of factors including the screen size, the screen resolution and the browser used and will be understood by the skilled addressee. The representation shown is merely intended to be illustrative of how the electronic entry form could be presented. The electronic entry form comprises a title bar which indicates the tournament to which the competition relates. In this case, the tournament is The Masters, perhaps the best known and most prestigious of all golf tournaments. The electronic entry form further comprises the competition type bar 27 which indicates the nature of the competition, in this case a final round score prediction game. The electronic entry form 21 comprises a plurality of data fields 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43 and 45 for entry by the competition entrant of their predicted score. The total final round score data field 47 will be automatically populated once the plurality of data fields 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43 and 45 have been populated. In addition to these data fields, there is provided a predicted winner field 49 in which the competition entrant may also attempt to guess who the eventual winner of the competition will be and this may be for entry into another, additional game or indeed may be for the purposes of a tie break situation.

In use, the competition entrant will enter the number of pars that they believe that the designated competitor will get into the data field 29. The competition entrant will enter the number of bogies that they believe the designated competitor will get in the data field 37 and will enter the number of birdies that they believe the designated competitor will get in the data field 31. The competition entrant will likewise fill out the remainder of the data fields 33, 35, 39, 41, 43 and 45 as appropriate. They may enter a null value or not enter a value into any of the data fields 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43 and 45 that they believe that the designated competitor will not score. For example, they may determine that it is highly unlikely that the designated competitor will score an albatross (referred to in the United States as a double eagle) during their round and therefore they may enter a "0" or simply not enter a value in the data field 35.

There are 18 holes in a round of golf and therefore the total number of selections in the data fields will add up to 18. If, for example, the competition entrant believes that the designated competitor is likely to score a "69", i.e. take 69 strokes to complete the course and the course has a par of 72, meaning that they take three strokes less to complete the course than the par score of the course, and the designated competitor is likely to achieve that score of 69" by scoring ten pars, one eagle, four birdies and three bogies during their round, the competition entrant will enter "10" in the data field 29, "4" in the data field 31, "1" in the data field 33 and "3" in the data field 37. The competition entrant will either enter a 0' in the remaining data fields or leave them blank. The total final round score data field 47 will be automatically populated as indicated above. Once the competition entrant is happy with their selection, they submit their entry by clicking on the submit button 51 displayed on the GUI.

It will be understood that the electronic entry form described above provide for a structured entry of the data by the competition entrant however other simpler formats could be used including a simple short messaging service (SMS) message in a structured or relatively unstructured format with information sufficient to allow entry into the competition. For example, the SMS text message could comprise the following message lOPa; 4Bi; 1 Ea; 3Bo; and identification of the entrant which will be sufficient to enter the competition.

Referring to Figure 3 of the drawings, there is shown a second diagrammatic representation of an electronic entry form 61 as displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI) 63 of the competition entrant's device 5, 7, 9, 11. The precise layout of the GUI presentation may vary from device to device depending on a number of factors including the screen size, the screen resolution and the browser used and will be understood by the skilled addressee. The representation shown is merely intended to be illustrative of how the electronic entry form could be presented to implement one particular type of competition. According to this competition, it is necessary for the competition entrant to enter each of the scores of the designated player in sequence as they play their round.

For example, the competition entrant will enter the score that they predict the designated golfer will achieve on each hole of an 18 hole round of golf.

The electronic entry form 61 comprises a title bar 65 which indicates the tournament to which the competition relates. In this case, the tournament is again The Masters golf tournament. The electronic entry form 61 further comprises the competition type bar 67 which indicates the nature of the competition, in this case an advanced final round score prediction game. The electronic entry form 61 comprises a plurality of data fields 69, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 103, 105, 107, 109 for entry by the competition entrant of their predicted score. Each of the 18 holes has a data field allocated to it. There is further provided a data field 87 for the aggregate front nine score and a data field 107 for the aggregate back nine score. These fields 87, 107 are automatically populated once by summing the preceding 9 data fields as displayed in the diagram. There is further provided a total score data field 109 which is automatically populated by summing the values in data field 87 and 107 together. In this way, the competition entrant is providing a prediction of the score on each hole of the golf course.

There is further provided a data field 111 for entry of a predicted winner although this may be optional and is indicated as such. In addition to the above, there is provided an entrant email address data field 113 to allow the entrant submit their email address so that they may be contacted if they win and/or to acknowledge receipt of their entry.

Finally, there is provided a submit button 115 that may be clicked by the competition entrant once they have entered their predicted scores for each of the eighteen holes of the golf course in the data fields 69, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 103 and 105.

In this variant of the online golf competition, there is far less chance of the competition entrant correctly predicting the actual score of the designated person, who again may be selected in advance by the competition organisers to be the competitor who becomes the eventual winner of the tournament. Alternatively, provision may be made to allow the competition entrant to select a particular player as the designated competitor and attempt to predict their actual score. The competition described with reference to Figure 3 will be more difficult to win than the competition described with reference to Figure 2 as not only will the competition entrant have to select the number of birdies, pars, bogies and other scores by the designated competitor, but the competition entrant will also have to predict the order in which the designated competitor will achieve those scores.

It can be seen in Figure 3 that the electronic entry form comprises the hole numbers, the hole yardage (distance from tee to green), the par of the hole (the number of shots that the professional is expected to take on a hole or more specifically the number of shots that have been allocated to the player to successfully complete the hole in regulation) and the index of the hole (the index, or more particularly in this case the ranking of the hole, is a measure of the difficulty of the hole relative the other holes on the golf course, with index 1 being the most difficult and index 18 being the easiest. The ranking is based on historical information such as the average number of shots taken by the entire field in the preceding year to complete the hole and the amount by which this exceeds or is less than the par of the hole.). This information will help the competition entrant to complete the electronic entry form as they will know that certain scores are more likely on certain holes than others. For example, a par on the index 1 hole (the most difficult hole) or a bogey are more likely than a birdie on that hole whereas a birdie or a par are more likely than a bogey on the index 18 hole. Furthermore, an eagle (2 shots under the par score for the hole) on a par 4 hole is far rarer than an eagle on a relatively straightforward par hole. This will provide the competition entrant with useful information when filling out their electronic entry form.

Referring to Figure 4 of the drawings, there is shown a first diagrammatic representation of an electronic entry form 121 as displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI) 123 of the competition entrant's device 5, 7, 9, 11. The precise layout of the GUI presentation may vary from device to device depending on a number of factors including the screen size, the screen resolution and the browser used and will be understood by the skilled addressee. The representation shown is merely intended to be illustrative of how the electronic entry form could be presented for this given type of competition.

The electronic entry form 121 comprises a title bar 125 which again indicates the tournament to which the competition relates. In this case, the tournament is The Masters once more however it will be understood that the present invention is in no way connected with the Masters tournament and no association is intended. The reference to the Masters has merely been used to illustrate the working of the invention. The electronic entry form further comprises a competition type bar 127 which indicates the nature of the competition, in this case a total (4 round) score prediction game. The electronic entry form 121 comprises a plurality of data fields 129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139, 141 and 143 for entry by the competition entrant of their predicted score (129, 131, 133 and 135) and for entry of their personal information (137, 139, 141 and 143).

In use: the competition entrant enters their predicted score for the first round in data field 129, their predicted score for the second round in data field 131, their predicted score for the third round in data field 133 and their predicted score for the fourth round in data field 135. There are two ways in which the entries may be used, either sequentially or randomly. In the sequential example, in order to win, the first round data field must correspond to the actual first round score of the designated competitor, the second round score must correspond to the actual second round score of the designated competitor, the third round score must correspond to the actual third round score of the designated competitor and the fourth round score must correspond to the actual fourth round score of the designated competitor. In the random entry example, the competition entrant is simply inserting four round score which may be achieved in any order by the designated competitor during their four rounds in the tournament. Again, the choice will depend on the degree of complexity that the competition organisers wish to introduce into the game.

If desired, there may also be a total four round aggregate score data field (not shown) which would be automatically populated once the plurality of data fields 129, 131, 133 and 135 have been populated. In addition to the data fields shown, there may be provided a predicted winner field (not shown) or chosen competitor field in which the competition entrant may also attempt to guess who the eventual winner of the competition will be or tailor their particular entry to a prediction of a certain players four rounds and these may be for entry into another, additional game or indeed may be used for the purposes of a tie break situation.

In certain instances it may happen that no entrants successfully predict the correct scores as required by the format of the competition. In such cases the prize pool will be carried forward to the next competition thereby providing the possibility of a growing jackpot. This aspect of the competition is designed to create a higher level of interest and attract entrants in a similar manner to the way lottery jackpots frequently increase over time.

It will be understood that various modifications to the above examples could be made within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims. It will be further understood that the method according to the present invention will be performed largely in software and therefore the present invention extends also to computer programs, on or in a carrier, comprising program instructions for causing a computer to carry out steps of the method. The computer program may be in source code format, object code format or a format intermediate source code and object code. The computer program may be stored on or in a carrier, in other words a computer program product, including any computer readable medium, including but not limited to a floppy disc, a CD, a DVD, a memory stick, a tape, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM or a haidware circuit. In certain circumstances, a transmissible carrier such as a cairier signal when transmitted either wirelessly and/or through wire and/or cable could carry the computer program in which cases the wire and/or cable constitute the carrier.

It will be further understood that the present invention may be performed on two, three or more machines with certain parts of the computer-implemented method being performed by one machine and other parts of the computer-implemented method being performed by another device. The devices may be part of a LAN, WAN or could be connected together over a communications network including but not limited to the internet. Many of the method steps could be performed "in the cloud", meaning that remotely located processing power may be utilised to process certain method steps of the present invention. Accordingly, it will be understood that many of the method steps may be performed remotely, by which it is meant that the method steps could be performed either on a separate machine in the same locality or jurisdiction or indeed on a separate machine or machines in one or several remote jurisdictions. For example, the central competition server 3 and one or more of the competition entrant's devices 5, 7, 9, 11 may be in different jurisdictions. The central competition server 3, the accessible memory 4 and the competition entrant's devices 5, 7, 9, 11 may all be in different jurisdictions or where one or more parts of the system are located in the same jurisdiction with other parts of the system in another jurisdiction. The present invention and claims are intended to also cover those instances where the method is performed across two or more machines or pieces of apparatus located in one or more jurisdictions and those situations where the parts of the system are spread out over one or more jurisdictions.

In this specification the terms "include, includes, included and including" and the terms "comprise, comprises, comprised and comprising" are all deemed totally interchangeable and should be afforded the widest possible interpretation.

The invention is in no way limited to the embodiment hereinbefore described but may be varied in both construction and detail within the scope of the appended claims.