The Weekly Player Rankings (WPR) is a weekly system of rating players which takes into account all WGT-sponsored tournaments that last one week, from Monday until Sunday. These tournaments are: the weekly 9-Hole Unlimited Play, the weekly 9-Hole Single Play, the weekly 18-Hole Single Play, the weekly Free Multiround Open, and the weekly Closest-to-the-Hole (CTTH) Challenge.
The top 25 players in each tier in the unlimited, single, and CTTH plays, as well as the top 50 players in the multiround (which is tierless), receive points by the system of:
1. 50 points
2. 45
3-5. 40
6-10. 35
11-15. 30
16-20. 25
21-25. 20
However, Master tier players receive ten times (10x) the points listed in the table above; Pro tier players receive five times (5x) as much; and Amateur tier players receive three times (3x) as much when there is a Hack tier available in the tournament (unlimited and CTTH plays).
In WGT-sponsored tournaments, there are tiebreakers to determine who wins a tournament in the event of a tie. There are no tiebreakers in this system: everyone who shoots the same score as the winner receives the same points as the winner. The same goes for all ties.
EXAMPLE: Player 1 shoots a 33 and is in 5th place. He receives 40 points.
Player 2 shoots a 33 and is in 5th place. She receives 40 points.
Even though Player 2 would be in 6th place with 35 points, she receives the same amount of points as Player 1 because they both shot the same score and they both earned 5th place.
When a tie spills over 25 players (i.e. 12 people tied for 16th place), the players in that tie will not receive points. (So those 12 players would not receive points because the total number of players receiving points must be less than or equal to 25 players.) In some cases, very few players will receive points in a tournament; but this system is designed to find the cream of the crop, so you must earn points rather than have them handed to you.
The Year-Starter Rankings are used as a baseline to begin the New Year. The Year-Starter Rankings take into account all tournaments from Weeks 50, 51, and 52. The WPR follows a 52-week rolling calendar, so these weeks will be removed when 2010's Weeks 50, 51, and 52 come around in December 2010.
Week 1 began on December 28, 2009, and will last until January 3, 2010. On Monday afternoon, points will be allocated to players finishing in the top 25 or 50 of tournaments completed that past Sunday (example: on Monday, January 4, points will be allocated to tournaments completed on Sunday, January 3). On Monday evening or Tuesday morning, the top 50 players will be released (although there are hundreds more).
The WPR gives out no prizes, but is used for bragging rights, and as a tool for determining the best players on WGT. All weekly tournaments (except for the weekly Free Multiround Open) are available to all American states and all countries around the world. It is very possible to do well without the ability to participate in the weekly Free Multiround Open, which is why it is included in this ranking system.
The WPR will host one tournament each December: the World Golf Tour Championship, to be held during December 2010. The top 30 players from the WPR in the Week 49 rankings (the week corresponds to the week just completed rather than the week just started) will receive an invite into the Championship, which is a three-week long event with stroke play, match play, and CTTH, as well as leaderboards and brackets. There will be only one winner, who will be crowned the World Champion of Virtual Golf. As the Championship gets closer, special activities will be set up to predict who will get into the Championship and who will eventually win it all. Your goal is to make it into the top 30 and earn an invite into what will be by far the most prestigious event in the world of golf.
You may inquire for your ranking if you do not see your name on the weekly list, which only includes 50 players - there are over 600 players in the WPR database, and that's just from three weeks of play! If you have any other questions, please ask. Good luck, thank you, and have a happy new year!