Australian Championships 2001

Statistics from the Masters

—Michael Vnuk (Qld)

The 98 players had 1029 games in 21 rounds. The average score in all rounds was 381. Wins averaged 421 and losses, 341, so the average game margin was 80 and the aggregate, 762. These figures are fairly similar to those for the 1999 and 2000 Masters (see ATB, June 1999, p7, and June 2000, p8).

Seventeen players averaged over 400. The best averages were: Edward Okulicz (Qld), 451; Trevor Halsall (Vic), 426; Paul Cleary (NSW), 425; Anne Drew (Qld), 420; and Alistair Kane (Vic) and Derek McKenzie (NSW), exactly equal on 417.

Margaret Bishop (Tas) had the highest game of 610. Margaret lost all her seven games on the first day, but bounced back with the huge win in her first game of day 2. No one else cracked 600, but 40 players scored 500 or more in at least one game. Trevor achieved the mark four times, while Alistair Kane (Vic), Edward and I did it three times. The top scores after Margaret's were: Meg Henderson (Vic), 598; Sal Costanzo (Vic) and I, 579; and Joan Rosenthal (NSW), 562. Janet Bell (Vic) was at the receiving end of both Margaret's and Meg's big scores, but Meg was my opponent in my best game.

Margaret Bishop's high game also gave her the biggest game margin of 371, while my 317-point defeat of Meg Henderson was the next best.

The highest combined score of 968 occurred when Meg beat Janet Bell, 598-370. Next were: 935, Jean McGiffen (NSW) v John Spaan (ACT), 493-442; and 930, Paul Cleary (NSW) v Marie London (Tas), 479-451.

Marie's 451 loss to Paul was not the highest, as that went to John Holgate in a close game with Joan Rosenthal (NSW), 454-457.

Five games were drawn. Alan Stewart (Vic) and Gloria Gallagher (NSW) had the highest on 426. The only player with two draws, Robyn Corbel (Qld), found hers in consecutive games.

First-placed Edward Okulicz averaged 451, with an average margin of 89. His best score was 541. After winning his first 17 games (an Australian record), Edward lost the last four: Joanne Craig (NSW), Dylan Sharma (Singapore), Derek McKenzie (NSW) and Bob Jackman, 418-454 in the final game. Only three of Edward's games were below 400, including his worst loss, 336-496, to Derek.

Second-placed Bob Jackman averaged 415, with an average margin of 50. His best score was 512. He lost only four games: his first to John Spaan (ACT), his first of two encounters with Edward (319-472), Paul Cleary and Joanne Craig.

Third-placed Trevor Halsall averaged 426, with an average margin of 58. His best score was 549. He lost to five people: Khen Meerding (Tas), Edward, Bob, Anne Drew (Qld) and Joanne Craig.

The average pre-tournament rating of all Masters players was 1548. The ratings of the opponents of the top three were: Edward, 1685; Bob, 1685; Trevor, 1691.