2027 AUSTRALIAN MASTERS

Twenty of the top players will play the Australian Masters as a round robin in Somewhere. At the same time, teams of three players from each of seven states or territories play the State Team Challenge as head-to-head matches.

Rule variation

Masters section has 5 point penalty for each word challenged but correct.

The contenders

The table below shows the teams according to qualification criteria set by the Council of the Australian Scrabble Players Association. A player must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Temporary visa holders are not eligible.

IMPORTANT: Selection processes will now give priority to Australian players who have told CASPA that they will attend or might attend. Send an email to barry.harridge@gmail.com with the subject line including AMSC25, and an indication of YES, NO or MAYBE. Any Australian ASPA member may ask to be considered, not just the ones listed as contenders.

Australian Masters

The selection comprises the best twenty active players (those players who have played at least one game during the qualification period) ranked by Q statistic.

State Team Challenge

Each state team will comprise three eligible players who have not already been selected for the Masters event and are the next best three from their state, ranked by Q statistic.

If insufficient eligible players are available …

If insufficient eligible players are available, the state will not be permitted to participate in the State Team Challenge for that year unless a maximum of one stand-in can be fielded before the tournament from any state (generally, but not necessarily, that state in which the tournament takes place). That stand-in must also meet the above criteria.
An eligible stand-in may also be fielded in the event of illness or other unforeseen circumstance during the tournament.

Selection by ratings

The primary criterion for ranking candidates is the Q statistic

Details

Subperiods are Jul to Oct 2026, Nov to Feb and Mar to Jun 2027.
The Qstat: The qualifying statistic is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 , which is a weighted average of peak ratings in the three subperiods.
Third peak: You cannot earn the peak in the third subperiod until you have played 40 games rated by ASPA in the qualification period.
Penalty: If you do not earn a peak in a subperiod , your peak in that subperiod is equal to the last rating minus 200. This may be applied more than once.
Incomplete tournament: If you miss a game for any reason other than an assigned bye, you cannot count a peak attained in that tournament for any qualification purposes. Games played will count towards games quotas. Ratings will be calculated as usual, with byes and forfeits not rated.
Games: You must have played at least 40 games in the qualifying period.
Tie breaker: If two players have the same Q statistic, the one with the greater number of games in the qualification period is ranked higher.

Players may appeal to CASPA for a special dispensation in exceptional circumstances. In the event of any unforeseen issue the decision of CASPA is final.

Australian Masters

Contender	Q Stat 22.07.2026	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jul to Oct	Peak (games) Nov to Feb	Peak (games) Mar to Jun
David Eldar	2104.00	0
Andrew Fisher	2018.00	0
Ayorinde Saidu	1965.00	8	1965(8)
Edward Okulicz	1961.00	0
Naween Fernando	1948.00	0
Cameron Farlow	1926.00	8	1926(8)
Esther Perrins	1880.00	0
Peter Kougi	1862.00	0
Trevor Halsall	1824.00	0
Dineth Fernando	1820.00	22	1820(22)
Josh Watt	1801.00	8	1801(8)
Joanne Craig	1800.00	8	1800(8)
John Holgate	1788.00	0
David Vanzyl	1786.00	6	1786(6)
Michael Cameron	1782.00	0
Michael Hornung	1773.00	0
Daniel Piechnick	1760.00	0
Ryan Sutton	1759.00	0
Adam Kretschmer	1747.00	0
Victor Tung	1745.00	0

State Challenge

Contender	Q Stat 22.07.2026	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jul to Oct	Peak (games) Nov to Feb	Peak (games) Mar to Jun
ACT1 Ronnie Bennett	1741.00	7	1741(7)
ACT2 John Hamilton	1676.00	8	1676(8)
ACT3 John Spaan	1653.00	8	1653(8)
ACT4 Ryan Gray	1556.00	7	1556(7)
ACT5 Tim Reddan	1400.00	15	1400(15)
ACT6 Alex Boiko	1391.00	0
NSW1 Noel Barrett	1691.00	0
NSW2 Rod Talbot	1680.00	0
NSW3 Bob Jackman	1676.00	8	1676(8)
NSW4 Tony Hunt	1646.00	15	1646(15)
NSW5 Graeme Lock Lee	1576.00	0
NSW6 Jyoti Chandna	1564.00	0
QLD1 Carmel Dodd	1615.00	0
QLD2 Paul Richards	1523.00	8	1523(8)
QLD3 Liz Blanch	1522.00	8	1522(8)
QLD4 Jane Brown	1474.00	0
QLD5 Karen Richards	1472.00	23	1472(23)
QLD6 Ashwin Page	1440.00	14	1440(14)
SA1 Max Mason	1703.00	0
SA2 Malcolm McAnulty	1603.00	0
SA3 Tony Miller	1551.00	0
SA4 Jane Taylor	1517.00	8	1517(8)
SA5 Antony Kimber	1503.00	0
SA6 Antonios Syrigos	1462.00	0
TAS1 Stephen Mooney Purse	1719.00	0
TAS2 Martin Rose	1509.00	0
TAS3 Jon Ford-King	1493.00	0
TAS4 Margaret Webb	1478.00	0
TAS5 Khen Meerding	1386.00	0
TAS6 Ros Wilkinson	1298.00	0
VIC1 Mythili Rudra	1729.00	0
VIC2 Nick Ivanovski	1704.00	6	1704(6)
VIC3 Oscar Ivanovski	1663.00	8	1663(8)
VIC4 Lindsay Van Niekerk	1602.00	0
VIC5 Nat Podesser	1534.00	14	1534(14)
VIC6 Geoff Wright	1513.00	6	1513(6)
WA1 Sally Martin	1655.00	6	1655(6)
WA2 Chris Hall	1635.00	6	1635(6)
WA3 Ian Ting	1600.00	6	1600(6)
WA4 Howard Rayner	1588.00	0
WA5 Geoff Shepheard	1456.00	6	1456(6)
WA6 Jegatheva Jegathesan	1414.00	0