VPAR scores a massive hit

By Dave Tindall Last updated: 26th November 2009

Golf365's Matt Cooper played in The VPAR Winter Invitational at Foxhills Golf Club in Surrey on Thursday and we were able to follow him live (click here for final scores).

The VPAR concept his simple. Each player scores their round on a handheld device and VPAR immediately calculates the net score or points and updates all live leaderboards instantaneously.

These live leaderboards can be viewed in real time on each handheld device, plasma screens in the clubhouse and live on the internet, which is where I followed him.

Matt (handicap 14) was captaining the Golf365 team which featured Alex Coxon (sounds like he's in Blur but he isn't, plays off 24) and John Greene (19) and David Simons (19) from Fight for Life - a children's cancer charity.

In total 11 teams were taking part with one of the fourballs, 'Top Secret', boasting a former Emmerdale actor in their line-up. Yes, if Matt could take the scalp of Chris Villiers (who once appeared on 'Loose Women') I said I'd give him a tenner and if his team could grab a top three finish I'd double it. If Matt lost to Villiers (who also starred in Sweet Sixteen with Penelope Keith in 1983) he would owe me £10 and another £10 for not finishing top three. We also donated to Fight For Life.

VPAR will be used in action on the European Tour for the first time at next month's Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek and again in Abu Dhabi in 2010.

But here's how it all unfolded on Thursday....

The VPAR Winter Invitational

0940: Matt's fourball tees off. Uphoria are the early pacesetters at -3.

0955: Uphoria now -5 after 3. Golf365 are currently playing the first.

0959: Terrible start by Off To A Tee. They've somehow scored +2 for the first hole thanks to double bogeys from a 1 handicapper and a 5 handicapper. Another of their team, Joe Worsley, is down for a 10! Is it the real Joe Worsley or just someone with the same name as the England rugby union star? They already trail Uphoria (-6 after 4) by 8.

1008: Did Matt give me the wrong tee-time? Everyone else's scores are updating quick as a flash but the Golf365 fourball seems stuck on hole 1. Have another group played through after four calamitous tee-shots?

1009: Former Emmerdale actor Chris Villiers (handicap 20) starts with a double bogey six at the par four 10th. But it's Stroke Index 2 so he gets 2pts for his net par.

1020: 10 of the 11 teams are now in play, the odd one out being Golf365! What is going on?

1021: Bandit alert! Hasnain Mahmood of Uphoria, a 24 handicapper, has started 5, 4, 6, 4, 5 - worth 13 stableford points. His team are setting a hot pace at -8 after 5.

1025: At last, Golf365 are underway. Matt starts with a steady bogey (net par, +2pts) and the team are level after 1 hole. Beware though Matt, Chris Villiers has just made a par 3 at his second hole and has +5 points to his name already.

1030: Tied at the top now as Uphoria are joined by The Dormen, for whom Ralph Dorey (handicap 8) is level par after six holes. That puts him top of the individual leaderboard at +15.

1040: The Golf365 team should be fined for slow play. What are they messing about at? At the top The Dormen (after 7) and Uphoria (after 6) are tied for the lead at -9.

1055: Better from Golf365 with their team score now -2 after 3. Matt has 6pts after a steady bogey-bogey-bogey start while David and John also have 6 and Alex 5 after recovering from his blob at the first with a bogey and a par. The lead is still at -9. Chris Villiers has just thrown in a par (net birdie) at his fourth hole (the 13th) so has 10 stableford points in the bag already. The man who once played the part of Captain Nigel Croker in Mile High from 2004 to 2005 is now fifth on the individual leaderboard.

1105: Matt's bogey golf continues. A four at the short par three 4th makes it four in a row. Just one stableford point though as it's SI 17. Playing partner John Greene makes his second straight par and that helps the Golf365 team up to 7th at -3. The Dormen and Uphoria continue to go blow for blow at the top and both teams are -10 after 8.

1110: Chris Villiers is on fire. The man who played gay villager Grayson Sinclair in Emmerdale throws in a birdie four at the par five 14th. He's now third on the individual leaderboard on which there's no sign of Matt.

1125: Matt needs to get off the bogey train. That's five straight now after a six at the par five fifth hole. A nine from the rather inconsistent Alex but David's net birdie helps keep Golf365 in seventh place at -4. A top three finish (and Matt and I have a tenner riding on this) looks possible as the third-placed team Top Secret are only at -7. But joint leaders - The Dormen and Uphoria - will be extremely hard to reel in. They've reached the turn at -12.

1130: And the leader of the individual event is now.... Chris Villiers! Glad I went for him in a match bet against Matt.

1140: Matt finally halts his run of bogeys with.... a double bogey. A six at the sixth means he has 10 stableford points so far. Alex gets two strokes at this hole so he records a net birdie and team Golf365 continues its climb through the field. We're now sixth.

1145: Spare a thought for Andy Bush of the Time team (no, Tony Robinson isn't playing). The 18 handicapper is having a terrible, erm, time with a scorecard which reads 7,6,7,no score,7,7,6. He's last of the 44 players.

1200: Disaster. Golf365 have had a collective nightmare on the seventh hole. An 8 from Alex, a 7 from David while Matt and John don't even register a score. As a team they drop from sixth to 10th in one fell swoop. I'm going out for some lunch in protest (I'll make it an expensive one though as, at this rate, Matt looks a certainty to be handing over £20 to me!).

1210: The Dormen have turned into Tiger Woods circa 2000. With all four of their team shooting great numbers they've kicked six clear at -18 after 12.

1215: I may have spoken too soon. A couple of net eagles from Uphoria and they're now just two behind with six to play. One of their team, Hasnain Mahmood, leads the individual event with 31 stableford pts (-7 on VPAR).

1245: Golf365 reach the turn in 10th place out of 11. Oh dear. Matt's outward nine is a miserable-for-him 49 and doesn't include a single par. He's scored just 13 stableford points and is 29th out of 44 in the individual standings, one below teammate Alex. David, who plays off 19, is doing best of the Golf365 fourball, an outward 48 giving him 17pts. John, also a 19 handicapper, is out in 49 for 16 stableford points. As for Matt's matchbet against Chris Villiers, it looks one-sided at present with 20-handicapper Chris, who had a minor part in Sliding Doors, going out in a superb 42.

1247: VPAR Director & Co-Founder Sven Hansen has cleared up some confusion. Joe Worsley is famous even though he's not the England rugby union star. This Joe Worsley you'll remember as "Sheephead" from Soccer AM. Sven also points out that Jason from team Uphoria is the MD of VPAR. "Jason's (MD VPAR) team won our event at Stoke Park yesterday and is currently in 2nd place today (Uphoria) so potentially some dodgy insider trading!" Sven has just told me via e-mail.

1300: Another bogey from Matt, his latest at 10. His scorecard now shows 0 pars, 8 bogeys, 1 double bogey and a blob. That equates to 15pts from 10 holes, a massive 10pts behind Chris Villiers (25 after 11).

1300: Three holes to go for the leaders and it could be a thrilling climax. The Dormen still lead on -22 but Uphoria won't give up the chase and at -20 are in position to strike.

1305: The 11th at Foxhills is a par three. Guess what Matt's just scored? Yup, a bogey four. Pars for Alex and David (both now have three net birdies in their rounds) lift Golf365 a place from 10th to 9th.

1315: With VPAR all square with Golf365 after 10 holes, VPAR's Sven Hansen has just challenged me to a charity-based wager. I've accepted so come on Golf365, step on the gas!

1320: The 12th is a par five so naturally that means Matt cards a six. His bogeyitis spreads to the rest of his team and all four Golf365ers score sixes. They remain ninth out of 11.

1325: Boo. VPAR - playing the course the other way round - manage two pars on their par five and leap two points in front of the shambling Golf365 quartet.

1335: Got to admire Matt's consistency. A five at the par four 13th gives him his 11th bogey of the round. But while he chugs along one-paced, David birdies the hole for a net eagle and Golf365 jumps from -5 to -7, just one behind VPAR with five to play. Chris Villiers has slowed a little but is still 10pts ahead of Matt.

1340: It's all over. No, not Matt's bogey-run, the tournament itself. The Dormen have racked up 98 stableford points for a VPAR score of -26 and won't be caught. Uphoria battled gamely but have finished at -20. Time (-15 after 14) and Visual Golf (-14 after 16) look to be fighting it out for third spot.

1340: The battle for individual honours has turned into a thriller. Ralph Dorey of the Dormen (sounds like a skiffle band) shot a gross two-over 76 - excellent stuff for an eight handicapper. He finished with 41pts, the same number as Uphoria's Hasnain Mahmood (handicap 24) who carded a 92. And just one back on 40pts was another Dormen, Tom Caines (10 handicapper who fired a seven-over 79). There's a couple of players still out on the course who could still catch them with a big, big finish though.

1355: Just as you remember where you were when JFK was shot, I will now forever recall that I was in the toilet when Matt finally made a par in the VPAR Winter Invitational. Wonder what he did after his five at the 14th. Ironic bow? Clenched fist? Will find out later. The 3pts lift him to 27th in the individual standings with a VPAR score of +6, that's 11 behind the clubhouse leaders.

1405: Correction to Matt's scorecard - he actually made par at the previous par five (the 12th) and a six at the 14th. So maybe Kennedy was shot in 1961. Anyhow, he seems to have kicked on a bit now as he's just added a second back nine par, the latest coming at 15.

1415: Matt is finishing like a train! He throws in a birdie two and a net eagle at the par three 16th and with John adding a par (the best two scores count on each hole) it means Golf365 are up to the giddy heights of sixth. Take that team VPAR! (now trailing Golf365 by two).

1420: Matt's Alberto Cova (former Italian distance runner with a fast finish) impression means he's now into the top 20 in the individual event. Surely he can't reel in Emmerdale/Loose Women star Chris Villiers can he?!

1425: A late rally from 'Sheephead' who scores net eagles at his 15th and 16th. Shame though that he's been all over the place prior to that. The 24-handicapper has already taken 100 shots despite that little burst and still has two to play.

1430: Drat. A couple of pars from Anthony Minoprio and James Brown of VPAR and they're now level with Golf365 with two to play. Where's your money Sven?

1432: How's this for a finish from a 17 handicapper - par, birdie, par, par, par. The man in question is Tim Howart from team Time and that takes him to -5 (41 stableford points) and into a tie at the top of the individual standings with Ralph Dorey and Hasnain Mahmood.

1435: A pair of bogeys (net pars) from Matt and John is all Golf365 can manage at the 17th and they remain at a collective -12 (sixth place).

1440: OMG as the kids say. Chris Villiers (+2) has slowed to a crawl on his second nine and now leads Matt (+3) by just one with a hole to play. I thought my tenner was safe.

1441: And what about my bet with VPAR's Director & Co-Founder Sven Hansen? Well that's even tighter. With one hole to play team Golf365 and team VPAR are locked together at -12. Ideal scenario for me in terms of winning my bets? Matt has a bit of a mare but his teammates bang in a couple of net eagles!

1445: Disaster. Chris Villiers (who appeared in Top Secret - one of my favourite films and I've just realised is where I really recognise him from and where his team name comes from) takes a hopeless eight at his final hole. The door is now open for Matt to come past him right at the death.

1448: Just two groups left out on the course - Golf365 and VPAR. Much tension here in Golf365 towers.

1450: Dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. Team Golf365 drop a shot on the last and fall back to seventh. The only consolation is that Matt fails to register a score on 18 so Chris Villiers pips him and I win my bet. In fact Matt owes me £20 as he'd also wagered that his team would finish in the top three. However, I'll be handing those winnings over to VPAR (who'll donate it to charity) as they add a collective birdie at the last to claim sixth and win their battle with Golf365. It's been great fun following the action from my desk today and I'm really taken by the VPAR concept. Watch out for it on the European Tour next season.

Dave Tindall