OTF Wordle Ryder Cup 4: Avengers Assemble

[Sits]

Ooh, two big birdies there.

[San Bernardhinault]

3 to finish San Bernardhinault

So it comes down to me, my teammates’ brilliant day having put me in a position to push for glory…

A pitiful 5 in response to Harbinger of Hope’s magnificent birdie wins him the hole and the match, and hands RoW the cup.

[Sean of the Shed]

So it comes down to me, my teammates’ brilliant day having put me in a position to push for glory…

A pitiful 5 in response to Harbinger of Hope’s magnificent birdie wins him the hole and the match, and hands RoW the cup.

Harbinger of Hope wins by 1 hole.

GB 11 RoW 8

GB win the 4th Ryder Cup

[lambers]

An epic Wordle for me today. I played the first shot around 09:00, and then got bitten on the leg by my "caddy" (aka "the bab"), prompting a break in play for a brief lecture, and then the second shot several minutes later. I then couldn't see any options at all, before being reminded that it was time for me to go play football, despite the chunk (a dent about 1mm wide) missing from my thigh.

After getting home nearly three hours later, I promptly forgot about Wordle until recently, then I resumed my hunt for what the answer could be. After going through nearly every possible letter combination, I determined the answer was one of three. I turned to trusting my luck to get the birdie. I got another par.

Well played Reality Checkpoint, you held your nerve at the critical point!

[Sean of the Shed]

An epic Wordle for me today. I played the first shot around 09:00, and then got bitten on the leg by my "caddy" (aka "the bab"), prompting a break in play for a brief lecture, and then the second shot several minutes later. I then couldn't see any options at all, before being reminded that it was time for me to go play football, despite the chunk (a dent about 1mm wide) missing from my thigh.

After getting home nearly three hours later, I promptly forgot about Wordle until recently, then I resumed my hunt for what the answer could be. After going through nearly every possible letter combination, I determined the answer was one of three. I turned to trusting my luck to get the birdie. I got another par.

Well played Reality Checkpoint, you held your nerve at the critical point!

Reality Checkpoint v lambers match halved

FINAL SCORE

GB 11.5 RoW 8.5

[Reality Checkpoint]

An epic Wordle for me today. I played the first shot around 09:00, and then got bitten on the leg by my "caddy" (aka "the bab"), prompting a break in play for a brief lecture, and then the second shot several minutes later. I then couldn't see any options at all, before being reminded that it was time for me to go play football, despite the chunk (a dent about 1mm wide) missing from my thigh.

After getting home nearly three hours later, I promptly forgot about Wordle until recently, then I resumed my hunt for what the answer could be. After going through nearly every possible letter combination, I determined the answer was one of three. I turned to trusting my luck to get the birdie. I got another par.

Well played Reality Checkpoint, you held your nerve at the critical point!

Well played yourself my good fellow! Sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations today, it was a good ding-dong battle to the end.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

As always, this has been simply fantastic, so a huge thanks from me to irony towers for the concept, the creation, organisation and delivery of it.

[Sean of the Shed]

As always, this has been simply fantastic, so a huge thanks from me to irony towers for the concept, the creation, organisation and delivery of it.

Seconded.

[ad hoc]

Yes agreed

[Reality Checkpoint]

Fourthed

[Sits]

Fifthed,

Many, many thanks irony towers

Congratulations GB and well played, but also well played the ROWers as we kept it alive until dusk on the final holes.

[irony towers]

Final round-up

Match score: GB 11.5 RoW 8.5

Sitting through Mrs towers' graduation ceremony, I was oblivious to the thickening tension as RoW threatened a heist with the audacity of, if not Brinks Mat, at least Brinks Carpet Runner. In the two-and-a-quarter-hour window from when Sean of the Shed secured one GB paw on the trophy - and let me echo the thanks to Sean for the vidiprinter service -10-6 ticked up to 10-7 and 10-8: cue the licking of RoW chops. The great beauty of the Ryder Cup (in either version) is that anyone can be That Player who seals the deal, and this time it was the turn of Harbinger of Hope not only to bring GB over the line but to return a personal haul of 3 match points, an achievement equalled by perennial top dogs Sean and ad hoc.

If winning, losing and halving a hole are assumed to be equally probable, the RoWdies began the day with something like a 135-1 chance of getting at least a share of the spoils. Sits has summarised it well: the ultimate scoreline was a fair reflection of the balance of the contest overall, yet RoW emerge with great credit for keeping the result in doubt until the penultimate match. In the latter stages no one embodied the tenacity of the underdog more than Sporting, who delivered the win having been 2 down after four holes. All of the head-to-head matches that lasted the distance were enthralling to follow, and I like to think that the shared camaraderie of these Wordle events was at its all-time height with as many as seven matches going to the wire.

The stroke average on the day was 3.64; for Round 3 it was 3.73 and for the whole tournament it was 3.72, the second-best out of all matchplay tournaments (WRC2 3.65). It would be a pity if such a level of quality were to deter new and returning players to join when I'm looking towards WRC5, probably in January. If you're reading this, ale,caja-dglh, Cal Alamein, David Agnew, Fargo Boyle, Hot Orange, matt j, nmrfox, Plodder, Sam: we'd love you to be part of the fun.

Completed Round 3 scorecard:

	Pts	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Match
Match K		W	H	H	W	W	W	W	H	W	GB won 2 UP
Sean of the Shed	3	3	3	4	4	3	4	3	4	3
RoW composite		4	3	4	3	4	3	5	4	4
Match L		H	H	W	W	W	W	H	H	W	GB won 1 UP
Harbinger of Hope	3	4	3	5	3	2	5	5	4	3
San Bernardhinault	0.5	4	3	4	6	3	3	5	4	5
Match M		W	W	W	W	H	H	W			GB won 3 & 2
Auntie Beryl	2.5	4	3	3	3	4	4	4
WOM	0	3	4	5	4	4	4	5
Match N		W	W	W	W	W	H	W	H	W	RoW won 1 UP
Rogin the Armchair fan	0.5	3	3	4	5	3	4	3	4	4
Balderdasha	1.5	2	5	6	3	2	4	4	4	3
Match O		H	W	W	W	H	H	H	W	W	RoW won 1 UP
Foot of Astaire's	2	3	5	3	4	4	4	3	2	5
ad hoc	3	3	3	4	3	4	4	3	3	2
Match P		W	W	W	W	H	H	W	H	W	Halved
Reality Checkpoint	2	3	5	5	4	3	5	3	4	3
lambers	1.5	4	3	4	3	3	5	4	4	4
Match Q		H	H	W	H	H	W	W			GB won 3 & 2
irony towers	2	4	3	3	3	4	4	3
Discordant Resonance	1	4	3	5	3	4	5	5
Match R		H	W	W	H	W	W				RoW won 4 & 3
Artificial Hipster	1	3	4	5	4	4	4
Logan Mountstuart	1	3	3	3	4	3	3
Match S		W	W	W	W	W	W	W	H	W	Halved
Simon G	0.5	2	4	4	6	3	4	4	3	4
Sits	1	3	3	5	3	5	3	5	3	3
Match T		W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	RoW won 1 UP
pebblethefish	1.5	5	2	3	3	3	4	4	5	5
Sporting	1.5	4	3	4	4	2	3	5	4	3

[Fargo Boyle]

Thank you for the invitation, Irony. I will be here!

[Sits]

Great write-up IT.

[Sporting]

Thanks IT.

Who first came up with the idea of equating Wordle with golf (it wasn't me)?

[Sits]

I remember the first time I went on OTF’s original Wordle thread I was confused as to why people were talking about making the green in 2 etc.

[pebblethefish]

I think it was Various Artist who first noticed that 4 was an average score, so it was kind of like golf, and it grew from there. I can't be bothered to find the old thread though, so I may be misattributing.

[Simon G]

Thanks for organising again IT. I've got to admit I've not been as consistent with Wordle since the Open ended, so the Matchplays and WRCs are what keeps me going.

[irony towers]

Thanks IT.

Who first came up with the idea of equating Wordle with golf (it wasn't me)?

It was back on Discordant Resonance's original Wordle thread (not the spoilers one) in January 2022 that I mentioned the connection. Antepli Ejderha convinced me that a tournament could work alongside the spoilers thread.

[Antepli Ejderha]

I'm not sure I can take any credit at all, it's a magnificent effort to keep this going for so long.

[lambers]

Thanks as always IT. Next tournament, you'll have to finagle a way for us to be on the same team, just to see if the universe can cope with our 100%/0% Ryder records.

[irony towers]

A record 80% of players achieved a stroke average below 4 across the tournament. The previous best was 71% in WMT3.

Match points are shown in purple:

irony towers	2	3.15
ad hoc	3	3.18
Logan Mountstuart	1	3.42
Sean of the Shed	3	3.45
Rogin the Armchair fan	0.5	3.50
Sporting	1.5	3.55
Sits	1	3.57
Auntie Beryl	2.5	3.60
Artificial Hipster	1	3.70
pebblethefish	1.5	3.73
Harbinger of Hope	3	3.76
Reality Checkpoint	2	3.80
lambers	1.5	3.81
Foot of Astaire's	2	3.82
Simon G	0.5	3.86
Balderdasha	1.5	3.86

[Sam]

I'm late to responding to the invitation, due to my extended absence while I was away, but I will of course be here in January.

[nmrfox]

If there is a space available I'd be happy to take it.

[irony towers]

That's terrific news, Foxy! I have every confidence there'll be a slot for you when WRC5 tees off in a month or so.

Space-time continuum fans, be warned: this increases the chances that lambers and I will be on the same side.