Competition structures
Parful runs thisKnockout (single elimination)
Also called Single elimination, Knockout bracket, Matchplay knockout, Cup draw, Elimination bracket.
A knockout is a match play bracket in which a player or team is eliminated by one defeat. Seeds are placed so that seed 1 meets seed 16 and seed 8 meets seed 9 in a 16 draw, the winners advance round by round, and the last unbeaten side wins the final.
- Draw size
- A power of two: 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 slots
- Seeded pairings
- 1 v 16, 8 v 9, 4 v 13, 5 v 12, 2 v 15, 7 v 10, 3 v 14, 6 v 11
- Seeding
- Manual, by handicap or random
- Odd fields
- Byes to the top seeds or a preliminary round, whichever affects fewer players
- Lock
- The bracket locks once any match in it has been scored
- Deadlines
- Per round, flagged when overdue, never enforced automatically
How a knockout works
A knockout, or single elimination bracket, is the oldest match play structure in club golf. The field is drawn into pairs, each pair plays a match, the loser is out and the winner moves to the next round. A 16 draw needs four rounds: round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. A 32 draw needs five, a 64 draw six. Matches are singles, four-ball, foursomes or another match play format, fixed for the whole bracket; the bracket only cares who won.
Seeding and the draw
Seeding places the strongest entries as far apart as possible so they can only meet late. The standard order for 16 slots pairs seed 1 with 16, 8 with 9, 4 with 13, 5 with 12, 2 with 15, 7 with 10, 3 with 14 and 6 with 11. Seeds 1 and 2 sit in opposite halves; seeds 1 to 4 sit in different quarters. The same rule builds any draw size: for 8 slots it is 1 v 8, 4 v 5, 2 v 7, 3 v 6.
Parful seeds a bracket one of three ways. By handicap, where the lowest Course Handicap™ is seed 1. Random, where the order is shuffled and then placed. Manual, where the admin drags every entry into its slot. In all three the top seed occupies slot 1, which matters for byes.
When the field is not a power of two
A field of 13 does not fill a 16 draw and overflows an 8 draw. There are two honest answers. Give byes: use the 16 draw and let the top seeds skip round 1, so 3 players sit out the first round. Or play preliminaries: use the 8 draw and have 10 players contest 5 preliminary matches for the last slots. Parful computes both for the field size and recommends whichever affects fewer players.
- Byes: the next power of two minus the field. 13 players in a 16 draw means 3 byes, given to seeds 1 to 3 because they sit opposite the empty slots.
- Preliminaries: twice the field minus the previous power of two. 13 players over an 8 draw means 5 preliminary matches involving 10 players, with 3 direct entrants.
- For 17 players the choice is 2 preliminary players against 15 byes, so preliminaries win. For 24 players it is 16 preliminary players against 8 byes, so byes win.
- Who plays the preliminaries is chosen at random by default, or the lowest seeds, or by hand. Preliminary winners re-enter at the bottom of the seeded order.
Walkovers, concessions and deadlines
A walkover is a no-contest: one side cannot play and the other is awarded the match with a written reason. It advances the bracket but is not a played match in either player's statistics. A concession is a match given up mid-round, recorded with the hole and the state at the time, and counts as played. A void is a match that never happened and is removed.
Each round can carry a deadline. A round past its date with open matches is flagged to the admin and by a nightly sweep, and the admin extends, awards a walkover or voids. No match is decided by the calendar alone.
How Parful runs it
A knockout on Parful is a competition with a bracket structure, optionally split into flights that each carry their own bracket. The admin picks the seeding, previews the bye recommendation for the field size, and generates the draw. Until the first match in a bracket is scored the admin can replace players and regenerate freely. Once any match has a result the bracket is locked and changes go through the walkover, concession, void and correction tools. A locked Championship flight does not lock the A flight.
Matches are scheduled onto outings, scored from the group scorecard or entered by the admin, and the winner advances automatically. Rounds are named from the draw size: Round of 32, Round of 16, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, Final.
Worked example
A worked example: a 16 draw seeded by handicap
Sixteen members seeded by Course Handicap, lowest first. The standard order places the seeds so that the top two can only meet in the final and the top four only in the semi-finals.
| Match | Seed | Player (handicap) | Seed | Player (handicap) | Quarter-final path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Ana (3) | 16 | Pat (22) | Winner plays match 2 winner |
| 2 | 8 | Hal (12) | 9 | Ivy (13) | Winner plays match 1 winner |
| 3 | 4 | Dee (7) | 13 | Meg (18) | Winner plays match 4 winner |
| 4 | 5 | Eve (8) | 12 | Lou (17) | Winner plays match 3 winner |
| 5 | 2 | Ben (4) | 15 | Ole (21) | Winner plays match 6 winner |
| 6 | 7 | Gil (11) | 10 | Jon (14) | Winner plays match 5 winner |
| 7 | 3 | Cal (6) | 14 | Ned (20) | Winner plays match 8 winner |
| 8 | 6 | Fay (9) | 11 | Kim (16) | Winner plays match 7 winner |
- With 15 entries instead of 16, slot 16 is empty and seed 1 takes the bye in round 1, because the empty slot sits opposite the top seed.
- With 17 entries Parful recommends one preliminary match between two players for the sixteenth slot rather than 15 byes.
Common variants
- Random draw, no seeds
- Names out of a hat, the traditional club draw. Parful runs it as random seeding: the order is shuffled and then placed in the standard slots.
- Knockout with a plate
- First-round losers drop into a second bracket for a consolation prize. Parful runs double elimination, where a loser drops into a losers bracket that feeds the grand final; a plain plate with its own trophy is run as a second competition.
- Two-leg ties
- Home and away matches with the aggregate deciding. Parful does not score two-leg knockouts; each fixture is one match.