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 13.09.2026	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jul to Oct	Peak (games) Nov to Feb	Peak (games) Mar to Jun
Peter Kougi	1862.00	0
Michael Cameron	1782.00	0
Michael Hornung	1773.00	0
Adam Kretschmer	1747.00	0
Mythili Rudra	1729.00	0
Malcolm McAnulty	1603.00	0
Howard Rayner	1588.00	0
Jane Brown	1474.00	0
Gwen Lampre	1469.00	0
Antonios Syrigos	1462.00	0
Phillip Hamilton	1461.00	0
Ray Alford	1460.00	0
Jegatheva Jegathesan	1414.00	0
Kashi Thiris	1411.00	0
Adam Kauschke	1406.00	0
Susan Rayner	1402.00	0
Peter Shaw	1397.00	0
Alex Boiko	1391.00	0
Bobby Malela Hutagal	1368.00	0
Kerry Constable	1364.00	0

State Challenge

Contender	Q Stat 13.09.2026	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jul to Oct	Peak (games) Nov to Feb	Peak (games) Mar to Jun
ACT1 Tony Williams	1345.00	0
ACT2 Caroline Scowcroft	1279.00	0
ACT3 Stephen Saunders	1137.00	0
ACT4 Susan MacGillivray	1085.00	0
ACT5 Arlene Williams	1000.00	0
ACT6 Laura Thomas	734.00	0
NSW1 Mal Ramsdale	1338.00	0
NSW2 Hailey Sutton	1215.00	0
NSW3 Melissa Conley Tyler	1210.00	0
NSW4 Yvonne Edwards	1166.00	0
NSW5 David Grounds	1144.00	0
NSW6 Kim Grayson	1111.00	0
QLD1 Roberta Tait	1280.00	0
QLD2 Glenys Logan	1270.00	0
QLD3 Maureen See	1221.00	0
QLD4 Irene Poh	1188.00	0
QLD5 James Connor	1140.00	0
QLD6 Yannick Theriault	1127.00	0
SA1 Francoise Finlayson	1298.00	0
SA2 Victoria Gates	1286.00	0
SA3 Teresa Dean	1263.00	0
SA4 Tei Ngatai	1254.00	0
SA5 Marc Hudson	1197.00	0
SA6 Julie Krieg	1184.00	0
TAS1 John Hayes	1265.00	0
TAS2 Sandy McConnell	1217.00	0
TAS3 Penny Wells	1190.00	0
TAS4 Betty Smith	1113.00	0
TAS5 Lynne Jarvis	1110.00	0
TAS6 Marion Merickel	1048.00	0
VIC1 Alex Leckie-Zaharic	1345.00	0
VIC2 Kris Howat	1330.00	0
VIC3 Shaun Donnelly	1317.00	0
VIC4 Janet Bau	1230.00	0
VIC5 Bill Doherty	1219.00	0
VIC6 Linda Weiss	1148.00	0
WA1 Gillian Street	1241.00	0
WA2 Mary Turnour	1016.00	0
WA3 Henny Yates	907.00	0
WA4 Jenny Coetzee	881.00	0
WA5 Thanu Sriskantharaja	836.00	0
WA6 Carol Crawford	793.00	0

Residency: