thank both of you for the replies. Marchie: I did send them an email and, like Simon, had no reply.
Simon: I completely agree, they tend not to bother about the bugs (or, for that matter, customer service!). It's annoying because the Showdown actually cost credits to enter. Ok, it was only 10, but that's not the point. The credits cost money (or time), and so do decent balls. If they are going to monetise the competitions, then I think that they have a duty to properly administrate them so that people are not screwed over. I finished 25th, so got a little bit of a prize, but had I been able to do the last 3 holes with just one birdie I would have made it to the top 10, where the prizes are bigger (including at least one more ball).
I remember similar issues when they did head to heads for money, which they eventually got rid of. It's a great game when it works, and I've been playing it a long time, but these things make you want to quit. That's a real shame.