PGA Tour Stats Review: It All Comes Down to This

PGA Tour Stats Review: It All Comes Down to This

This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.

PGA TOUR STATS: TOUR Championship

Each week we'll list the statistical breakdown of the upcoming PGA Tour event. Below are the results of recent tournaments, including last week's BMW Championship, and results from last year's TOUR Championship.

The results grid was reduced for easier reading, starting with the U.S Open. However, the AVERAGE statistics at the bottom of the grid reflect data from completed 2012 tournaments.

For results from earlier events, go here.

For last year's full-season results, go here.

2012 PGA Tour Events

EVENTWINNERDRIVEDRIVEDRIVEDRIVEGIRGIRSTK GNPUTTSEAGLESBIRDIEBOGEYDBL BOG
%of56RNKDISDIS RNK%of72RNK/PUTTRNK
U.S. Open W. Simpson 55.4 13 278.9 53 58.3 16 NA NA 0 13 12 1
Travelers Leishman -14 76.8 15 301.5 12 70.8 28 0.05 48 1 21 7 1
AT&T Woods -8 53.6 46 298.6 34 66.7 17 1.46 9 1 11 5 0
Greenbrier Potter Jr. -16 P1 80.4 3 304.8 35 72.2 21 2.02 1 1 18 4 0
John Deere Z. Johnson -20 P1 73.2 31 293.3 48 75.0 26 2.14 2 0 24 4 0
British Open Els -7 62.5 43 298.1 13 79.2 1 NA NA 0 16 9 0
Canadian Piercy -17 62.5 30 311.3 9 66.7 58 1.79 4 2 20 7 0
Bridgestone K. Bradley -13 62.5 6 320.0 23 68.1 11 3.00 1 0 23 8 1
PGA Champ. McIlroy -13 66.1 42 311.5 1 66.7 13 NA

PGA TOUR STATS: TOUR Championship

Each week we'll list the statistical breakdown of the upcoming PGA Tour event. Below are the results of recent tournaments, including last week's BMW Championship, and results from last year's TOUR Championship.

The results grid was reduced for easier reading, starting with the U.S Open. However, the AVERAGE statistics at the bottom of the grid reflect data from completed 2012 tournaments.

For results from earlier events, go here.

For last year's full-season results, go here.

2012 PGA Tour Events

EVENTWINNERDRIVEDRIVEDRIVEDRIVEGIRGIRSTK GNPUTTSEAGLESBIRDIEBOGEYDBL BOG
%of56RNKDISDIS RNK%of72RNK/PUTTRNK
U.S. Open W. Simpson 55.4 13 278.9 53 58.3 16 NA NA 0 13 12 1
Travelers Leishman -14 76.8 15 301.5 12 70.8 28 0.05 48 1 21 7 1
AT&T Woods -8 53.6 46 298.6 34 66.7 17 1.46 9 1 11 5 0
Greenbrier Potter Jr. -16 P1 80.4 3 304.8 35 72.2 21 2.02 1 1 18 4 0
John Deere Z. Johnson -20 P1 73.2 31 293.3 48 75.0 26 2.14 2 0 24 4 0
British Open Els -7 62.5 43 298.1 13 79.2 1 NA NA 0 16 9 0
Canadian Piercy -17 62.5 30 311.3 9 66.7 58 1.79 4 2 20 7 0
Bridgestone K. Bradley -13 62.5 6 320.0 23 68.1 11 3.00 1 0 23 8 1
PGA Champ. McIlroy -13 66.1 42 311.5 1 66.7 13 NA NA 0 20 7 0
Wyndham Garcia -18 73.2 12 302.0 26 72.2 26 0.81 21 1 20 4 0
Barclays Watney -10 69.6 15 299.3 29 75.0 2 0.96 16 1 23 13 1
Duetsche McIlroy -20 55.4 69 310.3 5 66.7 35 1.67 2 1.0 25.0 7 0
BMW Champ McIlroy -20 73.2 28 306.9 5 70.8 17 -0.21 41 2.0 23.0 7 0
AVERAGE 65.1 27.8 292.2 32.4 71.8 17.2 1.39 14.8 0.7 19.6 6.4 0.4

Last Week's BMW Championship

In a six-day stretch Rory McIlroy collected two $1.44 million checks while facing down high-octane fields. With those two wins he has four PGA Tour titles, including the Honda Classic and the PGA Championship – a shoo-in for Player of The Year.

The Crooked Stick venue survived rain, rain and more rain that generated the lift-clean-and-placing fairway balls in the fight against the mud. Due to the storms, requiring the use of pumps and drainage assists, the course probably was not at its best in presenting its full challenge. Hopefully we won't have to wait long to again use Crooked Stick.

The crowded top of the leaderboard carried highly ranked talents, proving the tightness of the competition. After the second round, 11 players were within four strokes of Vijay Singh's 13-under lead – after 54 holes seven were within three shots of Phil Mickelson's 16-under. In the closing round, there was a four-player tie for the lead at the turn. Great play.

TOUR Championship

Results from last year's TOUR Championship:

GOLFERDRIVEDRIVEDRIVEDRIVEGIRGIRPUTTSPUTTSEAGLEBIRDIEBOGEYDBL
%of56RNKDISDIS RNK%of72RNKPer GIRRNKRNDRNK
B. Haas -8 P1 62.5 5 299.9 9 69.4 11 1.58 1 28.8 9 0 22 12 1
Mahan -8 P2 60.7 6 294.8 15 76.4 5 1.76 10 29.8 18 1 14 8 0
Donald -7 44.6 24 287.4 23 65.3 21 1.68 3 27.8 3 0 15 8 0
Choi -7 64.3 3 280.4 28 68.1 12 1.76 8 28.3 4 0 16 7 1
Baddeley -7 44.6 24 303.1 8 62.5 24 1.60 2 27.0 1 1 20 15 3
C. Howell -6 58.9 7 306.1 6 77.8 2 1.82 20 30.0 20 1 12 8 0
Scott -6 57.1 10 307.0 5 77.8 2 1.77 11 30.8 25 0 17 9 1
J. Day -6 46.4 22 305.5 7 68.1 12 1.76 8 28.3 4 0 15 9 0
Van Pelt -5 69.6 1 279.9 29 73.6 8 1.79 17 29.5 13 0 14 9 0
Mickelson -4 51.8 15 293.1 16 80.6 1 1.88 28 31.8 28 0 11 7 0
G. Ogilvy -3 64.3 3 297.1 13 66.7 17 1.77 12 28.5 7 0 16 9 2
Bradley -3 57.1 10 291.3 19 75.0 7 1.83 22 31.3 26 0 17 12 1
Woodland -2 44.6 24 313.1 2 77.8 2 1.88 27 31.3 26 0 12 6 2
Dufner -2 58.9 7 291.0 20 72.2 9 1.83 21 30.5 24 0 13 9 1
Stricker -1 42.9 27 298.1 11 59.7 26 1.74 5 28.3 4 0 14 11 1
AVERAGE 55.2 12.5 296.5 14.1 71.4 10.6 1.76 13 29.5 14.1 0 15.2 9.3 0.9
Golfers listed in bold are in the 2012 field.

Rory McIlroy's second FedEx Cup playoff win six days apart leads the parade to Atlanta where the TOUR Championship will decide the winner of the season-long FedEx Cup competition.

McIlroy joins Vijay Singh and Camilo Villegas (2008) and Tiger Woods (2007) in winning two Playoff events in a given year.

Continuing now for six years, no FedEx Cup winner has returned to defend his title as 2011 winner Bill Haas fell short of making this year's field. Only 15 of the 2011 participants are back this year.

Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan are the only players who have participated all six years of the FedEx Cup.

Of the 26 PGA Tour rookies this year only John Huh advanced to Atlanta. Last year, rookie Keegan Bradley qualified and tied for 11th. All 30 TOUR Championship players
are exempt for the Masters and four majors.

Above is a portion of the 2011 leaderboard with specific stats data. Below are results from the previous two years:

2010

Jim Furyk - 8-under 272
Luke Donald - 7-under 273
Retief Goosen - 6-under 274
Nick Watney - 5-under 275
Paul Casey - 5-under 275
Charley Hoffman - 3-under 277
Ernie Els - 2-under 278
K. J. Choi - 2-under 278

2009

Phil Mickelson - 9-under 271
Tiger Woods - 6-under 274
Sean O'Hare - 5-under 275
Padraig Harrington - 4-under 276
Kenny Perry - 4-under 276
Steve Stricker - 3-under 277
Jim Furyk - 2-under 278
Steve Marino - 2-under 278

2011 Low Rounds:

Round 1: 6-under 64, Keegan Bradley
Round 2: 6-under 64, Bubba Watson
Round 3: 6-under 64, Aaron Baddeley
Round 4: 4-under 66, Gary Woodland

In 2007, third round, Zach Johnson shot 10-under 60. He is the only player to have two career rounds of 60 or better. The Other came in the third round of 2009 Texas Open at La Cantera.

Experience and patience are needed here. GIR is vital, good scrambling needed and bogey avoidance is obvious because birdies are hard to come by. Choose players who have strong putting stats. Bermuda grass is on the greens.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ed Cushing
Cushing covers the PGA Tour for RotoWire, bringing a sabermetric approach to golf stats. Retired and living in the mountains of North Carolina, Cushing is in the running for the Most Interesting Man in Fantasy Sports. He's golfed the Doral Blue Monster, Harbour Town GC, Hilton Head and Augusta National, among many other tough courses. A classically trained pianist, Cushing still plays professionally. He roots for the University of Virginia because the Cavaliers may lose the game, but they ALWAYS win the party. He also made a fortune off the '72 Dolphins.
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