PGA Tour Stats Review: OHL Classic

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Updated on November 11, 2015 8:57PM EST

Five consecutive first-time winners have taken the PGA Tour by storm to open the 2015-16 season. That creates a fascinating OHL Classic at Mayakoba this week, as multiple winners this season will show up looking to notch their second PGA Tour victory. Here's this week' stats thread:

The Winners

Smylie Kaufman - START. Kaufman tied for 10th at Frys, won in Vegas and tied for 54th last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. But the one constant in all those wins has been his tee-to-green game. He ranked 14th in strokes gained-tee to green in Napa Valley, 11th when he won in Las Vegas and 26th last week at the Country Club of Jackson. El Camaleon GC is a tight golf course, needing precision to help set up scoring opportunities. If Kaufman does that, he may well contend yet again for a PGA Tour victory.

Russell Knox - YOUR CHOICE. Knox, who nearly won the 2014 Honda Classic in a playoff before finally getting his first win last week at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai has played in all four PGA Tour events this season, going missed cut-T38-T21-1. That's a lot of traveling -- 26,875 miles according to ESPN's Jason Sobel. It's hard to stay consistent after that kind of world traveling, and winning makes it even harder. Now he's got job security, a trip to Augusta, already locked up. Now if you want to start him, thinking he'll ride momentum, here's the stats to back it up: he

Smylie Kaufman - START. Kaufman tied for 10th at Frys, won in Vegas and tied for 54th last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. But the one constant in all those wins has been his tee-to-green game. He ranked 14th in strokes gained-tee to green in Napa Valley, 11th when he won in Las Vegas and 26th last week at the Country Club of Jackson. El Camaleon GC is a tight golf course, needing precision to help set up scoring opportunities. If Kaufman does that, he may well contend yet again for a PGA Tour victory.

Russell Knox - YOUR CHOICE. Knox, who nearly won the 2014 Honda Classic in a playoff before finally getting his first win last week at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai has played in all four PGA Tour events this season, going missed cut-T38-T21-1. That's a lot of traveling -- 26,875 miles according to ESPN's Jason Sobel. It's hard to stay consistent after that kind of world traveling, and winning makes it even harder. Now he's got job security, a trip to Augusta, already locked up. Now if you want to start him, thinking he'll ride momentum, here's the stats to back it up: he was T5 in driving accuracy and T3 in greens in regulation en route to victory last week, both of which should help him this week -- but I'd leave him on the bench until 2016.

Peter Malnati - START. It took five days but the Sanderson Farms Championship finally ended and its champion, Malnati, wound up having an insane putting week. Consider these stats:

Putts made from 10 feet or more @SandersonPGA ... Field average: 4.56. Peter Malnati: 16. pic.twitter.com/60AuH067M3
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 10, 2015

Following up: Peter Malnati made 495 feet, 7 inches of putts this week. Made a putt of 32 feet or longer in every round. Unholy roller.
— Steve Elling (@EllingYelling) November 9, 2015

All those insane putting stats have Malnati ranked third in strokes gained-putting in this early part of the 2015-16 season, and if he can do that this week in Mexico, he'll contend again.

OHL Classic Stats Profile

Look at the recent winners of this event: Johnson Wagner, John Huh, Harris English and Charley Hoffman last year. English is long but the rest are precision ball-strikers. Take the last three winners: Hoffman's season long strokes gained-tee to green ranking: 71st. Putting: 89th. English in 2014: 26th and 105th respectively. Huh in 2012 (the event wasn't held in the 2013 season): 39th and 65th.

Here are the strokes gained-tee to green leaders in the field this week, with the caveat that the CIMB Classic and HSBC Champions did not have ShotLink:

D.J. Trahan - SLEEPER STARTER. Trahan finished 10th last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, ranking second in strokes gained-tee to green, gaining 10.260 shots for the week in that category. To say Trahan is a journeyman is an understatement -- he's 901st in the world, and that's up from 1,412th last week! So let's be clear: it was his first start of the 2015-16 PGA Tour season after a very poor Web.com Tour season. It's an extremely small sample size. But if you're looking for momentum, here's a contender.

Patrick Rodgers - START. Now compared to Trahan, Rodgers is a known commodity who many expect huge things from in the 2015-16 season. Last week was another step in that journey, finishing T20 after vaulting into contention with a second round 64. The poor weather may have contributed to his lackluster finish, going 70-73 over the final two rounds, but statistically he ranked third in strokes gained-tee to green for the week. That's a great fit for this golf course.

Kyle Reifers - SIT. Reifers' strong strokes gained numbers are coming off the first start in the year, a tie for sixth at the Frys.com Open. Following that he missed the cut in Vegas and finished T43 at the CIMB Classic. In Vegas he lost an average of nearly two strokes to the field from tee to green (compared to gaining eight at Silverado). CIMB did not have ShotLink. So with all that said, we don't like him as a pick this week -- just too inconsistent so far.

Who to Watch, Who to Know

This week's field also contains some known quantities, such as Matt Kuchar, Keegan Bradley, Graeme McDowell, Kevin Streelman and Boo Weekley. The name we'll highlight is Weekley, who tied for 39th last week. He struggled on the weekend, but in the first two rounds had strokes gained-tee to green numbers of 2.986 and 1.151. If he can put up those numbers over four rounds this week, there's a good chance he'll contend -- it's his kind of course. I'd START him.