This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
This week on the PGA Tour it's the Sony Open in Hawaii, an event that looks and feels nothing like the Tournament of Champions as Waialae Country Club is much shorter, tighter and flatter than Kapalua. Here's this week's stats column.
Island Hoppers
Twenty-two players hopped islands from Maui to Oahu, so it's easier to name who is NOT making the trip this week than who is: Jordan Spieth (who in winning last week became only the second golfer in the ShotLink era to finish first in strokes gained–tee to green and strokes gained-putting for the week), Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Smylie Kaufman, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Bill Haas, J.B. Holmes and Matt Every. This is important as week-to-week momentum is key as most players in this field won't have a competitive round under their belts in 2016.
Last Year's Winning Stat
Jimmy Walker won last year (his second consecutive win at this event) in dominating fashion, and his strong suit was ... well, everything. He was first in greens in regulation, strokes gained-putting and strokes gained-total and fourth in strokes gained-tee to green.
It's the tee-to-green area that we're going to look at because you must drive it in the fairway to give yourself the most birdie chances on this tight layout -- and be a good recovery player if you're not -- to win this week.
We're going to look at two stats that don't depend on ShotLink (which missed three fall events, creating an incomplete
This week on the PGA Tour it's the Sony Open in Hawaii, an event that looks and feels nothing like the Tournament of Champions as Waialae Country Club is much shorter, tighter and flatter than Kapalua. Here's this week's stats column.
Island Hoppers
Twenty-two players hopped islands from Maui to Oahu, so it's easier to name who is NOT making the trip this week than who is: Jordan Spieth (who in winning last week became only the second golfer in the ShotLink era to finish first in strokes gained–tee to green and strokes gained-putting for the week), Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Smylie Kaufman, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Bill Haas, J.B. Holmes and Matt Every. This is important as week-to-week momentum is key as most players in this field won't have a competitive round under their belts in 2016.
Last Year's Winning Stat
Jimmy Walker won last year (his second consecutive win at this event) in dominating fashion, and his strong suit was ... well, everything. He was first in greens in regulation, strokes gained-putting and strokes gained-total and fourth in strokes gained-tee to green.
It's the tee-to-green area that we're going to look at because you must drive it in the fairway to give yourself the most birdie chances on this tight layout -- and be a good recovery player if you're not -- to win this week.
We're going to look at two stats that don't depend on ShotLink (which missed three fall events, creating an incomplete stat this early in the season) to find our stats picks this week.
Driving Accuracy (minimum two events)
Thomas Aiken - 83.57 percent
Graeme McDowell - 76.74 percent
Zach Johnson - 75.49 percent
K.J. Choi - 74.29 percent
David Lingmerth - 73.50 percent
Our pick out of this group is Lingmerth. He finished T15 last week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions but was first in driving accuracy, hitting 83.33 percent of his fairways on the Plantation Course.
You may be wondering about Johnson, but he finished 24th in strokes gained-tee to green last week, losing -2.715 strokes per round to the field and finishing T12 in driving accuracy (he finished T17 in greens in regulation, which we'll talk about below). Yes, this golf course is more up his wheelhouse but that area of his game just wasn't sharp.
Also be skittish of McDowell who never broke 70 and lost -5.589 strokes per round tee to green.
Greens in Regulation (minimum two events)
Russell Knox - 81.82 percent
Thomas Aiken - 81.11 percent
Ben Martin - 81.11 percent
Zach Johnson - 78.57 percent
Jim Herman - 78.40 percent
Knox is our pick from this department. He won in Shanghai last fall, didn't have the greatest of putting weeks on Maui (27th out of 32 players in strokes gained-putting), but was first in greens in regulation at 88.89 percent. If he can duplicate that this week on a tighter golf course with smaller greens, maybe the putting will come around, too.
Field Look-In
A couple players are either appearing or re-appearing for the first time in this 2015-16 season. They are: Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, Vijay Singh, Steve Stricker, Keegan Bradley, Graham DeLaet, Luke Donald, Harris English, Tony Finau, Sean O'Hair, Ryan Palmer, Sam Saunders, Webb Simpson, Erik Compton and Gary Woodland.
Weather
There is a 60 percent chance of rain Friday, though showers aren't supposed to hit until evening. Saturday has a 30 percent chance of rain for a.m. showers. It's not expected to delay play, as it did in 2011 when the first round was pushed to Friday, but rain could make greens slower Saturday. Wind should not be factor as light breezes are forecast at 2 to 6 mph.
