PGA Tour Stats Review: Entering the Heritage

PGA TOUR STATS: The Heritage

Each week we'll list the statistical breakdown of the upcoming PGA Tour event. Below are the results of last week's Masters and the top finishers from last year's Heritage. For last year's full-season results, go here.

2012 PGA Tour Events

EVENT	WINNER	DRIVE	DRIVE	DRIVE	DRIVE	GIR	GIR	STK GN	PUTTS	EAGLES	BIRDIE	BOGEY	DBL BOG
		%of56	RNK	DIS	DIS RNK	%of72	RNK	/PUTT	RNK
TOC	Stricker -23	66.7	11	268.3	15	81.9	13	1.25	3	1	26	3	1
Sony	Wagner -13	41.1	56	276.4	68	70.8	10	1.58	3	2	17	8	0
Humana	M. Wilson -24	74.1	18	279.3	69	80.6	73	1.04	4	2	24	4	0
Farmers	Snedeker -16 P1	58.9	13	284.8	47	70.8	33	1.03	12	0	24	8	0
Phoenix	K. Stanley -15	60.7	24	287.5	70	79.2	3	1.14	11	2	18	7	0
Pebble Bch	Mickelson -17	61.8	62	272.8	58	75.0	3	3.33	1	1	19	4	0
Nor. Trust	Haas -7 P1	55.4	50	279.8	30	50.0	58	2.25	3	1	15	10	0
Mayakoba	Huh -13 P1	73.2	8	279.3	44	81.9	1	N/A	28	1	18	5	1
Honda	McIlroy -12	60.7	37	297.6	8	66.7	10	1.57	5	0	17	5	0
WGC-Cad.	Rose -16	57.1	78	290.0	28	65.3	17	0.11	33	0	23	7	0
Transitions	Donald -13 P1	73.1	9	261.1	75	66.7	43	2.59	1	1	17	6	0
Arnold Palmer	Woods -13	64.3	29	294.6	11	79.2	1	1.45	4	0	20	5	1
Houston	Mahan -16	67.9	33	279.9	50	86.1	1	1.61	5	0	18	2	0
Masters	Watson -10 P1	66.0	48	290.4	4	73.6	4	1.67	37	0	19	0	0
	Oosthuizen -10P2	82.1	7	290.5	2	70.8	10	1.53	5	1	18	0	0
AVERAGE		64.2	32.2	282.2	38.6	73.2	18.7	1.58	10.3	0.8	19.5	4.9	0.2

Last Week's Masters

Double eagle (albatross), holes-in-one, ending with a sharply curved hook coming out of the pine straw to seven feet from the flag ... well, what more can be expected in the closing round of the Masters?

Bubba Watson's win was earned in contrast to those first-place finishes that come about as unfortunate happenings take their toll to whoever finishes second. In the last two years Watson has graduated from being a cannon off the tee to a player who can work the ball with both woods and irons. Also, Watson now has an effective short game that segues into solid putting.

Now, if we can only stop the water-works (LOL).

This Week's Heritage

EVENT	WINNER	DRIVE	DRIVE	DRIVE	DRIVE	GIR	GIR		PUTTS	PUTTS		EAGLE/	BOGEY/
		%of56	RNK	DIS	DIS RNK	%of72	RNK	Per GIR	RNK	RND	RNK	BIRDIE	DBL
2011 Heritage	B. Snedeker -12 P1	80.4	3	271.0	59	61.1	30	1.59	2	25.8	4	0/21	9/0
	Donald -12 P2	76.8	9	276.0	40	66.7	10	1.65	10	26.8	17	0/20	6/1
	Gainey -11	69.6	38	291.8	7	62.5	22	1.69	30	26.5	12	1/18	9/0
	Herron -10	57.1	64	287.5	14	72.2	2	1.67	22	27.8	41	0/18	6/1
	Barnes -10	73.2	20	288.6	13	62.5	22	1.69	30	26.0	8	1/15	7/0
AVERAGE		71.4	26.8	283.0	26.6	65.0	17.2	1.66	18.8	26.6	16.4

Davis Love III won here in 1987, 1991, 1982, 1998 and 2003. He's in the field again this year with about 30 players coming from last week's Masters, making for a strong field.

Pete Dye designed the Harbour Town Golf Links course back in 1968-69 where he first introduced railway ties used in strategic placements in the United States. Arnold Palmer won the first event, the Heritage Golf Classic, in 1969. Palmer's presence, and especially his win, drew substantial attention to the course.

Tight fairways here lead into small greens, which is one way to say you need players who rank high both in driving accuracy and greens-in-regulation. There will be plenty of scrambling as greens are missed. Statistics consistently show very low putts-per-GIR here. Both short and long hitters do well. Course knowledge and course management will pay off so veteran players have done well here. The locale is fairly close to the ocean so there is a very good chance wind will cause some grief.

Last five winners:

2011 - Brandt Snedeker, -12 (Luke Donald lost in playoff)
2010 - Jim Furyk, -13
2009 - Brian Gay, -20 (10-stroke win over Luke Donald)
2008 - Boo Weekley, -15
2007 - Boo Weekley, -14