This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
The PGA Tour moves to New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic, an event with a surprisingly strong field considering that a World Golf Championship event and The Players immediately follow. So with that in mind, fantasy choices abound. Here's our stats preview:
History Lesson
Seung-Yul Noh won last year, beating Robert Streb and Andrew Svoboda by two. In 2013, Billy Horschel beat D.A. Points by one and in 2012 Jason Dufner beat Ernie Els in a playoff.
None are really in fine form -- Horschel is the closest with a third in San Antonio, but as his only top-5 or top-10 finish of the season, he's not in the form that won him the FedEx Cup last fall. Part of the issue is a rank of 119th in strokes gained-tee to green.
Els is not playing this week.
Who Is Playing
This is where the strength of the field lies. The participants this week include Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Daniel Berger, Jonas Blixt, Harris English, Sean O'Hair, Sam Saunders and Justin Thomas.
Our picks, besides Johnson and Berger who have been hot most of spring, are Day, Bradley and O'Hair. Yes, Sean O'Hair.
Day had a strong start to the year, winning in San Diego and finishing T4 at Pebble Beach. He started strong at the Masters before a second-round 74 put him behind the 8-ball. He eventually finished T28. Statistically, he ranks fifth in driving distance an 11th in greens in
The PGA Tour moves to New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic, an event with a surprisingly strong field considering that a World Golf Championship event and The Players immediately follow. So with that in mind, fantasy choices abound. Here's our stats preview:
History Lesson
Seung-Yul Noh won last year, beating Robert Streb and Andrew Svoboda by two. In 2013, Billy Horschel beat D.A. Points by one and in 2012 Jason Dufner beat Ernie Els in a playoff.
None are really in fine form -- Horschel is the closest with a third in San Antonio, but as his only top-5 or top-10 finish of the season, he's not in the form that won him the FedEx Cup last fall. Part of the issue is a rank of 119th in strokes gained-tee to green.
Els is not playing this week.
Who Is Playing
This is where the strength of the field lies. The participants this week include Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Daniel Berger, Jonas Blixt, Harris English, Sean O'Hair, Sam Saunders and Justin Thomas.
Our picks, besides Johnson and Berger who have been hot most of spring, are Day, Bradley and O'Hair. Yes, Sean O'Hair.
Day had a strong start to the year, winning in San Diego and finishing T4 at Pebble Beach. He started strong at the Masters before a second-round 74 put him behind the 8-ball. He eventually finished T28. Statistically, he ranks fifth in driving distance an 11th in greens in regulation.
Bradley's game has been slowly coming around, with a T5 in Houston (that featured a second-round 66) and a T22 at Augusta (featuring a final-round 68) showing that better form may be on the horizon. Overall this season, he only has two top-10s, but with a game that ranked third in strokes gained-tee to green in Houston, Bradley may be prime for another strong finish.
Finally we have O'Hair. The loser along with Patrick Reed in the Tampa playoff that Jordan Spieth won, he's gone T29-MC-6 since, with the most recent top-10 coming last week at the RBC Heritage. For the week, he ranked fourth in strokes gained-putting and sixth in strokes gained-total. His game is on the rise, and you might want to start him this week.
He also would qualify as a Sunday Surger as he gained 14 spots on Sunday, into that sixth place finish, with a final-round 64.
Other Sunday Surgers include: Blake Adams (+16), Carl Pettersson (+17) and Bryce Molder and Cameron Smith (+12 each).
No 3-Putts
Freddie Jacobson set a record last week, breaking Luke Donald's mark of 483 consecutive holes without a 3-putt. The streak is now at 524 consecutive holes following the conclusion of the RBC Heritage. The stat has been kept since 2003 and includes ALL rounds, whether ShotLink is at the course or not. According to Golf Digest's Alex Myers, he last had a 3-putt on the 16th hole of his second round in the Humana Challenge.
Jacobson is in the field this week, with his streak on the line. He has just one top-10 finish this season, a T7 in Phoenix.
