This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
This week on the PGA Tour is the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, the next to last event of the 2016 portion of the 2016-2017 PGA Tour season. Here's this week's stats thread:
The Stat
This is a weird event in that birdies win – similar to Las Vegas last week in that sense – yet the weather can act up with little notice and create windy, tropical conditions. So with that in mind we're going to look at ballstriking as the key stat this week.
Ability to hit it well through the wind = players who should contend this week. Also, enough golf has been played to where I now am comfortable using this season's stats.
Those players in the field this week include:
Harold Varner III
Jim Herman
Kyle Stanley
Davis Love III
Keegan Bradley
Our picks here are Varner and Bradley. Varner is in his second full season on Tour and while he hasn't gotten a victory yet he's a great pick if you need a consistent player. This year in three starts he's gone T15-T39-T57 and ranks fifth in greens in regulation, third in SG-off the tee and 22nd in SG-tee to green. I'd look for him to contend again this week in a ballstriker's paradise.
Bradley, meanwhile, has his first back-to-back top-10 finishes in years – it's stunning really how far his game has fallen – going T22-6-T7 to start his PGA Tour season. Early on he ranks 22nd in strokes gained-off the tee, 19th in
This week on the PGA Tour is the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, the next to last event of the 2016 portion of the 2016-2017 PGA Tour season. Here's this week's stats thread:
The Stat
This is a weird event in that birdies win – similar to Las Vegas last week in that sense – yet the weather can act up with little notice and create windy, tropical conditions. So with that in mind we're going to look at ballstriking as the key stat this week.
Ability to hit it well through the wind = players who should contend this week. Also, enough golf has been played to where I now am comfortable using this season's stats.
Those players in the field this week include:
Harold Varner III
Jim Herman
Kyle Stanley
Davis Love III
Keegan Bradley
Our picks here are Varner and Bradley. Varner is in his second full season on Tour and while he hasn't gotten a victory yet he's a great pick if you need a consistent player. This year in three starts he's gone T15-T39-T57 and ranks fifth in greens in regulation, third in SG-off the tee and 22nd in SG-tee to green. I'd look for him to contend again this week in a ballstriker's paradise.
Bradley, meanwhile, has his first back-to-back top-10 finishes in years – it's stunning really how far his game has fallen – going T22-6-T7 to start his PGA Tour season. Early on he ranks 22nd in strokes gained-off the tee, 19th in SG-approach to the green and 39th in SG-around the green. He's also 11th in greens in regulation. Get that putter going – he's 109th in putting – and Bradley could lock up another win and break the cold streak.
I like both this week.
The Field
The field also includes defending champion Graeme McDowell, Cody Gribble, Jim Furyk, Russell Knox, Emiliano Grillo, Angel Cabrera, Wesley Bryan, Brian Harman, Bryson DeChambeau, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Harris English, Charley Hoffman, Chris Kirk, Danny Lee, Ian Poulter, Webb Simpson, Aaron Wise and more. Bubba Watson was originally in the field but withdrew.
My two picks for this week are Knox and Hoffman. Knox has opened his season going T10-T9 and ranks fourth in driving accuracy and 24th in greens in regulation so far this season along with being 16th in scoring average. He's a great pick on a week where consistent play through varying conditions is key.
Hoffman is a super sleeper this week as he won this event in 2014 but missed the cut in the first two events he's played in this year. He is 37th in SG-off the tee but just 135th in putting. Improve on that number and he could find his good form from two years ago this week. I do like him this week as I think he's a solid option in terms of experience and knowing where to place the ball to give himself the best birdie opportunities.
I also am bullish on Kirk and Wise, whom I wrote about last week.
The Weather
It'll be sunny and warm, with temperatures in the 80s to start the week before a chance of rain showers over the weekend with temperatures in the 70s. Light winds are predicted, though you never know what a storm might bring.
