This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
This week on the PGA Tour is the relocated Texas Open, which last year was two weeks before the Masters but is now two weeks after it. As a result, the makeup of the field is a little different. We'll get to that in a bit. Here's our stats thread.
An FYI on Danny Willett
Danny Willett decided to take up PGA Tour membership, which he declined after last season but had another chance at following his win at the Masters. He's now exempt through the 2020-21 season and his 1,023 Non-Member FedEx Cup points suddenly become official.
Welcome to Golf
Everyone knows Ernie Els six-putted the first green on Thursday at the Masters. Most know he's had putting problems since last year on short putts, more commonly known as the yips. How many, however, will notice that he finished T14 at the RBC Heritage after a final-round 66 that included six birdies and left him ranked third in putting for the week? Welcome to golf.
The Weather
We rarely put the weather up this high in a stats column, but it's a huge issue this week. It has been extremely wet in Texas lately, with historic, devastating floods hitting the Houston area especially. It's also been raining a lot in San Antonio, with rain in the forecast most of the week. It's expected to be "dry" on Friday and Saturday with some sunshine and highs in the 80s, but with rain bookending the week, it's going to be
This week on the PGA Tour is the relocated Texas Open, which last year was two weeks before the Masters but is now two weeks after it. As a result, the makeup of the field is a little different. We'll get to that in a bit. Here's our stats thread.
An FYI on Danny Willett
Danny Willett decided to take up PGA Tour membership, which he declined after last season but had another chance at following his win at the Masters. He's now exempt through the 2020-21 season and his 1,023 Non-Member FedEx Cup points suddenly become official.
Welcome to Golf
Everyone knows Ernie Els six-putted the first green on Thursday at the Masters. Most know he's had putting problems since last year on short putts, more commonly known as the yips. How many, however, will notice that he finished T14 at the RBC Heritage after a final-round 66 that included six birdies and left him ranked third in putting for the week? Welcome to golf.
The Weather
We rarely put the weather up this high in a stats column, but it's a huge issue this week. It has been extremely wet in Texas lately, with historic, devastating floods hitting the Houston area especially. It's also been raining a lot in San Antonio, with rain in the forecast most of the week. It's expected to be "dry" on Friday and Saturday with some sunshine and highs in the 80s, but with rain bookending the week, it's going to be an extremely wet golf course. One upside: in a place that can get very windy, it doesn't look to be overly blustery this week.
The Stat
So with that in mind, this is where a stats thread becomes interesting. This course usually is a ballstrikers paradise, where placing the ball in the right place and avoiding the vegetation (see: Kevin Na) is paramount. But soaking wet golf courses on the PGA Tour sometimes a) aid long hitters or b) turn into bomb-and-gouge situations where the course plays so soft that you can stop it on the greens from anywhere. That's where 20-under wins, usually.
Aiding the condondrum is that Jimmy Walker is your defending champion. Sneaky long, he won this event last March ranking first in greens in regulation, third in strokes gained-tee to green and first in strokes gained-putting. Lethal combination, but one that was played on a much different golf course alas.
So we'll go out on a limb and say that with rough that could be high due to not being able cut it, and a golf course that already put a premium on hitting fairways, ball striking will be especially important.
Here are the top ballstrikers in the field this week, using total driving rank plus GIR rank.
Thomas Aiken - 4
Greg Owen - 32
Scott Pinckney - 32
Jhonattan Vegas - 35
Keegan Bradley - 36
There's no real pick that stands out, but we do recommend Pinckney as a sleeper. Yes, he has seven missed cuts in 15 starts and only one top-25, but a game that has led to a bunch of middle-of-the-road finishes, like a T37 in Phoenix or T38 in Houston. These are the finishes that become top-10s if a couple things go the right way and we see that as Pinckney's future down the line. He's 14th in total driving and 18th in greens in regulation this season. Hampering him is a ranking of 126th in strokes gained-putting.
The Field
The field also includes Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Els, Luke Donald, who was the runner-up last week, Billy Horschel, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Rodgers and Camilo Villegas.
