This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
This week the PGA Tour moves into Dublin, Ohio, for the Memorial Tournament at the Muirfield Village Golf Club, also known as Jack's Place. On the stats side of things, here's who we like this week:
History Lesson
The defending champion is Matt Kuchar, who won by two over Kevin Chappell. In 2012, Tiger Woods won over Andres Romero and Rory Sabbatini by two, and in 2011 Steve Stricker won by one over Brandt Jobe and Kuchar.
Out of this group I love Kuchar (see last week's column). Woods is obviously not playing this week.
Who is Playing
The field includes Adam Scott, Jason Dufner, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and most of the other top names sans Woods.
First, we must recommend the two guys played in the playoff last week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Scott and Dufner. Two of the better ball strikers on the PGA Tour, both lit it up in regulation and the playoff. Scott's stats are especially spiffy, as he ranks ninth in ball striking for the 2013-14 season along with being fifth in scoring average and 12th in total driving. For the week, Dufner tied for fifth in greens in regulation.
But the guy I really like this week is Marc Leishman. He's been on leaderboards for almost a month now, with finishes of T23-T3-T21 over the last three weeks. That's on top of the fifth and T2 he attained earlier this season. Statistically he's been strong too, ranking 14th in
This week the PGA Tour moves into Dublin, Ohio, for the Memorial Tournament at the Muirfield Village Golf Club, also known as Jack's Place. On the stats side of things, here's who we like this week:
History Lesson
The defending champion is Matt Kuchar, who won by two over Kevin Chappell. In 2012, Tiger Woods won over Andres Romero and Rory Sabbatini by two, and in 2011 Steve Stricker won by one over Brandt Jobe and Kuchar.
Out of this group I love Kuchar (see last week's column). Woods is obviously not playing this week.
Who is Playing
The field includes Adam Scott, Jason Dufner, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and most of the other top names sans Woods.
First, we must recommend the two guys played in the playoff last week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Scott and Dufner. Two of the better ball strikers on the PGA Tour, both lit it up in regulation and the playoff. Scott's stats are especially spiffy, as he ranks ninth in ball striking for the 2013-14 season along with being fifth in scoring average and 12th in total driving. For the week, Dufner tied for fifth in greens in regulation.
But the guy I really like this week is Marc Leishman. He's been on leaderboards for almost a month now, with finishes of T23-T3-T21 over the last three weeks. That's on top of the fifth and T2 he attained earlier this season. Statistically he's been strong too, ranking 14th in eagles, 31st in scoring average, third in greens in regulation from 125 to 150 yards, and 36th in proximity to the hole.
Sunday Surgers
These are players who played well on Sunday and could help your fantasy team this week.
Michael Thompson - Thompson's Sunday 66 moved him up a solid 27 spots into a tie for 10th. He ranked T3 in birdies and T11 in putts per green in regulation for the week.
Dustin Johnson - Johnson will call this a disappointing week after a Saturday 74 took him out of contention for a win, but he did what every good veteran does by shooting a final-round 66 that gave him a T14 finish. It was a jump of 36 places on the final leaderboard and was a good model for young players about never giving up. For the Crowne Plaza Invitational he ranked third in driving distance at T16 in greens in regulation.
David Hearn - Hearn also shot a Sunday 66 that led to a 35 spot rise in the final results into a 21st place finish. For the week he ranked T18 in strokes gained - putting and T8 in putts per green in regulation.
