The Masters Recap

Rory McIlroy was an average putter this past week at The Masters. Actually, he was slightly below average relative to the field. It wasn’t his putter that got him across the finish line.

As we’ve documented many times, and has been verified across multiple statistical databases, Strokes-Gained Approach (SGA) has the highest correlation to where someone is ranked, or finishes in an event, than any other Strokes-Gained category.

Rory was #1 in SGA this week, by a mile, giving him wiggle room to be average (or below average) in other parts of his game, and still come out on top.

Let’s break down the numbers. 28 players finished under par at The Masters. What percentage of them had positive strokes-gained in each of the categories?

• SG Approach: 82%

• SG Putting: 75%

• SG Around-the-Green: 71%

• SG Off-the-Tee: 64%

The data is undeniable and continues to confirm that a player’s tee-to-green game, and more specifically, iron play, is the most important aspect of scoring. Great iron play hides deficiencies in other areas. 97% of players who finished under par (all but 1) had positive SG tee-to-green; and as seen above, when you break down the components of tee-to-green, iron play is the most important component. 

While the old saying, “Drive for show and putt for dough” is catchy, the numbers show, that in actuality, you should, “Drive for show and approach for dough.”

One last note on this: Bryson actually beat Rory on the week in SG Putting, SG Around-the Green, and SG Off-the-tee; but he got absolutely smoked by him in SG Approach. While Rory was #1, Bryson ranked 51st out of 53 players who made the cut in SG Approach. It didn’t matter how good Bryson was in other parts of his game, he couldn’t overcome being deficient in the most important part. Think of his iron shots on 11, 12, 13, and 15 in the final round. Those 4 iron shots easily cost him 5 shots. He only lost by 4. Think about that!

Platform Reminders

A few reminders as we get closer to the summer season:

• Pro Benchmarks: Pro Benchmarks are now available for every graph that has benchmarking. Compare yourself to the pros and see where you stand.

• Par 3 Scoring: Under the Scoring tab, check out your Par 3 scoring as a proxy for SGA and see how you stack up relative to your peers.

• Glide Path: Are you trending to be a DI, DII, or DIII collegiate golfer? The Glide Path can tell you this.

Coaches: If you’re not using TUGR for recruiting, you’re falling behind. Programs in your conference use TUGR Recruiting to gain an edge. Teams across 23 different NCAA conferences use TUGR Recruiting to find and recruit players to their program. As the most accurate and predictive rankings in junior golf, coaches trust the numbers TUGR produces.

Rankings Updated: http://tugr.org

As always, reach out with any questions,

Thanks,
Jeff