Statistics are wonderful, beautiful things. Well, most of the time. Sometimes, they’re pretty confusing, especially at this time of year.
At this point in the season, some of the busiest players have played only nine tournaments, while the more choosy have barely teed it up more than once. All it takes is a cursory glance at the US PGA Tour’s stats page to notice that things aren’t quite right. You see it a lot in the early part of the season in any sport, the sample sizes are so small that the early records are distorted by wild averages and strange outliers. Things just haven’t had time to shake out.
So take all these stats with a giant grain of salt: most – if not all – of these stats will regress towards the mean sooner rather than later, and many of them at this point are mostly useless. But they’re also quite fun to peruse. After all, you might never again see a time where Jordan Spieth ranks among the worst putters on tour.
So, without further adieu…
1. Brooks Koepka has shot 78 three times this season
It’s savaged his early-season scoring average, which is 204th on tour.
2. He’s also 167th in Driving Distance
That’s 23 yards shorter than last year, when he finished seventh on tour.
3. Rickie Fowler ranks 12th in Birdie Average (66) and third in Bogey Average (22)
Make some pars already!
4. Tiger Woods has gained just 2.86 World Ranking points so far this season but has jumped 649 spots, from 1,199th to 550th
Don’t call it a comeback, baby.
5. Brian Harman has finished in the top-10 in 71.4 percent of his starts this season
Five top-10s in seven starts. Machine.
6. Rory McIlroy has missed 100 percent of his US PGA Tour cuts so far this season (0-for-1)
Conversely, I’ve missed zero percent of my US Tour cuts this season. Take that, Rors.
7. Padraig Harrington leads the US Tour in final round scoring average. He’s missed two of three cuts, but shot 66 in the only final round he made it to this season
Clutch!
8. Chez Reavie hasn’t shot over par in a tournament since October 2017
That’s 20 straight rounds, 17 of them have been in the 60s. Pretty big sample size, to be fair. Not really a weird stat, just amazing how well he’s playing.
9. Jason Kokrak is a combined 62-under par so far this season, and a combined 60-under on the par 5s
Par 4s and 3s are overrated, anyway.
10. Jon Rahm is fourth in first round scoring, T-13 in the second round, T-25 in the third, and T-147th in final round scoring, averaging 72.33 strokes
Rahm coming into Sunday like…
11. Jordan Spieth is up to 193rd in Strokes Gained: Putting (-.720) from 195th the week before
Buy the dip, people. Buy the dip.
12. Seamus Power already had 17 consecutive sand saves this season, one more than Rory’s record 16 last year
Not sure what’s more amazing: this stat or Seamus Power’s name.
13. Dustin Johnson’s 430-yard drive on the 12th hole at the Sentry Tournament of Champions is the JOINT longest drive of the season
Hudson Swafford cranked one 430 on the seventh hole a day earlier. Late to the party, DJ.
14. Rory McIlroy is averaging a five-putt every three rounds so far this season
He’s played only three rounds, but still.
15. Justin Rose has won 64 percent of tournament money he’s competed for this season
Finished first and T-8th in his two official starts. Last year, Dustin led the tour at just higher than 28 percent.
16. Wesley Bryan’s average carry distance off the tee so far this season is just 246.3 yards
Slight caveat: Bryan’s not carrying a driver in his bag at the moment.
17. Adam Scott has made just one more birdie this season (38) than he has bogeys (37)
In a related note, Scott is no longer in the world top-50 for the first time since 2010.
