Jim Furyk won in a playoff to capture his 17th title on the PGA TOUR and his first since 2010. Furyk fired a final round 63, the best round of the day, to close a four stroke deficit.
When asked about his victory, Furyk pointed to his final round putting. Furyk said, “I didn’t see a lot of putts go in on Thursday, didn’t see a lot of putts go in on Saturday, but I filled it up today.” Indeed he did. Strokes gained results for Furyk in the tournament shows that he gained a mere 0.5 strokes with his putter in the first three days but a whopping 3.9 strokes (rank 3) in the final round. For the tournament, 49 percent of the strokes Furyk gained on the field came from his approach shots, with putting contributing another 28 percent. Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Furyk’s play at the RBC Heritage:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Jim Furyk | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| 2015 Season | 1.7 (7) | 0.2 (62) | 1.2 (2) | 0.4 (20) | -0.2 (126) | 183 |
| RBC Heritage | 3.9 (1) | 0.3 (32) | 1.9 (6) | 0.6 (15) | 1.1 (11) | 76 |
| Round 1 | 1.1 (44) | -0.3 (93) | -0.3 (80) | 1.6 (14) | 0.1 (63) | 131 |
| Round 2 | 5.6 (3) | 0.9 (23) | 2.9 (5) | 1.5 (17) | 0.4 (57) | 131 |
| Round 3 | 1.8 (19) | 0.6 (18) | 1.4 (19) | -0.2 (45) | 0.0 (36) | 76 |
| Round 4 | 7.0 (1) | -0.1 (41) | 3.6 (3) | -0.4 (50) | 3.9 (3) | 76 |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top ten finishers at the RBC Heritage:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Jim Furyk | 3.9 (1) | 0.3 (32) | 1.9 (6) | 0.6 (15) | 1.1 (11) |
| Kevin Kisner | 3.9 (2) | 1.3 (1) | 1.0 (18) | 0.9 (6) | 0.7 (25) |
| Troy Merritt | 3.4 (3) | -0.6 (66) | 2.6 (1) | 0.6 (16) | 0.7 (24) |
| Brendon Todd | 3.1 (4) | 0.4 (20) | 0.4 (32) | 0.9 (5) | 1.3 (10) |
| Matt Kuchar | 2.9 (5) | 0.6 (10) | 0.9 (20) | -0.6 (64) | 1.9 (4) |
| Sean O’Hair | 2.6 (6) | -0.3 (57) | 0.7 (26) | 0.4 (25) | 1.9 (5) |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 2.4 (T7) | 0.4 (17) | 1.3 (8) | 0.1 (38) | 0.5 (31) |
| Branden Grace | 2.4 (T7) | 0.3 (25) | 0.2 (40) | 0.4 (26) | 1.5 (8) |
| Bo Van Pelt | 2.1 (T9) | -0.2 (53) | 0.3 (37) | 0.1 (39) | 1.9 (3) |
| Morgan Hoffmann | 2.1 (T9) | 0.7 (5) | 0.5 (29) | 0.7 (13) | 0.2 (40) |
| Top 10 average | 2.9 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 10% | 34% | 15% | 41% |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the final round for the top ten finishers at the RBC Heritage:
| Strokes gained in the final round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Player | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Jim Furyk | 7.0 (1) | -0.1 (41) | 3.6 (3) | -0.4 (50) | 3.9 (3) |
| Kevin Kisner | 6.0 (3) | 2.1 (1) | 0.8 (27) | 2.0 (3) | 1.0 (20) |
| Troy Merritt | 1.0 (29) | -1.3 (73) | 2.5 (6) | -0.2 (41) | 0.0 (40) |
| Brendon Todd | 3.0 (6) | 0.4 (27) | -1.1 (57) | 1.6 (6) | 2.1 (7) |
| Matt Kuchar | 2.0 (13) | 1.2 (6) | -1.2 (59) | -0.2 (44) | 2.1 (8) |
| Sean O’Hair | 6.0 (2) | -0.4 (51) | 2.4 (7) | 1.2 (12) | 2.7 (5) |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 3.0 (10) | 0.0 (38) | 2.6 (5) | 0.2 (32) | 0.2 (36) |
| Branden Grace | 1.0 (28) | 0.0 (40) | -2.8 (71) | 0.4 (27) | 3.3 (4) |
| Bo Van Pelt | 1.0 (22) | 0.4 (26) | 0.9 (26) | -0.2 (42) | -0.2 (44) |
| Morgan Hoffmann | 2.0 (18) | 1.3 (5) | 1.2 (19) | -0.8 (62) | 0.3 (34) |
Many eyes were on the Masters champion, Jordan Spieth, at the tournament. Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Spieth’s play at the RBC Heritage:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Jordan Spieth | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| 2015 Season | 2.6 (1) | 0.5 (14) | 0.6 (23) | 0.8 (2) | 0.7 (5) | 183 |
| RBC Heritage | 1.9 (14) | 0.3 (26) | 0.1 (44) | 1.6 (3) | -0.2 (49) | 76 |
| Round 1 | -1.9 (102) | 0.6 (38) | -2.6 (122) | 1.3 (18) | -1.1 (100) | 131 |
| Round 2 | 7.6 (2) | 0.5 (51) | 1.3 (28) | 3.3 (1) | 2.6 (7) | 131 |
| Round 3 | 1.8 (23) | 0.5 (20) | 2.7 (7) | 0.2 (32) | -1.6 (61) | 76 |
| Round 4 | 0.0 (46) | -0.2 (47) | -0.9 (53) | 1.5 (8) | -0.5 (49) | 76 |
This post appeared originally on pgatour.com here
A very brief explanation of strokes gained: Strokes gained is a measure of the quality of a golf shot. A shot with positive strokes gained indicates a better-than-average shot for a PGA TOUR pro. For example, suppose on a difficult par-4 that the PGA TOUR average score is 4.2. An average drive for a PGA TOUR player would reduce the average strokes to hole out by one, from 4.2 to 3.2. If a player hit a long drive into the fairway where the PGA TOUR average strokes to hole out is 2.9, then the shot gained 0.3 strokes compared to the PGA TOUR average. If a player hit a short drive into the rough where the PGA TOUR average strokes to hole out is 3.4, then the shot lost 0.2 strokes compared to the PGA TOUR average. Strokes gained from all shots are accumulated and grouped into convenient categories to measure the performance of players in a round, tournament, or season. For example, the gain from all tee shots on par-4 and par-5 holes is strokes gained driving measure. The gain from all shots starting outside 100 yards from the hole, excluding tee shots on par-4 and par-5 holes, is strokes gained from approach shots.