Strokes Gained at the WGC-Bridgestone: Lowry wins his first WGC event

The final round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational was supposed to be a showdown between Jim Furyk and Justin Rose, but Shane Lowry fired a final round 66 to claim the title. The win secured Lowry’s PGA TOUR card, gets him into the Masters, and moved him up to Number 19 in the Official World Golf Rankings.  Because of the fine print in the rules, the win does not get him into the playoffs for the FedEx Cup.

Lowry credited his putt on hole 14 for his victory. “I think that’s probably the putt that won me the tournament in the end,” he said. That 17-footer gained 0.8 strokes on the field, out of the 2.2 strokes that he gained with his putter in the final round. Overall, though, Lowry won with a balanced game. For the tournament, he gained 0.7 strokes per round with his driver (rank 10), 0.9 strokes per round with his approach shots (rank 10), 0.8 strokes per round with his short game (rank 10), and 1.2 strokes per round with his putting (rank 6).

Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Lowry’s play at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational:

  Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) Rank
Shane Lowry Total Drive Appr Short Putt out of
2015 Season 1.2 (22) 0.7 (5) 0.3 (66) 0.2 (55) 0.0 (112) 204
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational 3.7 (1) 0.7 (10) 0.9 (10) 0.8 (10) 1.2 (6) 77
Round 1 1.4 (27) 1.1 (5) 0.1 (35) 0.8 (24) -0.6 (53) 77
Round 2 5.0 (4) 0.3 (33) 1.6 (11) 0.7 (21) 2.3 (5) 77
Round 3 3.6 (8) 0.6 (17) 2.1 (6) 0.0 (35) 1.0 (15) 77
Round 4 4.9 (6) 0.9 (14) 0.0 (43) 1.9 (2) 2.2 (8) 77

Bubba Watson finished in second place after a final round 66, which tied for the second-best round of the day. Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Watson’s play at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational:

  Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) Rank
Bubba Watson Total Drive Appr Short Putt out of
2015 Season 2.5 (2) 1.3 (1) 0.9 (5) -0.1 (145) 0.4 (26) 204
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational 3.2 (2) 1.5 (1) 1.2 (8) 0.1 (34) 0.4 (29) 77
Round 1 1.4 (32) 1.4 (4) 0.0 (37) -0.4 (47) 0.4 (33) 77
Round 2 5.0 (3) 1.1 (9) 1.4 (14) 1.3 (9) 1.2 (16) 77
Round 3 1.6 (14) 2.0 (3) 2.5 (5) -1.5 (66) -1.4 (65) 77
Round 4 4.9 (T2) 1.7 (3) 0.9 (20) 1.1 (13) 1.3 (16) 77

The top finishers at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational gained 36 percent of their strokes on the field with approach shots. Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top eleven finishers:

  Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses)  
Golfer Total Drive Appr Short Putt
Shane Lowry 3.7 (1) 0.7 (10) 0.9 (10) 0.8 (10) 1.2 (6)
Bubba Watson 3.2 (2) 1.5 (1) 1.2 (8) 0.1 (34) 0.4 (29)
Jim Furyk 2.7 (T3) 0.1 (30) 2.0 (1) 0.9 (8) -0.3 (49)
Justin Rose 2.7 (T3) 1.5 (2) 1.4 (5) 0.9 (9) -1.0 (68)
Robert Streb 2.5 (5) 0.3 (23) 0.3 (27) 1.2 (4) 0.7 (16)
Henrik Stenson 2.2 (T6) 0.2 (26) 1.5 (3) 0.0 (43) 0.5 (25)
David Lingmerth 2.2 (T6) 0.5 (18) 0.9 (12) 0.3 (25) 0.6 (23)
Brooks Koepka 2.2 (T6) 0.4 (20) 0.4 (22) 0.1 (39) 1.3 (4)
Danny Lee 2.2 (T6) 0.8 (9) 0.6 (19) 0.3 (28) 0.6 (22)
Jordan Spieth 2.0 (T10) 0.8 (8) 0.8 (15) -0.2 (53) 0.6 (21)
Rickie Fowler 2.0 (T10) -0.3 (50) 0.1 (37) 1.4 (2) 0.7 (15)
Top 11 average 2.5 0.6 0.9 0.5 0.5
Fraction of total 100% 24% 36% 21% 19%

Third-round leaders Jim Furyk and Justin Rose shot matching 72s in the final round. Their rounds lost 1.1 strokes to the field and were tied for the 47th best round out of 77 for the day. Furyk lost 1.6 strokes to the field with his putting (due in part to a missed four-footer on hole 5 and his longest one-putt a 7-footer on hole 9) and lost almost another stroke to the field with his driving.   Justin Rose lost nearly four strokes in the final round with his putting (due in part to misses from 4 feet on hole 2, 6 feet on hole 7, and 3 feet on hole 9).

Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the final round for the top eleven finishers at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational:

  Strokes gained in the final round (ranks in parentheses)
Player Total Drive Appr Short Putt
Shane Lowry 4.9 (T2) 0.9 (14) 0.0 (43) 1.9 (2) 2.2 (8)
Bubba Watson 4.9 (T2) 1.7 (3) 0.9 (20) 1.1 (13) 1.3 (16)
Jim Furyk -1.1 (T47) -0.9 (64) 0.6 (24) 0.9 (16) -1.6 (67)
Justin Rose -1.1 (T47) 0.8 (15) 1.4 (14) 0.7 (21) -3.9 (77)
Robert Streb 2.9 (18) 0.8 (17) 0.2 (36) 0.5 (28) 1.4 (14)
Henrik Stenson 0.9 (34) -0.8 (61) 1.2 (17) -0.8 (60) 1.3 (15)
David Lingmerth 2.9 (11) 1.4 (6) 1.4 (13) -0.1 (47) 0.3 (35)
Brooks Koepka 1.9 (25) 0.3 (34) -0.8 (55) 0.7 (23) 1.8 (11)
Danny Lee 2.9 (14) 0.5 (26) 0.3 (32) 0.1 (37) 2.1 (9)
Jordan Spieth 4.9 (T2) 2.7 (1) 0.8 (22) 1.1 (11) 0.3 (33)
Rickie Fowler 3.9 (8) -0.8 (60) 1.0 (19) 1.1 (12) 2.6 (6)

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.

 

 

 

 

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