Hunter Mahan broke out of a packed leaderboard with five birdies in the final nine holes to win The Barclays and jump into the lead in the FedExCup Playoffs. Mahan’s 14 under par bettered the field by an average of 3.3 strokes per round for the tournament. (The field averaged 0.2 strokes under par per round and Mahan averaged 3.5 strokes under par per round, with the difference representing his 3.3 strokes gained per round on the field.) Mahan’s short game shots (shots starting inside 100 yards from the hole, excluding putts) accounted for 47 percent of his total gain on the field. Putting accounted for another 32 percent.
Asked about his play, Mahan said, “Making some putts and making some 20‑footers and getting up‑and‑down here or there. I knew this was around the corner but to do it and to do it today feels great.” Mahan’s comments accurately reflected what the strokes gained numbers showed.
Mahan is another high-profile player using AimPoint Express to help with his green reading (Adam Scott is another). Mahan said, “I don’t feel that there’s a whole lot of doubt when I’m reading my putt and doing the AimPoint Express, it just feels like I know what the putt is going to do.” Mahan is currently ranked 30 in strokes gained putting for the season. He ranked 15 in strokes gained putting at The Barclays and he gained 3.1 strokes against the field with his putting in the final round. Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of Mahan’s four rounds at the Barclays:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Hunter Mahan | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| All rounds | 3.3 (1) | 0.7 (14) | 0.0 (47) | 1.5 (1) | 1.1 (15) | 70 |
| Round 1 | 4.8 (4) | 0.8 (22) | -0.3 (71) | 2.6 (2) | 1.8 (22) | 122 |
| Round 2 | 0.1 (65) | 0.4 (42) | 0.0 (57) | 0.3 (53) | -0.6 (79) | 121 |
| Round 3 | 2.9 (13) | 1.2 (6) | -0.1 (45) | 1.7 (6) | 0.0 (40) | 79 |
| Round 4 | 5.3 (1) | 0.4 (25) | 0.3 (30) | 1.5 (5) | 3.1 (5) | 70 |
Here’s how Mahan’s play at The Barclays compares to his play throughout the season:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | |
| Hunter Mahan during win | 3.3 (1) | 0.7 (14) | 0.0 (47) | 1.5 (1) | 1.1 (15) |
| Hunter Mahan during season | 1.1 (29) | 0.7 (6) | 0.1 (100) | -0.1 (130) | 0.4 (30) |
| Difference | 2.1 | 0.0 | -0.1 | 1.6 | 0.7 |
Entering The Barclays, Rory McIlroy was attempting to win his fourth tournament in a row. McIlroy again led the field in strokes gained driving, gaining a remarkable 1.7 strokes per round on the field. McIlroy has been first or second in strokes gained driving in each of the past six tournaments on the PGA TOUR. But this week McIlroy lost strokes to the field with his short game and putting. After the tournament McIlroy said, “Tee‑to‑green again is very solid. I can’t really fault that. As I said, the only thing that let me down was my putting. I just didn’t convert the birdie opportunities I was giving myself, and I had plenty of them over the weekend.” Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of McIlroy’s four rounds at the Barclays:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Rory McIlroy | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| All rounds | 1.0 (28) | 1.7 (1) | 0.2 (33) | -0.4 (58) | -0.6 (61) | 70 |
| Round 1 | -3.2 (103) | 1.1 (10) | -1.9 (113) | -1.2 (104) | -1.2 (92) | 122 |
| Round 2 | 6.1 (4) | 2.1 (1) | 1.7 (9) | 1.0 (31) | 1.2 (24) | 121 |
| Round 3 | 0.9 (27) | 1.8 (1) | 0.6 (26) | 0.2 (40) | -1.7 (65) | 79 |
| Round 4 | 0.3 (39) | 1.9 (1) | 0.6 (25) | -1.4 (62) | -0.7 (49) | 70 |
The top finishers at Ridgewood Country Club relied on putting for 61 percent of their strokes gained on the field, far more so than at any recent tournament:
| Fraction of total strokes gained by the top ten (and ties) finishers | ||||
| Tournament | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| The Barclays | 4% | 16% | 19% | 61% |
| Wyndham Championship | 8% | 39% | 17% | 36% |
| PGA Championship | 14% | 25% | 26% | 35% |
| WGC-Bridgestone Invitational | 19% | 34% | 13% | 34% |
| RBC Canadian Open | 14% | 49% | 8% | 30% |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top twelve finishers at The Barclays:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Hunter Mahan | 3.3 (1) | 0.7 (14) | 0.0 (47) | 1.5 (1) | 1.1 (15) |
| Cameron Tringale | 2.8 (T2) | 0.0 (38) | 0.8 (13) | 0.4 (22) | 1.5 (9) |
| Stuart Appleby | 2.8 (T2) | 0.1 (35) | -0.4 (56) | 0.7 (15) | 2.4 (1) |
| Jason Day | 2.8 (T2) | 0.4 (23) | -0.4 (55) | 0.5 (20) | 2.3 (2) |
| Ernie Els | 2.5 (T5) | 0.2 (28) | 0.1 (40) | 0.2 (34) | 2.0 (3) |
| William McGirt | 2.5 (T5) | 0.0 (37) | 1.5 (2) | 0.3 (30) | 0.7 (22) |
| Matt Kuchar | 2.5 (T5) | -0.3 (55) | 0.7 (15) | 1.2 (5) | 0.9 (17) |
| Jim Furyk | 2.3 (8) | -0.4 (57) | 1.4 (4) | 0.0 (45) | 1.3 (12) |
| Kevin Na | 2.0 (T9) | -0.7 (67) | 1.0 (9) | -0.1 (46) | 1.8 (5) |
| Rickie Fowler | 2.0 (T9) | 0.9 (5) | 0.1 (42) | -0.5 (61) | 1.6 (8) |
| Patrick Reed | 2.0 (T9) | 0.1 (32) | 0.9 (11) | 0.3 (28) | 0.6 (26) |
| Morgan Hoffmann | 2.0 (T9) | 0.3 (26) | -1.0 (67) | 1.1 (6) | 1.6 (7) |
| Top 12 average | 2.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 4% | 16% | 19% | 61% |
This post appeared originally on pgatour.com here