Chris Kirk won the Deutsche Bank Championship yesterday, overcoming an opening round of 73 with three rounds in the sixties. Kirk told his caddie after his poor first round, “This is no fun, I don’t feel like going to hit balls, I’ll see you tomorrow. Shows you how ridiculous this game is to come out and play three rounds, 66, 64, 66 to win, is beyond belief.”
Kirk’s average score of 67.3 bettered the field average of 70.5 by 3.2 strokes per round. He gained 1.5 strokes per round with his putting and ranked fifth in the category. His strokes gained tee to green accounted for the remaining gain of 1.7 strokes per round against the field. He ranked 11 in strokes gained tee to green, the PGA TOUR’s newest statistical category.
To better understand how Kirk won, I break his tee-to-green play into three categories: driving (tee shots on par-4 and par-5 holes), approach shots (shots starting outside 100 yards from the hole, excluding drives), and short game shots (shots starting inside 100 yards from the hole, excluding putts). Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of Kirk’s four rounds at the Deutsche Bank Championship:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Chris Kirk | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| All rounds | 3.2 (1) | 0.5 (16) | 0.3 (35) | 0.8 (9) | 1.5 (5) | 73 |
| Round 1 | -1.9 (70) | 0.4 (34) | -2.5 (85) | -0.4 (63) | 0.7 (29) | 93 |
| Round 2 | 4.7 (6) | 1.0 (16) | -0.2 (50) | 2.0 (3) | 1.9 (17) | 92 |
| Round 3 | 6.4 (2) | 0.7 (20) | 3.3 (1) | 2.1 (3) | 0.2 (38) | 80 |
| Round 4 | 3.4 (7) | 0.1 (32) | 0.6 (25) | -0.4 (48) | 3.1 (2) | 73 |
The table shows that approach shots were the main culprit in Kirk’s poor opening round. Stellar putting was the main contributor in Kirk’s closing round. After the round, Kirk said, “I really felt good over the putter today.” Overall, Kirk gained 2.3 strokes per round with his short game and putting, or 73 percent of his total gain. Shots outside 100 yards contributed the remaining 27 percent of his total gain. When Kirk won at the McGladrey Classic last November, he won in almost identical fashion: 72 percent of his gain came from his short game and putting.
Here’s how Kirk’s play at the Deutsche Bank Championship compares to his play throughout the season:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | |
| Chris Kirk during win | 3.2 (1) | 0.5 (16) | 0.3 (35) | 0.8 (9) | 1.5 (5) |
| Chris Kirk during season | 1.1 (31) | 0.1 (89) | 0.3 (53) | 0.3 (44) | 0.4 (32) |
| Difference | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
Asked about playing the final 36 holes with Rory McIlroy, Kirk said, “I think it probably helped me play better. And just the huge crowds that go along with that, it’s really just kind of heightens your focus a little bit.” McIlroy said of his final round, “I think that’s a little bit of mental fatigue kicking in there … But obviously a little disappointed with the way I putted.” A strokes gained breakdown of McIlroy’s play at the Deutsche Bank Championship shows that he continued his stellar driving but struggled with his short game all four rounds and his putter in the final round:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Rory McIlroy | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| All rounds | 2.2 (5) | 1.2 (1) | 1.4 (6) | -0.7 (65) | 0.2 (32) | 73 |
| Round 1 | 1.1 (36) | 1.4 (2) | 0.9 (30) | -1.6 (88) | 0.4 (36) | 93 |
| Round 2 | 1.7 (29) | 0.4 (32) | 2.6 (4) | -0.6 (68) | -0.7 (58) | 92 |
| Round 3 | 6.4 (1) | 1.9 (1) | 2.8 (4) | -0.2 (51) | 1.9 (11) | 80 |
| Round 4 | -0.6 (41) | 1.1 (3) | -0.6 (48) | -0.3 (44) | -0.9 (50) | 73 |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top fifteen finishers at the Deutsche Bank Championship:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Chris Kirk | 3.2 (1) | 0.5 (16) | 0.3 (35) | 0.8 (9) | 1.5 (5) |
| Geoff Ogilvy | 2.7 (T2) | -0.1 (46) | 1.4 (5) | 0.4 (23) | 1.0 (11) |
| Billy Horschel | 2.7 (T2) | 0.9 (4) | 0.6 (26) | 0.1 (40) | 0.9 (12) |
| Russell Henley | 2.7 (T2) | 0.6 (10) | 0.1 (39) | -0.2 (52) | 2.1 (1) |
| Rory McIlroy | 2.2 (T5) | 1.2 (1) | 1.4 (6) | -0.7 (65) | 0.2 (32) |
| John Senden | 2.2 (T5) | -0.2 (47) | 1.7 (3) | 0.7 (11) | 0.0 (42) |
| Martin Kaymer | 1.9 (T7) | 0.5 (15) | 1.0 (11) | 0.4 (21) | -0.1 (44) |
| Jason Day | 1.9 (T7) | 0.7 (8) | -0.2 (49) | 1.0 (5) | 0.5 (25) |
| Jimmy Walker | 1.7 (T9) | 0.6 (13) | 1.7 (2) | 0.2 (31) | -0.8 (64) |
| Chesson Hadley | 1.7 (T9) | 0.4 (19) | -0.3 (52) | 0.9 (6) | 0.6 (21) |
| Bill Haas | 1.7 (T9) | 0.3 (24) | 0.8 (19) | -0.1 (49) | 0.7 (20) |
| Carl Pettersson | 1.7 (T9) | 0.1 (32) | 0.4 (32) | 0.9 (7) | 0.3 (29) |
| Webb Simpson | 1.7 (T9) | -0.4 (61) | 2.0 (1) | 0.2 (33) | -0.1 (47) |
| Seung-Yul Noh | 1.7 (T9) | 0.0 (37) | 0.2 (36) | 1.1 (2) | 0.3 (30) |
| Robert Streb | 1.7 (T9) | 0.6 (12) | -0.5 (56) | 0.7 (10) | 0.9 (14) |
| Top 15 average | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 18% | 35% | 21% | 26% |
This post appeared originally on pgatour.com here