Strokes gained at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions: Reed’s dramatic hole out eagle key to victory

Patrick Reed birdied the first playoff hole to win the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The 24-year-old Reed now has four PGA TOUR victories, the most of any golfer under thirty except for Rory McIlroy, who has nine PGA TOUR titles at age 25.

Reed entered the final round two shots behind Jimmy Walker, who was looking for his fourth victory in the past two years. After thirteen holes, Walker had extended his lead over Reed to four strokes. Walker played the last five holes in one-over par. Reed went three-under par over the same stretch, highlighted by a hole out eagle from 80 yards in the fairway on 16, to force the playoff.

Reed’s hole out gained 1.8 strokes on the field and was a big key to his victory. Reed said, “I think it spiked pretty hard.  Good thing it did because it would have been off the front.  So luckily I made that there.” In the final round, Reed gained 2.5 strokes on the field, with 2.1 strokes coming from his short game, and 1.8 of that coming from his shot in the jar on hole 16.

Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top ten finishers at the Hyundai in four categories: driving (tee shots on par-4 and par-5 holes), approach shots (shots starting outside 100 yards from the hole, excluding drives), short game shots (shots starting inside 100 yards from the hole, excluding putts) and putting:

Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses)
Golfer Total Drive Appr Short Putt
Patrick Reed 2.2 (1) 0.3 (11) 1.0 (4) 0.7 (4) 0.2 (16)
Jimmy Walker 2.2 (2) 0.0 (19) 1.4 (2) 0.5 (7) 0.4 (10)
Jason Day 1.9 (T3) 0.9 (3) 0.4 (9) 0.3 (11) 0.3 (13)
Hideki Matsuyama 1.9 (T3) 0.9 (4) 0.5 (8) 0.6 (6) 0.0 (21)
Russell Henley 1.9 (T3) 0.5 (8) 0.4 (11) -0.3 (24) 1.3 (2)
Sang-Moon Bae 1.4 (6) 0.6 (7) 0.6 (7) -0.3 (25) 0.5 (9)
Zach Johnson 1.2 (7) -0.1 (21) -1.1 (30) 1.1 (1) 1.3 (1)
Robert Streb 0.9 (T8) 0.0 (17) 0.1 (17) 0.1 (17) 0.8 (3)
Brendon Todd 0.9 (T8) -0.5 (28) 1.4 (1) 0.1 (15) 0.0 (19)
Bubba Watson 0.7 (10) 1.1 (1) 0.4 (12) -1.4 (33) 0.6 (8)
Top 10 average 1.5 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.5
Fraction of total 100% 24% 32% 10% 35%

 

Here’s a round-by-round Reed’s play in the tournament and a comparison with his 2014 season-long strokes gained results:

Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) Rank
Patrick Reed Total Drive Appr Short Putt out of
Hyundai TOC 2.2 (1) 0.3 (11) 1.0 (4) 0.7 (4) 0.2 (16) 33
Round 4 2.5 (5) 1.0 (5) -0.1 (20) 2.1 (3) -0.5 (21) 33
Round 3 2.4 (5) -0.4 (26) 1.8 (3) 0.3 (16) 0.6 (13) 33
Round 2 1.4 (12) 0.0 (23) 1.3 (9) -0.6 (26) 0.7 (13) 34
Round 1 2.5 (6) 0.6 (9) 0.9 (9) 1.0 (6) 0.0 (17) 34
2014 Season 0.6 (57) 0.1 (83) -0.2 (140) 0.4 (22) 0.3 (44) 192

Reed’s comments after the round were very consistent with his strokes gained results. In the final round, Reed gained one stroke on the field with his drive (“I felt like today the driver was coming around”) but lost 0.1 with his approach shots (“I wouldn’t say they [the irons] were great.”). Reed lost 0.5 strokes putting in regulation play in the round, but he rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win (“The putter was, you know, was hot and cold.”).

Here’s a round-by-round Jimmy Walker’s play in the tournament and a comparison with his 2014 season-long strokes gained results:

Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) Rank
Jimmy Walker Total Drive Appr Short Putt out of
Hyundai TOC 2.2 (2) 0.0 (19) 1.4 (2) 0.5 (7) 0.4 (10) 33
Round 4 0.5 (10) -1.0 (28) 1.2 (6) 0.0 (15) 0.2 (14) 33
Round 3 3.4 (3) 0.1 (17) 0.6 (8) 1.5 (2) 1.2 (4) 33
Round 2 2.4 (6) 0.3 (15) 1.6 (6) 0.4 (14) 0.0 (18) 34
Round 1 2.5 (3) 0.4 (13) 1.9 (2) 0.0 (19) 0.1 (14) 34
2014 Season 1.5 (10) 0.2 (66) 0.6 (15) 0.2 (60) 0.5 (9) 192

Walker gained 0.5 strokes on the field in the final round, but it wasn’t quite enough to secure the win. His chances were really hurt when he missed the green at the short 291-yard par-4 fourteenth and made bogey. Nearly 80% of the players hit the green on 14 in the final round and the average score was 3.9. Walker’s score of five lost 1.1 strokes to the field, caused by a poor tee shot into a fairway bunker and a missed four-footer for par.

Jason Day shot a 62 on the final day to tie the course record and move into a tie for third place with Hideki Matsuyama and Russell Henley. The field average was 69.5 for the final round, so Day’s 62 gained 7.5 strokes on the field, with putting contributing a gain of 4.3 strokes. Here’s a round-by-round Jason Day’s play in the tournament and a comparison with his 2014 season-long strokes gained results:

Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) Rank
Jason Day Total Drive Appr Short Putt out of
Hyundai TOC 1.9 (3) 0.9 (3) 0.4 (9) 0.3 (11) 0.3 (13) 33
Round 4 7.5 (1) 1.6 (1) 1.0 (8) 0.6 (8) 4.3 (1) 33
Round 3 -0.6 (22) 1.2 (5) 1.1 (6) -0.5 (24) -2.4 (32) 33
Round 2 1.4 (11) 0.3 (12) 0.5 (13) 0.0 (18) 0.5 (14) 34
Round 1 -0.5 (21) 0.4 (14) -1.0 (28) 1.3 (4) -1.2 (29) 34
2014 Season 1.8 (7) 0.7 (8) 0.2 (83) 0.6 (4) 0.4 (22) 192


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 the 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.

A shorter version of this post appeared originally on pgatour.com here

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