July 14, 2014  Posted by  Mark Broadie


Strokes gained at the John Deere Classic: Harman’s first PGA TOUR win comes on strength of approach shots in spite of poor putting

Lefty Brian Harman won his first PGA TOUR event at the John Deere Classic yesterday. In his win, Harman gained 4.0 strokes per round on the field, with a gain of 2.8 strokes per round from his approach shots. His amazing ball striking represents the largest contribution from approach shots of any winner on TOUR this season. Harman said, “This was really the first week that I’ve felt like that I had complete command working the ball both ways, being able to bend it off the tee box, and I think the stats will probably show that.”

Here are some approach shot highlights from Harman’s fourth round: hole 2 a 223-yard shot to four feet (gain 1.2 strokes); hole 12 a 220-yard shot to 15 feet (gain 0.4 strokes); hole 13 a 145-yard shot to 7 feet (gain 0.5 strokes); hole 15 195-yard shot to 15 feet (gain 0.4 strokes); hole 16 150-yard shot to 6 feet (gain 0.6 strokes). That’s how a golfer can gain 11.2 strokes on the field (2.8 strokes per round) with approach shots.

With a loss of 0.2 strokes per round with his putting, Harman joins Hideki Matsuyama and Steven Bowditch as other TOUR winners this season who have won while putting worse than the field. Harman gained 0.7 strokes per round from his driving and another 0.6 strokes per round from his short game.

Harman missed the cut in his previous two starts, but he notched five top 10s earlier this season. For the season, Harman ranks 41 with his 0.9 strokes gained per round on the field. The strength of his game has been his approach shots, where he is ranked 35 with a gain of 0.5 strokes per round on the field.

  Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses)
  Total Drive Appr Short Putt
Brian Harman during win 4.0 (1) 0.7 (8) 2.8 (1) 0.6 (12) -0.2 (63)
Brian Harman during season 0.9 (41) 0.0 (124) 0.5 (35) 0.2 (64) 0.2 (68)
Difference 3.1 0.8 2.3 0.5 -0.4

Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top ten finishers at the John Deere Classic:

  Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses)
Golfer Total Drive Appr Short Putt
Brian Harman 4.0 (1) 0.7 (8) 2.8 (1) 0.6 (12) -0.2 (63)
Zach Johnson 3.7 (2) 0.7 (16) 1.6 (7) 1.0 (2) 0.5 (30)
Jhonattan Vegas 3.2 (T3) 0.9 (6) 0.0 (45) 0.8 (5) 1.5 (5)
Jerry Kelly 3.2 (T3) 0.3 (25) 1.4 (9) -0.2 (59) 1.8 (1)
Tim Clark 3.0 (T5) -0.3 (63) 1.2 (12) 1.0 (1) 1.0 (12)
Scott Brown 3.0 (T5) 0.3 (24) 0.5 (31) 0.4 (22) 1.8 (2)
Bo Van Pelt 2.5 (T7) 0.7 (15) 1.6 (6) 0.4 (19) -0.2 (61)
Ryan Moore 2.5 (T7) 0.5 (21) 0.8 (20) 0.3 (30) 1.0 (13)
Johnson Wagner 2.5 (T7) 0.7 (12) 1.9 (4) 0.0 (50) 0.0 (50)
Jordan Spieth 2.5 (T7) 0.5 (18) 0.5 (29) 0.9 (4) 0.6 (25)
Top 10 average 3.0 0.5 1.2 0.5 0.8
Fraction of total 100% 17% 41% 17% 26%

This post appeared originally on pgatour.com here

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