Billy Horschel finished his season as the hottest player in golf. He tied for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship, then he won the BMW Championship, and this week he won the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup.
There were few clues that Horschel’s hot streak was coming. He missed two cuts and finished tied for 58 at the PGA Championship and tied for 47 at the Wyndham Championship. After missing the cut at the Barclays, Horschel was already thinking ahead to the next season, “I remember flying home and I talked to my wife, and she’s like, you’ll probably just wait until the season is over, start a new season. Just because it hasn’t been a great year, and that’s what it was. I was sort of looking towards the fall of 2014 and start of 2014‑2015 season, but at the same time I knew my game was in the right shape, and I just needed to get out of my own way, needed to allow my golf game to show, and did it show the last three weeks.” Here is a summary of Horschel’s play from the Open Championship in July through this week’s TOUR Championship:
| Strokes gained per round | |
| Tournament | (finish in parentheses) |
| The Open Championship | -0.4 (MC) |
| PGA Championship | 0.1 (T58) |
| Wyndham Championship | 0.4 (T47) |
| The Barclays | -2.1 (MC) |
| Deutsche Bank Championship | 2.7 (T2) |
| BMW Championship | 3.3 (1) |
| THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola | 2.9 (1) |
Horschel found different ways to score during his streak. At the Deutsche Bank Championship he relied on his driving and putting. His win at the BMW Championship was almost solely due to his putting. His win at the TOUR Championship was mainly due to his approach shots and putting. Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of Horschel’s play in the playoffs:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Rank | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| The Barclays | -2.1 (MC) | 0.0 (39) | -0.5 (59) | -0.3 (57) | -1.2 (68) | 70 |
| Deutsche Bank Championship | 2.7 (T2) | 0.9 (4) | 0.6 (26) | 0.1 (40) | 0.9 (12) | 73 |
| BMW Championship | 3.3 (1) | 0.7 (9) | 0.1 (31) | -0.5 (51) | 2.9 (1) | 66 |
| TOUR Championship | 2.9 (1) | 0.5 (7) | 1.3 (3) | 0.3 (14) | 0.9 (6) | 29 |
Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Horschel’s play at the TOUR Championship:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Billy Horschel | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| TOUR Championship | 2.9 (1) | 0.5 (7) | 1.3 (3) | 0.3 (14) | 0.9 (6) | 29 |
| Round 1 | 3.4 (4) | 0.3 (14) | 1.8 (3) | 0.5 (9) | 0.8 (10) | 29 |
| Round 2 | 4.4 (4) | 1.1 (5) | 0.3 (13) | 1.3 (5) | 1.7 (5) | 29 |
| Round 3 | 1.3 (12) | 0.1 (13) | 0.9 (10) | -0.7 (21) | 1.0 (8) | 29 |
| Round 4 | 2.5 (4) | 0.4 (12) | 2.3 (2) | -0.1 (18) | -0.1 (12) | 29 |
Horschel played the best final round of those in contention going into Sunday, mainly due to his approach play. McIlroy continued his stellar driving, but his approach play and putting cost him in the final round. Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top ten finishers at the TOUR Championship in the final round:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Player | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Billy Horschel | 2.5 (4) | 0.4 (12) | 2.3 (2) | -0.1 (18) | -0.1 (12) |
| Rory McIlroy | -0.5 (17) | 1.5 (1) | -0.9 (21) | 0.6 (9) | -1.7 (23) |
| Justin Rose | 1.5 (7) | 0.4 (11) | 0.3 (13) | 0.2 (12) | 0.6 (10) |
| Jason Day | 1.5 (8) | 0.4 (10) | 2.2 (3) | -0.3 (19) | -0.8 (18) |
| Jim Furyk | 1.5 (6) | 0.2 (14) | 0.4 (12) | 0.8 (8) | 0.1 (11) |
| Ryan Palmer | 1.5 (9) | 1.5 (2) | 3.1 (1) | -2.0 (28) | -1.2 (19) |
| Chris Kirk | 2.5 (5) | 0.5 (7) | -0.1 (15) | 0.4 (11) | 1.7 (6) |
| Adam Scott | 0.5 (11) | 0.1 (16) | 1.1 (8) | 1.7 (3) | -2.3 (28) |
| Rickie Fowler | -0.5 (15) | 0.5 (9) | -1.0 (22) | 0.1 (13) | -0.1 (13) |
| Gary Woodland | 3.5 (3) | 0.2 (15) | 1.5 (6) | 2.1 (2) | -0.3 (16) |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top ten finishers for all four rounds at the TOUR Championship:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Billy Horschel | 2.9 (1) | 0.5 (7) | 1.3 (3) | 0.3 (14) | 0.9 (6) |
| Rory McIlroy | 2.5 (2) | 0.8 (3) | 0.5 (8) | 0.7 (8) | 0.5 (9) |
| Justin Rose | 2.3 (T3) | 0.3 (11) | 1.1 (6) | 0.7 (6) | 0.2 (10) |
| Jason Day | 2.3 (T3) | 0.1 (13) | 0.3 (11) | 0.9 (3) | 1.0 (3) |
| Jim Furyk | 2.2 (5) | 0.2 (12) | 1.5 (1) | 0.4 (12) | 0.1 (15) |
| Ryan Palmer | 2.0 (6) | 0.9 (2) | 0.3 (10) | -0.3 (20) | 1.1 (2) |
| Chris Kirk | 1.9 (7) | 0.3 (10) | -0.3 (18) | 0.9 (2) | 1.0 (4) |
| Adam Scott | 1.5 (8) | 0.7 (5) | 1.5 (2) | 0.1 (16) | -0.6 (24) |
| Rickie Fowler | 1.4 (9) | 0.7 (4) | 0.1 (14) | -0.1 (18) | 0.7 (7) |
| Gary Woodland | 1.2 (10) | 0.0 (15) | -0.5 (20) | 1.6 (1) | 0.0 (16) |
| Top 10 average | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 23% | 28% | 25% | 24% |
The players with the best cumulative scoring average against the field (i.e., the best in total strokes gained) in the playoffs were Jason Day and Billy Horschel (in a virtual dead heat), followed by Jim Furyk, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler. Of this group, only Horschel won a playoff event (in fact, he won twice). Hunter Mahan won the Barclays, but his play in the next three playoff events left him in 47th place on the list. Chris Kirk won the Deutsche Bank Championship and finished ninth on the list.
A tennis match isn’t necessarily won by scoring the most points. Points to win games and sets are more crucial than others. Similarly, the FedExCup isn’t necessarily won by the player with the lowest total score in the playoffs. But in this case, Horschel won the FedExCup and he tied for the lowest in total strokes gained in the playoffs. Here’s a look at the top ten players in total strokes gained for the playoffs (ranks are out of the 63 golfers who played 10 or more rounds in the playoffs):
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Jason Day | 2.4 (T1) | 0.4 (15) | -0.1 (39) | 0.8 (3) | 1.3 (1) |
| Billy Horschel | 2.4 (T1) | 0.6 (7) | 0.6 (10) | 0.0 (40) | 1.2 (2) |
| Jim Furyk | 2.1 (3) | 0.1 (31) | 1.4 (2) | 0.2 (25) | 0.3 (20) |
| Rory McIlroy | 2.0 (4) | 1.3 (1) | 0.8 (7) | -0.1 (45) | 0.0 (30) |
| Rickie Fowler | 1.8 (5) | 0.5 (12) | 0.3 (20) | -0.1 (42) | 1.0 (5) |
| Adam Scott | 1.7 (6) | 0.7 (6) | 1.5 (1) | 0.0 (38) | -0.5 (53) |
| Ryan Palmer | 1.4 (7) | 0.7 (5) | -0.2 (44) | -0.2 (49) | 1.0 (4) |
| Bubba Watson | 1.4 (8) | 1.2 (2) | 0.2 (26) | 0.1 (33) | -0.2 (42) |
| Chris Kirk | 1.3 (9) | 0.1 (27) | -0.1 (37) | 0.3 (16) | 0.9 (8) |
| Bill Haas | 1.2 (10) | 0.3 (22) | 0.8 (6) | 0.3 (19) | -0.2 (41) |
| Top 10 average | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 34% | 29% | 8% | 28% |
This post appeared originally on pgatour.com here