Chris Kirk overcame a crowded leaderboard to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Last season Kirk won twice on the PGA TOUR and finished second in FedEx Cup points. Jason Bohn, Jordan Spieth and Brandt Snedeker came up one stroke short with five others finishing two strokes back.
Because of the overnight rain and the weather forecast for Sunday, the PGA TOUR allowed players to lift, clean, and place their balls through the green for the final round. Players could put their ball in hand in the rough as well as the fairway. How much of a difference did that make? Shots from the rough became easier and resulted in an average decrease of 0.6 strokes in round 4 compared to round 3. (Putting and shots from the fairway were more difficult in round 4 than round 3, and overall the average score for the field increased by almost 0.1 strokes.)
Chris Kirk won in spite of his negative strokes gained driving, where he lost 0.4 strokes per round and ranked 63 out of 72 players. Kirk more than made up for the lost strokes in driving with his putting, were he gained 1.9 strokes per round and ranked second for the tournament. Kirk’s comments after the tournament were consistent with his stroked gained results. He said, “Through a lot of the round [I] didn’t really feel great, especially with my driver … Felt like I kind of really just gutted it out and made the putts when I needed to down the stretch.”
Kirk’s putting contributed 72 percent to his total gain on the field. Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Kirk’s play at the Crowne Plaza Invitational:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Chris Kirk | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| 2015 Season | 0.8 (44) | -0.3 (155) | 0.5 (38) | 0.2 (53) | 0.3 (39) | 204 |
| Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial | 2.6 (1) | -0.4 (63) | 0.8 (18) | 0.3 (19) | 1.9 (2) | 72 |
| Round 1 | 2.0 (27) | -1.9 (121) | -1.4 (98) | 1.3 (14) | 3.9 (2) | 122 |
| Round 2 | 1.6 (46) | 0.5 (33) | 1.3 (28) | -1.0 (105) | 0.7 (46) | 121 |
| Round 3 | 4.0 (1) | 0.0 (46) | 2.1 (8) | 0.8 (20) | 1.1 (18) | 80 |
| Round 4 | 3.1 (7) | -0.1 (44) | 1.3 (16) | 0.0 (34) | 1.9 (9) | 72 |
Jordan Spieth finished in a tie for second place, but blamed his putting for doing better. “Putting inside 10 feet kind of cost me this week,” he said. “I wasn’t really up to my standards I’m normally at and that’s what I’m going to work on before next week.” For the tournament, Spieth gained 0.3 strokes per round with his putting and ranked 36. However, consistent with his comments, he lost 0.5 strokes per round with his putting in the 6 feet and under range. He gained over 0.8 strokes per round with his putting in the 22 feet and beyond range.
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top nine finishers at the Crowne Plaza Invitational:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Chris Kirk | 2.6 (1) | -0.4 (63) | 0.8 (18) | 0.3 (19) | 1.9 (2) |
| Jason Bohn | 2.4 (T2) | 0.6 (8) | 0.5 (31) | 0.2 (22) | 1.0 (13) |
| Brandt Snedeker | 2.4 (T2) | 0.6 (11) | -0.4 (60) | 1.2 (3) | 1.1 (12) |
| Jordan Spieth | 2.4 (T2) | 0.5 (13) | 1.0 (14) | 0.6 (7) | 0.3 (36) |
| George McNeill | 2.1 (T5) | -0.6 (65) | 1.0 (13) | 0.2 (27) | 1.5 (5) |
| Kevin Kisner | 2.1 (T5) | 0.8 (3) | 1.3 (9) | -0.6 (65) | 0.6 (21) |
| Ian Poulter | 2.1 (T5) | -0.2 (56) | 0.3 (39) | 0.4 (15) | 1.7 (4) |
| Pat Perez | 2.1 (T5) | 0.4 (19) | 1.1 (12) | 0.7 (6) | 0.0 (42) |
| Adam Hadwin | 2.1 (T5) | 0.7 (6) | 0.2 (41) | -0.6 (66) | 1.8 (3) |
| Top 9 average | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 11% | 28% | 12% | 48% |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the final round for the top nine finishers at the Crowne Plaza Invitational:
| Strokes gained in the final round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Player | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Chris Kirk | 3.1 (13) | -0.1 (44) | 1.3 (16) | 0.0 (34) | 1.9 (9) |
| Jason Bohn | 6.1 (1) | 0.2 (36) | 2.0 (5) | 0.1 (30) | 3.7 (1) |
| Brandt Snedeker | 2.1 (21) | 0.7 (15) | 0.1 (34) | 1.3 (10) | -0.1 (38) |
| Jordan Spieth | 4.1 (4) | 2.0 (1) | -0.5 (48) | 0.9 (17) | 1.6 (11) |
| George McNeill | 2.1 (20) | -0.1 (43) | 2.0 (4) | -1.2 (59) | 1.3 (14) |
| Kevin Kisner | 2.1 (18) | 0.9 (10) | 1.3 (15) | -0.4 (49) | 0.2 (31) |
| Ian Poulter | -0.9 (45) | -2.0 (71) | -2.5 (69) | 2.3 (1) | 1.2 (15) |
| Pat Perez | 5.1 (2) | 0.5 (19) | 1.8 (8) | 1.0 (16) | 1.7 (10) |
| Adam Hadwin | 3.1 (8) | 0.7 (13) | -0.7 (52) | -0.1 (36) | 3.1 (2) |
This post appeared originally on pgatour.com here
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 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.