Argentinian player Fabian Gomez captured his first PGA TOUR win at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Greg Owen finished four shots to claim second place, his highest finish on the PGA TOUR. With a closing round 65, Phil Mickelson vaulted into a tie for third place with Brooks Koepka, Matt Jones, Michael Thompson, and Seung-Yul Noh.
Gomez won on the strength of his tournament-leading approach shots. He beat the field by an average of 4.0 strokes per round, with 56 percent of the gain, 2.3 strokes per round, coming from superior approach shots. He gained nearly one stroke on the field in the final round from hitting his tee shots on the par-3 holes 8 and 11 to within nine feet of the hole. By comparison, in the final round players in the field hit half of their shots to within about 28 feet of the pin on holes 8 and 11. Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Gomez’s play at the FedEx St. Jude:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Fabian Gomez | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| 2015 Season | 0.4 (83) | -0.1 (124) | 0.3 (60) | 0.0 (116) | 0.1 (83) | 209 |
| FedEx St. Jude Classic | 4.0 (1) | 0.7 (13) | 2.3 (1) | 0.1 (41) | 1.0 (18) | 75 |
| Round 1 | 4.9 (11) | 1.9 (1) | 0.4 (67) | 1.0 (26) | 1.6 (29) | 155 |
| Round 2 | 3.4 (20) | 0.5 (60) | 4.1 (2) | 0.0 (88) | -1.3 (125) | 155 |
| Round 3 | 3.9 (7) | 0.1 (41) | 1.9 (12) | -1.0 (60) | 2.9 (4) | 76 |
| Round 4 | 4.0 (10) | 0.4 (26) | 2.7 (6) | 0.2 (32) | 0.6 (27) | 75 |
Phil Mickelson posted a third-place finish on the strength of his short game and putting. Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Mickelson’s play at the FedEx St. Jude:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | Rank | |||||
| Phil Mickelson | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt | out of |
| 2015 Season | 1.0 (30) | 0.3 (61) | 0.1 (99) | 0.3 (29) | 0.3 (48) | 209 |
| FedEx St. Jude Classic | 2.8 (3) | 0.4 (31) | 0.1 (52) | 1.1 (6) | 1.2 (8) | 75 |
| Round 1 | 2.9 (21) | 0.0 (97) | 0.0 (76) | 2.3 (3) | 0.7 (57) | 155 |
| Round 2 | 2.4 (34) | 0.8 (41) | 0.9 (55) | 1.3 (20) | -0.7 (105) | 155 |
| Round 3 | 0.9 (27) | 0.9 (15) | -1.5 (64) | 0.5 (30) | 1.0 (21) | 76 |
| Round 4 | 5.0 (2) | 0.0 (43) | 0.8 (29) | 0.3 (27) | 3.9 (1) | 75 |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top eleven finishers at the FedEx St. Jude:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Fabian Gomez | 4.0 (1) | 0.7 (13) | 2.3 (1) | 0.1 (41) | 1.0 (18) |
| Greg Owen | 3.0 (2) | 0.4 (32) | 1.3 (13) | 0.1 (42) | 1.3 (5) |
| Phil Mickelson | 2.8 (T3) | 0.4 (31) | 0.1 (52) | 1.1 (6) | 1.2 (8) |
| Matt Jones | 2.8 (T3) | 0.4 (36) | 1.1 (18) | -0.2 (57) | 1.6 (2) |
| Michael Thompson | 2.8 (T3) | 0.6 (23) | 0.4 (38) | 0.7 (14) | 1.1 (10) |
| Seung-Yul Noh | 2.8 (T3) | 0.1 (45) | 2.1 (3) | -0.4 (64) | 0.9 (21) |
| Brooks Koepka | 2.8 (T3) | 0.1 (52) | 1.4 (11) | -0.1 (51) | 1.4 (4) |
| Boo Weekley | 2.5 (T8) | 0.7 (15) | 0.8 (28) | 0.9 (11) | 0.3 (48) |
| Chad Campbell | 2.5 (T8) | 0.7 (12) | 0.4 (40) | 0.4 (25) | 1.0 (17) |
| Billy Horschel | 2.5 (T8) | 0.3 (38) | 2.3 (2) | -0.6 (66) | 0.6 (35) |
| Russell Knox | 2.5 (T8) | 0.4 (33) | 1.5 (8) | 0.0 (43) | 0.6 (30) |
| Top 11 average | 2.8 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 16% | 43% | 6% | 35% |
Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the final round for the top eleven finishers at the FedEx St. Jude:
| Strokes gained in the final round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Player | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Fabian Gomez | 4.0 (10) | 0.4 (26) | 2.7 (6) | 0.2 (32) | 0.6 (27) |
| Greg Owen | 0.0 (43) | -1.7 (71) | 1.3 (23) | 0.1 (34) | 0.2 (35) |
| Phil Mickelson | 5.0 (2) | 0.0 (43) | 0.8 (29) | 0.3 (27) | 3.9 (1) |
| Matt Jones | 2.0 (26) | -0.6 (57) | 2.3 (11) | -1.2 (60) | 1.5 (13) |
| Michael Thompson | 4.0 (14) | 0.8 (15) | 2.0 (16) | 1.7 (9) | -0.4 (49) |
| Seung-Yul Noh | 5.0 (1) | 0.4 (29) | 2.8 (5) | -1.0 (57) | 2.8 (4) |
| Brooks Koepka | 0.0 (39) | -0.4 (52) | -1.7 (63) | 0.1 (37) | 2.1 (8) |
| Boo Weekley | 5.0 (3) | 0.9 (12) | 2.4 (9) | 1.4 (11) | 0.3 (32) |
| Chad Campbell | 2.0 (18) | 1.2 (6) | 0.9 (28) | -0.1 (41) | 0.0 (38) |
| Billy Horschel | 5.0 (4) | 1.0 (9) | 3.5 (3) | -1.6 (67) | 2.1 (7) |
| Russell Knox | 4.0 (9) | 1.6 (3) | 1.9 (18) | 0.0 (39) | 0.5 (30) |
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.