Strokes gained at the Farmers Insurance Open: Day wins his third

Jason Day prevailed in a four-man playoff to win the Farmers Insurance Open for his third PGA TOUR victory. The 27-year-old Day has finished in the top four in the majors five times, including a tie for fourth at the 2014 US Open.

Day’s last victory came at the 2014 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he beat Victor Dubuisson in 23 holes. Day and J.B. Holmes birdied the first playoff hole to knock out Harris English and Scott Stallings. Day’s par at the second playoff hole was good for the victory after Holmes failed to get up-and-down for his par.

In a text to me after the round, Colin Swatton, Day’s coach and caddy, said a key in the tournament was to “Always play to your strengths.” Speaking to the media, Day said, “To hole a putt and really move forward from there and get in a playoff and play great golf, I’m just real proud of myself just to hang in there and it was a tough week for everyone.” In regulation play, Day holed a 47-footer on hole 16 for birdie and followed with a 10-foot par save on hole 17. Those two putts contributed 1.8 strokes to his total gain of 2.8 strokes from his putting in the final round. Here’s a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown of Day’s play in the tournament (in the three rounds with ShotLink data):

Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) Rank
Jason Day Total Drive Appr Short Putt out of
2015 Season 2.2 (4) 0.9 (4) 0.3 (56) 0.5 (13) 0.5 (29) 180
Farmers Insurance Open 2.1 (16) 0.9 (5) 0.8 (17) 0.1 (38) 0.4 (34) 74
Round 1 0.5 (29) 1.3 (6) 0.1 (40) -0.7 (54) -0.2 (49) 78
Round 3 1.8 (25) 0.4 (26) 2.2 (4) 0.7 (19) -1.5 (62) 74
Round 4 4.1 (10) 1.0 (10) 0.0 (37) 0.3 (30) 2.8 (6) 74

The final round scoring average for the field was 74.1, a brutal day for scoring. Chad Collins’ 67 was the low round of the day, gaining 7.1 strokes on the field. Day’s final round of 70 gained 4.1 strokes on the field and was tied for the seventh best final round. Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top ten final rounds at the Farmers Insurance Open:

  Strokes gained final round (ranks in parentheses)
Golfer Total Drive Appr Short Putt
Chad Collins 7.1 (1) -0.1 (39) 2.0 (7) 1.8 (5) 3.4 (4)
Charles Howell III 6.1 (T2) 0.5 (18) 2.1 (5) 1.3 (13) 2.1 (10)
Shane Lowry 6.1 (T2) 2.2 (1) 1.9 (8) 0.1 (37) 1.9 (15)
Zac Blair 5.1 (T4) -0.6 (57) -0.1 (40) 0.0 (40) 5.8 (1)
Martin Laird 5.1 (T4) 0.2 (28) 3.4 (1) 1.3 (14) 0.2 (36)
Scott Stallings 5.1 (T4) 0.3 (24) -0.6 (51) 1.2 (15) 4.2 (2)
J.J. Henry 4.1 (T7) 1.5 (4) 1.5 (13) 0.4 (25) 0.7 (31)
Michael Thompson 4.1 (T7) -0.4 (47) 0.6 (25) 1.8 (4) 2.0 (13)
Daniel Berger 4.1 (T7) 0.9 (11) 1.8 (9) 0.7 (19) 0.5 (33)
Jason Day 4.1 (T7) 1.0 (10) 0.0 (37) 0.3 (30) 2.8 (6)
Top 10 average 5.1 0.6 1.2 0.9 2.4
Fraction of total 100% 11% 25% 18% 47%

Here’s a strokes gained breakdown of the top eleven finishers for the three rounds of ShotLink data. Jason Day had his best round on the North course, where there isn’t any ShotLink data.

Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses)
Golfer Total Drive Appr Short Putt
Charles Howell III 4.2 (1) 0.9 (8) 1.9 (3) 0.1 (37) 1.3 (9)
Scott Stallings 3.8 (2) 0.7 (12) 0.5 (29) 1.4 (3) 1.3 (8)
J.B. Holmes 3.5 (T3) 0.5 (18) 1.4 (7) 1.0 (11) 0.6 (26)
Alex Prugh 3.5 (T3) 0.5 (20) 0.0 (46) 1.4 (2) 1.6 (6)
Spencer Levin 2.8 (T5) 0.4 (21) 1.0 (13) 0.9 (13) 0.5 (28)
Carlos Ortiz 2.8 (T5) 0.5 (19) -0.5 (55) 0.4 (24) 2.4 (2)
Zac Blair 2.8 (T5) -0.9 (72) 0.5 (25) -0.3 (53) 3.5 (1)
Harris English 2.5 (T8) 0.5 (15) 0.4 (30) -0.1 (48) 1.6 (5)
Jamie Donaldson 2.5 (T8) -0.2 (55) -0.3 (51) 1.4 (1) 1.5 (7)
Martin Laird 2.5 (T8) -0.2 (54) 2.9 (1) 0.1 (36) -0.4 (51)
Jhonattan Vegas 2.5 (T8) 0.5 (17) 0.2 (38) 0.6 (18) 1.1 (12)
Top 11 average 3.0 0.3 0.7 0.6 1.4
Fraction of total 100% 9% 24% 21% 45%

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.

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