Sergio Garcia leads in total strokes gained at PGA TOUR events thus far this season. Though he hasn’t won, he has six top ten finishes in ten events, with a second at the Travelers and third place finishes at the PLAYERS and the Shell Houston Open.
In his 20 recorded ShotLink rounds this season, Garcia has gained an average of 2.7 strokes per round on the field. The strokes gained method allows us to see how this gain breaks down by shot category. He leads the TOUR with 1.6 strokes gained per round from approach shots (shots starting more than 100 yards from the hole, excluding tee shots on par-4 and par-5 holes). He gains about 0.4 strokes per round with his driving, 0.4 with his putting, and another 0.3 with his short game.
The biggest contributor to Garcia’s success is his approach shots, which account for 59% of his total gain. Within the approach shot category, he is ranked 7 in strokes gained from 100-150 yards, ranked 6 from 150-200 yards and ranked 2 from 200-250 yards. His pinpoint iron shots produce impressive stats!
Here’s a breakdown of the top ten players in total strokes gained in the 2013-2014 through the Travelers Championship:
| Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses) | |||||
| Golfer | Total | Drive | Appr | Short | Putt |
| Sergio Garcia | 2.7 (1) | 0.4 (26) | 1.6 (1) | 0.3 (45) | 0.4 (24) |
| Rory McIlroy | 2.3 (2) | 1.3 (1) | 0.5 (31) | 0.2 (56) | 0.2 (52) |
| Bubba Watson | 2.1 (3) | 0.9 (3) | 0.5 (30) | 0.3 (31) | 0.3 (31) |
| Adam Scott | 2.0 (4) | 0.7 (7) | 0.5 (33) | 0.3 (42) | 0.6 (11) |
| Hideki Matsuyama | 1.9 (5) | 0.5 (20) | 1.1 (2) | 0.3 (40) | 0.1 (95) |
| Matt Kuchar | 1.9 (6) | 0.3 (39) | 0.6 (23) | 0.4 (20) | 0.5 (13) |
| Luke Donald | 1.8 (7) | -0.1 (147) | 0.7 (12) | 0.3 (32) | 0.9 (5) |
| Jimmy Walker | 1.7 (8) | 0.2 (64) | 0.6 (28) | 0.0 (112) | 0.9 (4) |
| Dustin Johnson | 1.7 (9) | 0.8 (4) | 0.7 (15) | 0.0 (98) | 0.1 (77) |
| Charl Schwartzel | 1.6 (10) | 0.6 (8) | 0.2 (73) | 0.6 (5) | 0.2 (62) |
| Top 10 average | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Fraction of total | 100% | 29% | 36% | 14% | 22% |
This post appeared originally on pgatour.com here