Stripe it for more dough - Hahn wins at Riviera without top putting game [Golfweek]

[nevets88]

http://golfweek.com/news/2015/feb/23/pga-tour-2015-statistics-strokes-gained-hahn-north/

Obviously, being a good putter can go a long way toward contending in golf tournaments, but Hahn’s win highlights the fact that if you are a good ballstriker, you can contend if you can just putt well enough. Even with a strokes gained-putting of 2.524 for 18 holes on Sunday, for the week Hahn finished with a negative strokes gained-putting (-.201) and ranked 50th in the category.

In contrast, Paul Casey got into the playoff with Hahn and Johnson by have a very solid week all around. His strokes gained-tee-to-green was 5.109 (19th) and his strokes gained-putting was 6.839 (5th). Johnson ranked first in strokes gained-tee-to-green with 12.579 and Hahn ranked second for the week with a 12.149.

Having a 12-stroke advantage over the field before you reach for your putter means you don’t have to putt like Loren Roberts, Brad Faxon or Jack Nicklaus to win. If you’re James Hahn, you just have to pay attention to what your wife is telling you.

[iacas]

I sent out a tweet about it:

https://twitter.com/lowscorewins/status/569919656598900736

Quote:

James Hahn finished 50th with -0.201 strokes gained putting for the week. DRIVE for DOUGH, putt for… because you have to finish the hole.

It's not uncommon for a PGA Tour winner to gain few strokes or even lose strokes relative to the field in putting.

It is quite rare for them to lose strokes to the field with their full swing and still win. Almost never happens.

[Patch]

I suppose I should read up on what ever the heck " strokes gained-tee-to-green" means . That's a new one for me.

[iacas]

I suppose I should read up on what ever the heck "strokes gained-tee-to-green" means . That's a new one for me.

It's basically their score (relative to the rest of the field) minus strokes gained putting.

[Deryck Griffith]

It's funny because both Golf Central and PGA Tour Radio went on about his putting (mostly) and also mostly accredited his win to the putter.  Dustin Johnson also in his comments after the playoff said Hahn was putting well all day.  Golf is an interesting thing/game and misinformation is incredibly prevalent in golf.  Hahn may of got hot with the putter at points to win on Sunday but the reality is, based on the stats, that it really was his Ball Striking over the four days that positioned him to win the tournament (and not a hot putter for several holes on Sunday). Conversely, when you look at Sergio Garcia who putted lights out all week (+1.600 strokes gained putting for the tournament), it was his Ball Striking that took him out of the tournament.  Sergio could only sustain his short game for so long before the lack of precise ball striking came to bite him in the end which we saw in full effect the last 6 or so holes on Sunday.

[nevets88]

More strokes gained numbers for Hahn and field as well:

Source: http://www.pgatour.com/statsreport/2015/02/23/strokes-gained-at-northern-trust-open.html

Here's a round-by-round strokes gained breakdown Hahn’s play at the Northern Trust:

James Hahn	Total	Drive	Appr	Short	Putt	Rank out of
2015 season	0.7 (43)	0.2 (61)	0.1 (74)	0.5 (14)	-0.1 (109)	178
Northern Trust	3.0 (1)	0.6 (13)	1.0 (13)	1.5 (6)	-0.1	75
Round 1	7.0 (6)	1.4 (5)	3.0 (5)	1.7 (23)	0.9 (47)	144
Round 2	-1.3 (100)	1.2 (15)	-0.8 (94)	1.4 (24)	-3.1 (137)	142
Round 3	2.8 (13)	-0.7 (63)	2.8 (4)	1.2 (20)	-0.5 (44)	75
Round 4	3.5 (13)	0.4 (25)	-1.0 (53)	1.7 (8)	2.5 (9)	75

Here's a strokes gained breakdown of the top 11 finishers at the Northern Trust for all four rounds:

	Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses)
Golfer	Total	Drive	Appr	Short	Putt
James Hahn	3.0 (1)	0.6 (13)	1.0 (13)	1.5 (6)	-0.1 (50)
Paul Casey	3.0 (T2)	0.6 (14)	0.5 (28)	0.2 (42)	1.7 (5)
Dustin Johnson	3.0 (T2)	0.6 (8)	2.3 (2)	0.3 (40)	-0.2 (55)
Sergio Garcia	2.7 (T4)	0.1 (43)	0.4 (31)	0.6 (21)	1.6 (6)
Hideki Matsuyama	2.7 (T4)	0.9 (3)	0.4 (34)	0.4 (26)	1.0 (24)
Keegan Bradley	2.7 (T4)	0.7 (7)	1.3 (5)	0.3 (38)	0.4 (32)
Jordan Spieth	2.7 (T4)	0.6 (11)	0.4 (32)	0.8 (15)	1.0 (22)
Retief Goosen	2.5 (T8)	0.2 (31)	-0.3 (56)	0.3 (37)	2.2 (1)
Sang-Moon Bae	2.5 (T8)	0.2 (35)	1.3 (6)	-0.3 (54)	1.3 (16)
Graham DeLaet	2.5 (T8)	0.0 (45)	0.7 (20)	0.4 (29)	1.4 (14)
Kyle Reifers	2.5 (T8)	0.1 (38)	0.8 (17)	0.6 (24)	1.0 (23)
Top 11 average	2.7	0.4	0.8	0.5	1.0
Fraction of total	100%	15%	30%	17%	38%

Here's a strokes gained breakdown of the top 11 finishers at the Northern Trust in the final round:

	Strokes gained per round (ranks in parentheses)
Golfer	Total	Drive	Appr	Short	Putt
James Hahn	3.5 (13)	0.4 (25)	-1.0 (53)	1.7 (8)	2.5 (9)
Paul Casey	4.5 (8)	0.1 (37)	-0.1 (41)	0.4 (30)	4.1 (2)
Dustin Johnson	3.5 (14)	1.4 (3)	2.1 (9)	-0.5 (48)	0.5 (29)
Sergio Garcia	1.5 (25)	-1.5 (72)	1.0 (22)	0.8 (23)	1.3 (22)
Hideki Matsuyama	5.5 (4)	0.6 (17)	3.0 (2)	1.0 (17)	0.9 (26)
Keegan Bradley	4.5 (7)	0.1 (39)	2.0 (10)	1.4 (11)	1.1 (24)
Jordan Spieth	2.5 (19)	1.2 (8)	0.7 (26)	1.1 (16)	-0.4 (41)
Retief Goosen	-2.5 (54)	-1.6 (73)	-0.6 (46)	-0.6 (53)	0.4 (34)
Sang-Moon Bae	0.5 (33)	0.6 (18)	-0.9 (52)	-0.2 (42)	0.9 (25)
Graham DeLaet	-0.5 (39)	-0.8 (62)	0.8 (24)	-0.8 (57)	0.3 (35)
Kyle Reifers	5.5 (2)	-0.6 (58)	0.5 (29)	1.3 (13)	4.3 (1)
Average	2.6	0.0	0.7	0.5	1.4
Fraction of total	100%	0%	26%	20%	55%

For strokes gained analysis of other tournaments, see http://everyshotcounts.com/ .