2017 Sony Open

[krupa]

http://www.pgatour.com/inside-the-field/2017/01/09/sony-open-in-hawaii.html

Looks like a pretty strong field.  The biggest question on my mind is will DeChambeau putt side-saddle and if so, how will he fare?

[iacas]

Yes, and poorly?

[krupa]

35 minutes ago, iacas said:

Yes, and poorly?

Looking back I was a little vague when I said "how will he fare." I was just referring to his putting; I honestly don't expect him to finish well overall.  If you were also referring to his putting, I would ask, do you think he'll do poorly because it's still new to him? 

[ncarlsongolf]

I think he will fare OK.  He is going to struggle putting there because everyone struggles to putt well there.  The greens are tough to read (grain, mostly).  I hope he does go side saddle and get people talking! 

[boogielicious]

Remember there was a guy a few years back at Sony that was putting with a club that looked like a dust pan? It's all the rage now. I see these everywhere on tour and on my home course! It took golf by storm! 

 

Same will happen with BD's side saddle putting.

[nevets88]

And we have 59 - Justin Thomas.

 

[Golfingdad]

On 1/11/2017 at 4:37 AM, boogielicious said:

Remember there was a guy a few years back at Sony that was putting with a club that looked like a dust pan? It's all the rage now. I see these everywhere on tour and on my home course! It took golf by storm! 

 

Same will happen with BD's side saddle putting.

LOL.  Pretty sure that was Matt Every.  Even he didn't stick with it for too long.

BTW, looks like Dechambeau shot -1 today, with a -1.833 strokes gained putting.

[David in FL]

42 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

And we have 59 - Justin Thomas.

 

Now that's the way to start a tournament!

[David in FL]

3 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

LOL.  Pretty sure that was Matt Every.  Even he didn't stick with it for too long.

BTW, looks like Dechambeau shot -1 today, with a -1.833 strokes gained putting.

Just heard that DeChambeau is in the hospital with possible food poisoning.  TBD if he'll be able to play tomorrow.

[Rainmaker]

On 1/10/2017 at 0:01 PM, krupa said:

Looking back I was a little vague when I said "how will he fare." I was just referring to his putting; I honestly don't expect him to finish well overall.  If you were also referring to his putting, I would ask, do you think he'll do poorly because it's still new to him? 

I think he'll do poorly because of the massive food poisoning.  They just announced that he's in the hospital...hope he recovers in time for tomorrow.  

Personally . . .I think what's holding him back is the hat.  It's simply too much hat for one man.  

[boogielicious]

8 hours ago, David in FL said:

Just heard that DeChambeau is in the hospital with possible food poisoning.  TBD if he'll be able to play tomorrow.

Bad poi?

[krupa]

13 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

BTW, looks like Dechambeau shot -1 today, with a -1.833 strokes gained putting.

I have a tenuous grasp of strokes gained.  Is a negative number good or bad?

Food poisoning is one of those things I don't wish on anyone.  Hope he didn't have to drive himself to the ER...

 

[rehmwa]

11 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

holding him back is the hat.  It's simply too much hat for one man.  

I'm going to look at 'old man driving' hats today.  probably buy one

just because

[RandallT]

2 hours ago, krupa said:

I have a tenuous grasp of strokes gained.  Is a negative number good or bad?

I'm pretty sure the standard is a + strokes gained is good, and a - strokes gained is bad. But reporters, being math-challenged, sometimes double-negative themselves and muddy the waters. I think GAME GOLF did that too at one point, where one wasn't sure if + was good or bad. Logically though, + means you gained strokes.

I ran Justin's round through my little strokes gained tool. Here was his round:

He gained 11.7 strokes on the field compared to baseline PGA data- which won't be the same as the weekly stats which consider how the field did this same day.

He played the back 9 first, and in an interview he said that those were fairly easy putts on "his" front 9. Mostly straight uphill, I think he said. He thought it was his iron play that set up the stress free scoring.

So that made me want to check his gut. For the round, I have him at:

Approaches: 4.2 strokes gained

Putting: 3.8

Driving: 1.9

Short Game: 1.8 (over 1.5 of those on the chip-in on his first hole, #9). He only had 4 or 5 opportunities for short game (as expected when you shoot that low). 

So as expected, he kicked butt in all facets of the game, but it took the deadly combination of iron play and putting to get him 8 strokes better than the field.

Then he just needed to do well enough in short game and driving to eke out a few more strokes on the field for his 59. I think pros drive so well, that it's pretty difficult to gain more than about 2 strokes on the field on any given round. That's what I recall from reviews of many previous tournaments. Less of an opportunity to separate yourself at that elite level, it seems. But critical to do well in driving, nonetheless.

Update: in the interview, Justin had hoped that the highlight reel would show his drive on the 18th hole (his 9th of the day). He said it was a towering shot that was about as good as he's ever hit a drive.  He gained 0.6 shots with that one drive- so it must've been good. He started at 551 yds, and had just 183 yards left from the fairway on a par 5. Wow.

Edited January 13, 2017 by RandallT
Added info on the drive on the 18th hole

[krupa]

3 hours ago, rehmwa said:

I'm going to look at 'old man driving' hats today.  probably buy one

just because

Trying out for the cast of Newsies?

[Golfingdad]

4 hours ago, krupa said:

I have a tenuous grasp of strokes gained.  Is a negative number good or bad?

LOL, that makes two of us.  You'll note that my post had no commentary, and I tried to be "tone-less" as well, for that exact reason.  I wasn't entirely sure if the "-" was a good or bad thing.

Also, much much bonus points for being a fan of Brian Regan.

[krupa]

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

I'm pretty sure the standard is a + strokes gained is good, and a - strokes gained is bad. But reporters, being math-challenged, sometimes double-negative themselves and muddy the waters. I think GAME GOLF did that too at one point, where one wasn't sure if + was good or bad. Logically though, + means you gained strokes.

Which is good... even though in golf you don't want more strokes... but you're gaining strokes because you're taking fewer strokes.  

  They could have made this clearer.

9 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

LOL, that makes two of us.  You'll note that my post had no commentary, and I tried to be "tone-less" as well, for that exact reason.  I wasn't entirely sure if the "-" was a good or bad thing.

Also, much much bonus points for being a fan of Brian Regan.

I did notice that, but I figured it was just so obvious that I was the idiot for not knowing how to interpret it.

Regan is hilarious.  I've seen him 2 or 3 times in Ithaca.  You laugh continuously for 1.5 - 2 hours and it feels like it's over in 10 minutes.  I love that Regan bit because I had food poisoning last year and the absolute best way to describe it was that "my insides wanted to be on my outsides."

[RandallT]

5 minutes ago, krupa said:

Which is good... even though in golf you don't want more strokes... but you're gaining strokes because you're taking fewer strokes.  

  They could have made this clearer.

Haha yes, that must be the root of the confusion! The stat could use a fresh name to make it clearer: "strokes better"