A tale of two week’s: Kuchar and Tiger

The Memorial Tournament is traditionally one of the hardest tests on the PGA Tour calendar, and with high winds and firm greens at this year’s edition, it once again lived up to its reputation.

How did Matt Kuchar go about winning the Memorial for his second win on Tour this year, and which statistic of Tiger Woods’ has been a concern all year, which showed up at Muirfield Village in a big way? All that and more in this week’s By the Numbers. (continue reading…)

Welcome to this week’s By The Numbers smorgasbord, which includes The Players, HP Byron Nelson Championship and the Colonial Invitational! This should be educational. So, buckle up, stats geeks.

Tiger Woods, y’all

Each season on the PGA Tour often has a recurring theme. A couple of years ago, there were a deluge of playoffs, last year we saw some tremendous final-round comebacks, and it seems like this year’s winners have previously barely made a cut all year.

At the Byron Nelson Championship, we saw another example of that with Sang-Moon Bae. Just like there have been a variety of winners so far this season, there are many different ways to win golf tournaments. Most commonly, the champions have been able to excel in many contrasting parts of their game well over the course of the tournament, as we have seen multiple times over the course of the season — which is what Sang-Moon Bae did at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.  (continue reading…)

Young and Ernst

The Wells Fargo Championship edition of By the Numbers contains a tale of two superstars — and how Derek Ernst beat them both (and everyone else, of course). Rory Mcilroy and Phil Mickelson were a study of opposites from a stats perspective, while Ernst was impressive all around. And now without further ado: this week’s By the Numbers. (continue reading…)

G-Mac sporting the tartan jacket that comes along with winning the trophy at Hilton Head

Graeme McDowell, one of the most popular players (especially in the interview room and at his recently-opened tavern, Nona Blue, in Orlando), returned to the PGA Tour winner’s circle at last week’s RBC Heritage Classic. Let’s take a look at how G-Mac won, along with a quick peek at Adam Scott’s victory at the Masters.

[*Ed note: Sorry this is a bit late -- it's my fault, not Shoshana's. Please forgive me!]

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Instant classic!

This week we’re giving you a By the Numbers smorgasbord, with a look at not only Tiger Woods’ latest win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but also the previous week’s victorious performances by Stacy Lewis — who ascended to world no. 1 (you go girl!) — at the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup and Kevin Streelman at the Tampa Bay Championship. (continue reading…)

I never left, b**ches!

Congratulations to Tiger Woods, who captured his second win in 2013 and 76th career title on the PGA Tour. Oh, and we’re back with By the Numbers after a temporary hiatus due to the pesky real world intruding. On the way to his victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Tiger obviously put up some impressive numbers, but we’re going to try look at several that you (probably) haven’t heard repeated ad nauseum (100 putts total), as well as a glance at a few other players. (continue reading…)

And it’s good!

The last two weeks on the PGA Tour have had a turn-back-the-clock feel. First, Tiger Woods won at Torrey Pines in a Monday finish, and then on Sunday, Phil Mickelson won in Phoenix. What year is this again? 2001?

Phil ran away with his wire-to-wire victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and dominated from a statistical standpoint. Here now is this week’s By the Numbers.

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Driver the key to Tiger’s success on the way to his 75th PGA Tour victory

Welcome to By the Numbers, Farmers Insurance Open Edition. As you may have guessed, the column this week will be very Tiger Woods centric. Hey, you notch it your 75th win on the PGA Tour, you can have your own Numbers column, too. Without further ado, your Tiger at Torrey Pines Edition: (continue reading…)

Henley closed with five birdies to claim his maiden PGA Tour title.

As the first full-field event of the season, the Sony Open in Hawaii inaugurated the PGA Tour careers of most — but not all — the 2013 rookies. Generally, the tournament is won by a Tour veteran, but not this year: two rookies, Russell Henley and Scott Langley, stole the show.

How did they do it? For the mathematically inclined (and inept), here’s your statistical breakdown of the week in Waialae. (continue reading…)

Hi, my name is Shoshana. You may know me on Twitter as @Shosheak or from the comments section. I’m a stats geek and researcher. In the spirit of the new season I’m (hopefully) debuting a series that will look back at the previous week’s tournament from a numbers perspective. I’d like to make this a weekly column (if all goes well and Stephanie gives the thumbs-up), so please share any comments, questions, and bitter invectives (well, maybe not so much the last!).

Side-by-side from a stats standpoint

Dustin Johnson has a new nickname: The 54-hole Specialist. With his victory on Tuesday at the 2013 Hyundai Tournament of Champions, he’s now won the last three times a Tour event has been shortened to three rounds due to weather (the 2010 Barclays and the 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am).

He’s also the under-30 master, with seven career PGA Tour victories compared to six for Rory McIlroy, of course, Dustin (28-years-old) also has a few years on Rory (24). (continue reading…)