The PGA Tour moves east this week for the start of the southern swing and the run up to the Masters with The Honda Classic at PGA National where the Bear Trap awaits. Here's this week's stats column.
The Stat
The defending champion is Padraig Harrington, who gained 11.659 strokes on the field last year en route to a Monday playoff victory over Daniel Berger. The Champions Course at PGA National is brutal, so the ability to keep it in the fairway and on the greens will be key this week, especially if the wind blows.
Here's this season's stats leaders in the strokes gained-tee to green category who are in the field this week (minimum three starts with ShotLink available).
Hideki Matsuyama - 2.279 strokes gained per round
Patrick Rodgers - 1.668
Gary Woodland - 1.437
Rickie Fowler - 1.332
Webb Simpson - 1.213
Our pick here is Matsuyama, who won in Phoenix and backed that up with a T11 finish last week at the Northern Trust Open. In his win in Phoenix he gained a whopping 12.259 strokes on the field for the week from tee to green en route to beating Fowler in the playoff. That, as you might imagine, ranked him first for the week. For the season he's ninth in greens in regulation and fourth in strokes gained-total.
Fowler, meanwhile, is 16th in greens in regulation, eighth in strokes gained-putting, fifth in scoring average and 23rd in scrambling. One stat to his detriment: he's 138th
The PGA Tour moves east this week for the start of the southern swing and the run up to the Masters with The Honda Classic at PGA National where the Bear Trap awaits. Here's this week's stats column.
The Stat
The defending champion is Padraig Harrington, who gained 11.659 strokes on the field last year en route to a Monday playoff victory over Daniel Berger. The Champions Course at PGA National is brutal, so the ability to keep it in the fairway and on the greens will be key this week, especially if the wind blows.
Here's this season's stats leaders in the strokes gained-tee to green category who are in the field this week (minimum three starts with ShotLink available).
Hideki Matsuyama - 2.279 strokes gained per round
Patrick Rodgers - 1.668
Gary Woodland - 1.437
Rickie Fowler - 1.332
Webb Simpson - 1.213
Our pick here is Matsuyama, who won in Phoenix and backed that up with a T11 finish last week at the Northern Trust Open. In his win in Phoenix he gained a whopping 12.259 strokes on the field for the week from tee to green en route to beating Fowler in the playoff. That, as you might imagine, ranked him first for the week. For the season he's ninth in greens in regulation and fourth in strokes gained-total.
Fowler, meanwhile, is 16th in greens in regulation, eighth in strokes gained-putting, fifth in scoring average and 23rd in scrambling. One stat to his detriment: he's 138th in proximity to the hole.
The Field
This year's field is, once again, utterly stacked, led by Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson. Other notables include Daniel Berger, Sergio Garcia, Graham DeLaet, Jason Dufner, Ernie Els, Zach Johnson, Branden Grace, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, Brooks Koepka, Graeme McDowell, Patrick Reed, Ian Poulter and Jimmy Walker.
Weather
The weather will be nice, with highs in the low 70s under sunny skies. However, it will be breezy Thursday and Friday, which will certainly make getting around the difficult Bear Trap that much more difficult.
