What can we learn from this season's PGA Tour player statistics?

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements

How many guys on the PGA Tour do you think average more than 300 yards from the tee? Who is the best putter so far this year? Who has the lowest scoring average? And have Jordan Spieth’s overall stats really slipped?

With The Masters just around the corner, we thought it was time to find out, and we guarantee that there are some surprises.

Drive for show

Let's start off with distance from the tee, shall we? It is, after all, the thing that most of us are obsessed about. And the beauty of the records kept by the PGA Tour these days is that we can have a look and see if distance really can equate to success. 

So take a guess – how many players average 300 or more with the big stick? Remember that even in this day and age, that is still one heck of a hit from the tee. And it wasn’t so very long ago that John Daly was the ONLY man to manage it over the course of a season.

To is it 10? Not even close. Twenty? Keep guessing. Surely no more than 30? The actual number is, wait for it, 33. That’s right, THIRTY-THREE men AVERAGE 300-plus yards with the driver in hand.

And the longest of the lot is Tony FInau at a scarcely-credible 317.4 yards. Remember that this is his average strike. In second place is Gary Woodland at 314.8 yards. Next comes JB Holmes on 313.2 and then Bubba Watson at just 311.11 yards.

Dustin Johnson has fallen all the way back to tied fifth with Ryan Palmer on 310.3 yards. The only winner this season among those men is Watson. But don’t despair because Adam Scott comes in at ninth on 307.6 yards, and he has already won twice and had a runner-up finish in 2016. Rory McIlroy is eighth on the list at 309.9 yards.

It is interesting to note that Luke List, who led the way last year, has reined it back to 13^th place at 306.8 yards and, as a result, is having a better season. Rickie Fowler, another success story this season, has also found a few extra yards, averaging 301.8 yards.

Does scoring matter?

The real measure of form is average scoring. And you will NEVER guess who leads the scoring stakes in 2016. You get no prizes for guessing that Adam Scott rates highly in scoring. At 69.062 per round, he is second, with Rickie Fowler third on 69.521. And despite a couple of seriously poor rounds, Rory McIlroy comes next on 69.732. There is more good news for Europe, with Justin Rose averaging 69,913, tied with Kevin Kisner and just a tad behind Sergio Garcia.

But the man they all trail is a certain Phil Mickelson who, despite failing to land a title yet, has an average score of 69.008. It is further evidence that Mickelson is on the way back and may very well be the man to back for Augusta.

Spieth is 15^th with an average score of 70.053 in 2015 that figure was 68.938, just ahead of Jason Day, who has also tumbled down the scoring stats this year.

They say that tournaments and money are won on the greens. Brian Gay leads the field with 27.07 putts per round, with Steve Stricker second on 27.15. It may come as a surprise that Spieth is third on 27.45, just ahead of Mickelson. Spieth led the way last year with 27.82 but the fact is that he has missed many more greens this season (the stats prove it) and his ability from just off the putting surface means he has faced many more short putts in 2016.

The truth is that the statistics don’t lie.