Here’s How Jordan Spieth Reacted To Tiger Woods Leading British Open

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Cameron Champ has quickly become known for more than his tee shots.   The 23-year-old rookie started the season by appearing on the cover of a golf magazine that was peddling the promise of longer drives. Then he started earning attention for his scores.   No one appeared on leaderboards more often than Champ this fall. He sat inside the top 10 after 13 of the last 16 rounds. He was 64 under par over that stretch.   He will start the New Year ranked sixth in the FedExCup. He is tied with Gary Woodland for the most top-10s this season (3).   At the start of the season, Champ would’ve considered it a success if he made all the cuts. He did much more than that. He won the Sanderson Farms Championship, finished T10 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and closed the fall with a sixth-place finish at The RSM Classic.   His worst finish in five fall starts was a T28 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, where he was in sixth place entering the final round.   He was most proud of the consistency he showed this fall.   Fifteen of his last 17 rounds were in the 60s. Eleven of them were 68 or lower, including a second-round 62 at Mayakoba. He leads the TOUR in birdies (117) and is second in birdie average (5.9 per round).   He had a chance to win The RSM Classic on Sunday despite struggling with his ball-striking.   “My putter really saved me this week. It’s been a good balance. Some weeks, my ball-striking has been great and I really haven’t putted well. And vice versa,� he said.   Champ excelled with both the longest and shortest clubs in his bag. He leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.48 per round) and could contend for the greatest single-season performance in that metric. But he also ranked 28th in Strokes Gained: Putting (+0.83 per round) this fall.   It’s a very small sample, but no player has ever combined such skill on the tee and off the greens. Even if Champ’s putting regresses as the season progresses, he could become the first player to average more than 1 stroke gained per round off the tee and 0.3 per round on the greens.   The advantage that his distance alone gives him should not be understated, though.   Only twice in the FedExCup era has the leader in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee failed to qualify for the TOUR Championship. Only once has the leader in that statistic failed to win.   The leader in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee has an average FedExCup ranking of 14 and averages 1.7 wins per season.   Bubba Watson is the current record-holder for single-season performance in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. He averaged 1.49 strokes gained per round in 2012, the year he won his first Masters.   There have been only eight seasons in which a player has averaged more than 1 stroke gained per round off the tee. Four players – Dustin Johnson (2016, ’17), Rory McIlroy (2012, ’14, ’16), Watson (’12, ’15) and Sergio Garcia (2005) – have achieved that feat.    Players who surpassed 1 stroke gained per round off the tee averaged 2.7 wins per season and a ranking of 4.3 in the FedExCup.   Last season, eight of the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee qualified for the TOUR Championship, as did 13 of the top 20 in that metric.   Let that sink in for a second. Nearly half of the players who qualified for the season finale were in the top 20 of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee when they arrived at East Lake.   Champ leads the PGA TOUR in driving distance (328.2 yards) while hitting 62 percent of his fairways. His driving accuracy almost equals the TOUR average this season (63 percent).   Mark Broadie, the inventor of the Strokes Gained statistics, calls Champ’s combination of distance and accuracy “remarkable.�   “The Strokes Gained that he loses from reduced accuracy is way more than compensated by his extra distance,� Broadie said.   Broadie has calculated that it takes approximately 3.4 strokes gained per round to win a PGA TOUR event. Champ covers nearly half of that with his tee shots alone. This fall, he gained nearly 2.4 strokes per round with his driving and putting.   “There are a lot of ways to get another 1 stroke per round to reach 3.4 per round,� Broadie said. “A hot putter, sinking one more putt per round, an approach shot or 2 to 4 feet instead of 14 feet, etc.�   Champ may not be able to keep up this unprecedented pace, but perhaps his putter should be mentioned alongside that other club that he is known for.

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Sean O’Hair/Steve Stricker Sean O’Hair and Steve Stricker birdied seven of their first eight holes en route to a 15-under 57. On the inward nine, the duo made birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 18. The team made eagle at the par-5 17th and Stricker chipped in from just off the green for the final birdie at the par-4 18th hole. O’Hair is making his seventh appearance in the QBE Shootout, having won with Kenny Perry in 2012. Stricker is playing for a 10th consecutive time and was a part of the 2009 winning team with Jerry Kelly. Stricker and Kelly finished second in last year’s QBE Shootout. O’Hair, a 4-time winner on the PGA TOUR, collected four top-10 finishes in the 2016-17 PGA TOUR Season. In his only 2017-18 start, he missed the cut at The RSM Classic. Stricker claimed six top-25 finishes in 13 starts in the 2016-17 season. With a 16-under 56 in round one last year, Stricker and Jerry Kelly led by a stroke over Harris English and Matt Kuchar. The first-round lead/co-lead at the QBE Shootout has held up 14 times. The last 18-hole leaders/co-leaders to hold on for the win was Jason Day and Cameron Tringale in 2014. Keegan Bradley/Brendan Steele 2011 QBE Shootout champions Keegan Bradley and Brendan Steele played their first eight holes in eight under, highlighted by an eagle-three at the first hole. On the inward nine, the pair birdied Nos. 11 and 13-17, good for a 14-under 58. Bradley and Steele have each won three events on the PGA TOUR. Most recently, Steele successfully defended his title at the Safeway Open in the 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season’s first event. Bradley is making his fourth start in the QBE Shootout, while Steele is making his third start in Naples. Matt Kuchar/Harris English 2013 and 2016 QBE Shootout champions Harris English and Matt Kuchar opened with a 9-under 63 in round one’s Scramble format. After round one last year, the pair was a stroke off the lead at 15-under 57. Since 2013, when the two first played together, their highest score was a 5-under 67 in round two of 2015. In 2013, the team won with a 34-under 182. Last year, they posted a 28-under 188 to beat Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker by a stroke. With a win this week, defending champions Matt Kuchar and Harris English would become the first team to win the QBE Shootout three times (2013, 2016). Miscellaneous Notes Founded by World Golf Hal of Fame Member Greg Norman in 1989, this week’s QBE Shootout marks the 29th playing of the event. Tiburon Golf Club at The Ritz-Carlton Resort in Naples, Fla. has now been home to the QBE Shootout for 17 consecutive years (2001).     The 2017 event marks the first under the title sponsorship of QBE Insurance Group, an industry leader in general insurance and reinsurance and headquartered in Sydney, Australia. The 12 two-person teams were selected on the following criteria: – Defending champions – The top 12 available players from the 2016-17 FedExCup points list – Ten special exemptions (a minimum of four come from the top 40 on the PGA TOUR career money list) Competitors in the 2017 QBE Shootout have combined for 104 victories (95 on the PGA TOUR and nine by Lexi Thompson on the LPGA Tour). Fifteen of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking are in this week’s QBE Shootout, highlighted by No. 15, Matt Kuchar. Two former FedExCup champions are among the 24-player field: Brandt Snedeker (2012) and Billy Horschel (2014). Paired this year with QBE Shootout rookie Tony Finau, Lexi Thompson is just the second woman to compete in the QBE Shootout. Annika Sorenstam teamed with Fred Couples in 2006. In round one, the team posted a 9-under 63.  The distinction for most individual top-5 finishes in the QBE Shootout (nine) is a three-way tie between tournament founder Greg Norman, Kenny Perry and Mark O’Meara. The team with the most top-five finishes in tournament history is Mark O’Meara and Curtis Strange. The pair collected five such finishes between 1989 and 1996, including a victory in the inaugural Shootout of 1989. There are six players making their first start in the QBE Shootout this week: Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Pat Perez, Russell Henley, Kyle Stanley and Shane Lowry. Eleven players have won the QBE Shootout in their first attempt: Mark O’Meara (1989), Curtis Strange (1989), Fred Couples (1990), Scott McCarron (1997), Hank Kuehne (2003), Rod Pampling (2006), Woody Austin (2007), Keegan Bradley (2011), Brendan Steele (2011), Harris English (2013) and Cameron Tringale (2014). 

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Welcome to Numbers to Know, where we’ll take a closer look at Dustin Johnson’s victory in the TOUR Championship and his first FedExCup. Here are the best stats from Johnson’s victory at East Lake Golf Club: 11: Dustin Johnson is the first player in 11 years (Tiger Woods) to win the FedExCup after arriving at East Lake as the top seed. 3: Johnson could become the third player to win the FedExCup, end the season at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and be voted PGA TOUR Player of the Year in the same season. Player of the Year, which is voted on by the players, will be announced later this year. Woods (2007, ’09) and Jordan Spieth (2015) also did it. 23: This was Johnson’s 23rd PGA TOUR victory, which ranks 27th all-time. 30: Johnson has won 30% of his starts since the Return to Golf (3 of 10). 6: This was Johnson’s sixth win in the FedExCup Playoffs, the most all-time. He also has the most top-fives (13) and top-10s (21) in Playoffs history. 4: Johnson has won three or more titles in four of the past five seasons. 12: Johnson has qualified for East Lake for 12 consecutive years, the longest active streak on TOUR. 6: Johnson has finished inside the top five in the FedExCup six times. 3: Johnson ranked third on TOUR this season in approach-shot proximity from the fairway. He also ranked third in approach-shot proximity from the rough. 4: Johnson held the 54-hole lead in his final four starts of the season. He finished second twice and won twice. Johnson shot 68 or lower in all four Sundays. The two times he was beaten – by Collin Morikawa at the PGA and Jon Rahm at the BMW — the winner shot 64 to pass him.

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