Matt Kuchar leads Sony Open in Hawaii by 2 shots

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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• COURSE: Liberty National Golf Club, 7,328 yards, par 71. Built on the site of a former Hudson River landfill, the 2006 Tom Kite/Bob Cupp creation mixes spectacular views of the New York City skyline and Statue of Liberty with tricky crosswinds and demanding greens. It didn’t take long to attract the PGA TOUR, which lined up Liberty National for FedExCup Playoffs opener in 2009 and again in ‘13. The club was in line to stage THE NORTHERN TRUST this year, too, until being named as host for the Presidents Cup. Liberty National cost a reported $250 million to build, much going to site cleanup but including such amenities as a heliport, yacht services and cart paths of stone imported from Belgium. • SERIES: United States: 9 wins. International: 1 win. 1 tie.   • CHARITY: Net revenues are divided into equal shares that players and captains designate for charities or golf-related projects of their choice. The first 11 Presidents Cups generated more than $38 million in giving worldwide, impacting more than 450 outlets in 35 states and 15 nations. • U.S. ROSTER: Daniel Berger (1st Presidents Cup), Kevin Chappell (1st), Rickie Fowler (2nd), Charley Hoffman (1st), Dustin Johnson (3rd), Kevin Kisner (1st), Brooks Koepka (1st), Matt Kuchar (4th), Phil Mickelson (12th), Patrick Reed (2nd), Jordan Spieth (3rd), Justin Thomas (1st). Captain: Steve Stricker. • INTERNATIONAL ROSTER: Jason Day, Australia (4th Presidents Cup); Branden Grace, South Africa (3rd); Emiliano Grillo, Argentina (1st); Adam Hadwin, Canada (1st); Si Woo Kim, South Korea (1st); Anirban Lahiri, India (2nd); Marc Leishman, Australia (3rd); Hideki Matsyama, Japan (3rd); Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa (3rd); Charl Schwartzel, South Africa (4th); Adam Scott, Australia (8th); Jhonattan Vegas, Venezuela (1st). Captain: Nick Price, Zimbabwe. • TWO YEARS AGO: Bill Haas, named a captain’s pick by his father Jay, capped a seesaw Sunday with the winning point over home favorite Sangmoon Bae in a 15.5  to 14.5 triumph in South Korea. Team USA took a one-point lead into the final day and grabbed eight early leads in singles, but the Internationals turned several matches to raise the tension in the final hour. Chris Kirk’s poor chip at No. 18 left Lahiri with a chance to snatch the cup, facing a 5-foot birdie try. But Kirk drained a 16-foot birdie and Lahiri missed his attempt, giving Kirk the point instead. That left it to Haas vs. Bae, which also went to No. 18 with a chance at a halve that would leave the competition tied. But Bae, playing his last competitive golf before two years of mandatory military service, chunked a pitch shot from short of the green that ceded the match to Haas. Grace was 5-0 for the Internationals, teaming with Oosthuizen to sweep both foursomes and four-balls. • STORYLINES: Spieth, Thomas and Johnson, who arrived at the TOUR Championship 1-2-3 in the FedExCup standings, form the cornerstones of a deep U.S. lineup. That trio has amassed 12 wins in 2016-17, including two major titles. … By contrast, the International squad has combined for eight victories, with Matsuyama winning three times and Leishman twice. … It’s a banner year for first-time participants, with 10 players in all making their Presidents Cup debuts. Thomas is among six on the U.S. roster, though Koepka did compete at last year’s Ryder Cup. Kim, who won THE PLAYERS in May, heads a list of four International rookies. … A format change that helped produce the Sunday drama in Korea will remain in play this week. Each four-ball and foursomes session was reduced by one, now five on Thursday and Friday and four each in Saturday’s doubleheader. • SHORT CHIPS: Mickelson’s next match win will be his 24th, drawing him alongside Woods for the all-time U.S. lead. The only man to play in all 12 editions was named as a captain’s pick for the second time. … Tiger Woods will be one of Stricker’s assistants at Liberty National, having served similarly under Davis Love III at last year’s Ryder Cup. It’ll be Woods’ first golf-related appearance since his latest back surgery in April. • TELEVISION: Thursday, 1-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Friday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (GC). Saturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, noon-6 p.m. (NBC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: None. • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, noon-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM).

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