This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
The PGA Tour goes to New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Here's this week's stats thread:
The Stat
Justin Rose is the defending champion and put together a nice statistical combination, going T3 in driving accuracy, 12th in driving distance, fourth in strokes gained-tee to green and 12th in strokes gained-putting. TPC Louisiana isn't a hard course -- around 20-under has won in recent years -- but you do have to be precise to avoid water and short-siding yourself. Put that together and you get strokes gained-total, the need for a complete game.
Here's the top five in that category playing this week:
Rickie Fowler - 2.239 strokes gained per round
Justin Rose - 1.601
Jason Day - 1.574
Marc Leishman - 1.276
David Toms - 1.107
Besides the Fowler and Day, who can be solid fantasy picks any week, let's focus on Rose. He's coming off a T10 at Augusta, which followed a T28 in Austin and T9 at Bay Hill. What's helping his strokes gained-total ranking is that he's eighth in strokes gained-tee to green, lifted by a sixth-place ranking in ball striking. That all adds up to being ninth in birdie average and fourth in scoring average. He's a solid choice this week.
The Field
The field includes Smylie Kaufman, B.H. An, Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley, K.J. Choi, Erik Compton, Sam Saunders, last week's winner Charley Hoffman, Billy Horschel, Danny Lee, Kyle Stanley, Mike Weir and more.
En route to victory last
The PGA Tour goes to New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Here's this week's stats thread:
The Stat
Justin Rose is the defending champion and put together a nice statistical combination, going T3 in driving accuracy, 12th in driving distance, fourth in strokes gained-tee to green and 12th in strokes gained-putting. TPC Louisiana isn't a hard course -- around 20-under has won in recent years -- but you do have to be precise to avoid water and short-siding yourself. Put that together and you get strokes gained-total, the need for a complete game.
Here's the top five in that category playing this week:
Rickie Fowler - 2.239 strokes gained per round
Justin Rose - 1.601
Jason Day - 1.574
Marc Leishman - 1.276
David Toms - 1.107
Besides the Fowler and Day, who can be solid fantasy picks any week, let's focus on Rose. He's coming off a T10 at Augusta, which followed a T28 in Austin and T9 at Bay Hill. What's helping his strokes gained-total ranking is that he's eighth in strokes gained-tee to green, lifted by a sixth-place ranking in ball striking. That all adds up to being ninth in birdie average and fourth in scoring average. He's a solid choice this week.
The Field
The field includes Smylie Kaufman, B.H. An, Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley, K.J. Choi, Erik Compton, Sam Saunders, last week's winner Charley Hoffman, Billy Horschel, Danny Lee, Kyle Stanley, Mike Weir and more.
En route to victory last week Hoffman he ranked 10th in strokes gained-tee to green and fourth in strokes gained-putting.
The Weather
Thunderstorms are expected Thursday with a two-day break in clouds before thunderstorms return Sunday. It could also be a tad breezy Friday-Sunday. And hot, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 80s.
Insight into Tiger Woods' Head
Read what he told Ron Green of Global Golf Post this week after opening the back nine at Bluejack National outside Houston:
"After setbacks following his first two back surgeries, Woods has said he will be more patient in this comeback. He is officially entered in the U.S. Open at Oakmont in June but it's possible he could play before then. He reiterated he does not have a specific target date to return. 'Eventually I'm going to have to get to a competitive environment,' Woods said. 'You can't just drop another ball. I have to be player A all the time. Player B is always better than A. I need to get to that point and feel that way again. The hard part is once I get in that competitive environment to have that patience and plod my way along. I can either play a lot more at home and get my playing sense back. But tournament golf is so much different than playing at home. I have to make those adjustments. And the only way to make those adjustments is to get out there in the heat and feel it.'"
I bring this up here because I think sometimes we forget that golfers coming off layoffs sometimes play their way back into form. Maybe it's schedule, maybe it's preference -- it's different for every player -- but a glimpse into each player's schedule and how they play coming off breaks can be a huge factor in determining if you should start them in fantasy. It gets overlooked sometimes, in my opinion.
