Interesting stat after Fed Ex Final… I guess it Irons for Dough

[holeintwo88]

Heard PGA tour radio talking about this yesterday morning, then saw a couple post this morning as well:

Total earnings (including FedEx Cup money) from the top 10 in each category on the PGA

Tour this year.

SG driving: $100.3M

SG approach: $135.4M

SG around the green: $45.5M

SG tee to green: $142.9M

SG putting: $57.3M

Drive for show. Flush irons for dough.

[Pingeye2_fan]

Just tells me that great ball striking can make up for average putting.

[northernpro]

I guess if a tour player hits 18 greens in regulation figures
but has 39 footers...his GIR look great but the dollars
don’t come in....just saying 😉😆

[luv2kruz]

I guess if a tour player hits 18 greens in regulation figures
but has 39 footers...his GIR look great but the dollars
don’t come in....just saying 😉😆

SG is a proximity based calculation. GIR is not. So, when a player has a high SG approach, it means he's hitting them in there tighter than anyone else. This will obviously lead to lower scores, even if that person is an average putter. This is why the SG methodology is very good at isolating which part of the game is producing the lower scores relative to the field.

[Lefty17]

Just tells me that great ball striking can make up for average putting.

Most great ball strikers are average or below average putters. Your numbers will rarely be good if you’re hitting 12-15 greens a round. Morikawa, Scheffler, Rory just need average putting weeks and they’re winning 6+ times a year. If you were a great putter to go along with the great ball striking you’d be winning 12 or more times a year.

[ProAc_Fan]

It would have been cool if they kept these sorts of analytics 50yrs ago. I'm curious what someone like Nicklaus would have looked like from an analytical standpoint. Was he a great putter or just better tee to green than his contemporaries?