Ranking the 10 Best 'Tee to Green' Players on the PGA Tour
From PGATour.com, the definition of the strokes gained tee to green is this: the per round average of strokes the player was better or worse than the field average on the same course and event, minus the strokes gained putting value.
Simplified a bit, the better the player is driving and hitting his irons, the higher he'll rank on the list.
The list doesn't favor bombers, necessarily, nor does it favor those who are the straightest drivers on tour.
But if you happen to be good in both of those areas, like Rory McIlroy is, then you''ll have a great chance to lead this category, as McIlroy does.
Check out the list that follows.
10. Graham DeLaet
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Graham DeLaet is one of the bombers on this list, averaging 303.4 yards per measured drive—14th best on the PGA Tour. He's 75th in driving accuracy but third in greens in regulation.
He was ninth in total driving and 12th in drives of 320 yards or longer during a season in which he had two runner-up finishes and made over $2.6 million.
All of those numbers combined to give him the 10th spot in the strokes gained tee to green category at 1.191.
9. Dustin Johnson
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While Dustin Johnson didn't play a full season in 2014 (he took a leave of absence at the end of July), he certainly amassed some pretty nice stats in the time he did play.
He was second in driving distance, 146th in driving accuracy, 21st in greens in regulation and 52nd in total driving.
Johnson can work the ball as well as anyone on tour, and he finished 28th in total driving efficiency.
His 1.212 average in the strokes gained tee to green, ranking him eighth on the PGA Tour.
8. Charl Schwartzel
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Charl Schwartzel is not a large human being at 5'11", 160 pounds.
But he drives the golf ball just under 300 yards—297.8 specifically—which ranks 30th on the PGA Tour.
What he hasn't done in recent times is get the ball in the fairway or on the green in regulation very often. He's 121st and 126th in those two categories.
Schwartzel did hammer 192 drives of more than 300 yards and was 54th in total driving.
His strokes gained tee to green average of 1.286 ranks him eighth in that category.
7. Bubba Watson
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Bubba Watson hits the ball far off the tee. Many times the ball doesn't go exactly where he intended it, but he just goes up to it and thrashes it again.
You would expect he would be in the leaders in the strokes gained tee to green category, and he is. His 1.322 average puts him seventh.
Some of his stats are eye-popping. Watson had the longest drive of the year, a 424-yard boomer at the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational. And he was first in drives of 320 yards and over (262), first in driving distance, 24th in greens in regulation and fifth in greens in regulation from other than the fairway.
He won twice in 2014, proving there's still a place on the PGA Tour for teeing it high and letting it fly.
6. Hideki Matsuyama
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This 22-year-old native of Japan had a breakout season in 2014, winning once and posting four top 10s. His win came in the Memorial Tournament, one of the biggest tournaments after the majors on the PGA Tour.
And what was pivotal in him taking the big step up? What he did between the tee box and the green.
He was 23rd in driving distance, 42nd in driving accuracy and 20th in greens in regulation.
All of that put him in the sixth spot on that strokes gained tee to green category with an average of 1.474.
Matsuyama seemed like he figured some things out last year and is off to a fairly quick start in the new season.
5. Adam Scott
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Watching Adam Scott swing a driver is like taking in an art form. It's something many professional golfers would like to imitate but aren't capable of doing.
The swing is not only a thing of beauty, but it's very productive as well. Scott was 13th in driving distance, 80th in driving accuracy, 10th in total driving and 10th in greens in regulation. That earned him a 1.503 average in the strokes gained tee to green category, fifth best on tour.
Obviously, he is one of the superstars of the game and a big reason for that is what he does between tee and green.
4. Justin Rose
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Justin Rose was top 50 in driving distance and greens in regulation in 2014.
He bombed 27.89 percent of his drives between 300-320 yards, making him a dangerous player who can make a lot of noise like he did in 2013 when he won the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club.
His strokes gained tee to green average of 1.505 ranked him fourth on the PGA Tour.
Rose won the Quicken Loans National but failed to win any other tournaments, thanks to a strokes gained putting average of minus-.038. His putting really held him back this year, and he will no doubt be spending a lot of time with the flat stick before 2015.
3. Jim Furyk
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Jim Furyk never has been and never will be a card-carrying member of the "bash it, go find it and bash it again" club.
He ranked 155th in driving distance, hitting the ball a shade under 280 yards on measured holes.
But he was fourth in driving accuracy and 12th in greens regulation, and those added up to him having a 1.684 strokes gained tee to green category.
Furyk had a spectacular 2014, finishing second four times and earning nearly $6 million, and he did it by keeping the ball on the fairways and greens.
And, even at age 44, playing that way will allow Furyk to remain relevant for years to come.
2. Sergio Garcia
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Sergio Garcia was 31st in total driving, 57th in driving distance and 73rd in driving accuracy in 2014.
Put them all together and they add up to him being ranked second in the strokes gained tee to green category—behind Rory McIlroy—with a 1.820 average.
The Spaniard's finish in that category is not all that surprising since he's been in the top 20 there since 2011, which happens to coincide with the resurgence of his game.
Known as a very creative player in his early years, Garcia seems to have realized that hitting fairways and greens makes the game just a little bit easier.
1. Rory McIlroy
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It should be no surprise Rory McIlroy was the best on the PGA Tour in 2014 in the tee to green category, leading it with an average of 1.933.
If you watched McIlory in mid-summer, when he sandwiched a World Golf Championship title with a pair of majors, you saw a display of of power and accuracy that was awesome. Nobody's game was even close to McIlroy's as he overpowered courses each time he teed it up.
Considering that the Northern Irishman didn't really start clicking until July, his being the leader in this category tells you how dominant he was in that stretch. McIlroy finished 108th in driving accuracy despite that hot stretch.
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