5 Players Most Likely to Bounce Back After Poor 2015 PGA Tour Season
When taking a look at the players who underperformed (to varying degrees) during the 2015 PGA Tour season, there are a number of explanations for poor play.
In some cases, like Rory McIlroy's, injury played a substantial role. And sure, Rory won twice on tour in 2015, but the season, which McIlroy himself called "lost," has to be labeled a disappointment.
Thus, for some players on the list, a better 2016 is almost certain. Such is the case for Mr. McIlroy.
Here are five big-name players who ought to do better in the (already begun) 2015-2016 season.
Tiger Woods
1 of 5
Tiger Woods' 2014-2015 season never really got started. In the pantheon of TW's work on the tour, last year was atrocious. Woods missed the cut at three of the four majors and recorded just one top-10 finish. He fired a career-worst 85 at the Memorial Tournament and made just six of 11 cuts.
Perhaps even worse, Woods will spend his offseason recovering from back surgery and thus won't be practicing much before the new year. Not exactly the position he'd like to be in, to be sure.
And as he just stated in a press conference at the Bridgestone America's Golf Cup, an event he was slated to play before going on the DL: "Rehab will be soon, and it will be tedious and long."
It's difficult not to be cynical of Woods' prospects for the upcoming season. However, it's also difficult to imagine the former world No. 1 could play as poorly as he did in 2015, or that he'll suffer another flare up of the short-game issues that plagued him early in the season.
As Woods will continue to refine swing changes under Chris Como once he's able to, it's difficult to imagine he'll be as historically awful as he was in 2015. This isn't to say he'll win majors, or any tournaments at all, however.
Rory McIlroy
2 of 5
Yes, Rory McIlroy made 11 of 12 cuts on the PGA Tour in 2015 and won twice, but he missed the British Open with injury and was compromised by accumulated rust from the time off at the PGA Championship. Thus, McIlroy, who didn't win a major in 2015, was only firing on all cylinders for two of the four majors.
He also missed out on several starts with the injury.
You don't have to look at Rory's stats from 2015, although a look would tell you that his ball-striking was good and his work around the greens and putting was not so. Rather, it's reasonable to assume that he'll perform better in upcoming season if he stays healthy and has four good looks at winning a major championship.
An obvious point, perhaps, but nevertheless true.
Adam Scott
3 of 5
Adam Scott has the offseason to find a solution with the putter, now that he's abandoned the long putter for good. And we saw him experimenting at the Presidents Cup (to little success, true).
The Australian will find something that helps him putt at a passable level, and he has a little time to do so as we enter a slower portion of the year. He was 55th on tour in strokes gained: putting in 2014 using a long putter, which suggests that if he can find some functional adaptation of that stroke, he will do much better than his 158th-on-tour effort.
And at 16th on tour in greens in regulation and 35th in strokes gained: tee-to-green, Scott's long game is more than passable.
With a modest improvement with the flat-stick, and without the ability to yo-yo between long- and conventional-length putters like he did in 2015, the Australian will have a much better 2016 campaign.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Henrik Stenson
4 of 5
With the quality of his play from tee to green and the number of times he came close in 2015 (four second-place finishes), isn't it more than likely that Henrik Stenson will win this season?
Simply put, Henrik Stenson was the best golfer on the PGA Tour not to win a tournament in 2015. And he came absurdly close to winning, notching, as mentioned above, four second-place finishes.
Stenson, who tallied eight top-10 finishes in 16 starts, was brilliant statistically. He led the tour in greens in regulation, was second in strokes gained: tee-to-green, 16th in strokes gained: putting, first in strokes gained total, 11th in birdie average, fourth in scoring average and first in ball-striking.
Unless you believe he's somehow cursed to never win again, Stenson is a prime candidate for multiple victories in 2016.
Phil Mickelson
5 of 5
Phil Mickelson cobbled together a marginally better campaign in 2015 than 2014. He recorded 16 of 19 cuts with three top-10 finishes, as opposed to 16 of 21 cuts with just one top-10 in 2014.
Mickelson experienced a decline in ball-striking in 2015, struggling with his accuracy off the tee (161st on tour), which resulted in difficulty finding greens in regulation (177th on tour). Thus, he was 65th on tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green.
Mickelson fans should take heart in Phil's driving distance in 2015 (22nd on tour at 300.5 yards) and club head speed (22nd on tour). Thus, the raw materials are still there for Mickelson at 45. We'll assume he and coach Butch Harmon can get things sorted out.
And while a decline in putting and the short game is to be expected with age, the fact that Mickelson was vastly better just two years ago coupled with his legendary touch around the green, suggests that with a bit of fine tuning, he can get back to 2014 levels in that area.
Also, Mickelson will be motivated to practice hard and play well ahead of the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine in an attempt to secure a sport on the squad.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
