Remember when Tiger Woods was "purposefully" hitting sand shots into the bleachers at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open? Yeah, I remember. You do, too. It was back when scribes were breathlessly opining that Woods' short game would never return and he would be burdened with the yips forever.
Yeah, that feels like longer than three years ago.
Tiger's 2018 resurgence has been accompanied by a near-flawless short game that, while not reminiscent of his once-in-a-generation days back in the early 2000s, is still among the best in the world. In fact, a deep dive into his stats so far on the 2017-18 PGA Tour season reveal that Woods is seventh in strokes gained around the green and 32nd in putting.
When you add those two numbers together, we see that Woods is eighth in strokes gained combined around the green and with the putter. What this means is that Woods gains nearly a stroke per round on the field in those areas. That's insane, given where he was just a few seasons ago and how few tournaments he's played in the last couple of years.
Strokes gained around the green plus putting
- Jason Day: 2.06
- Branden Grace: 1.23
- Phil Mickelson: 1.19
- Johnson Wagner: 1.10
- Webb Simpson: 1.10
- Kevin Na: 1.00
- Peter Malnati: 0.94
- Tiger Woods: 0.90
These are not the only categories where Woods has found success. His game, which should not be as sharp as it has been coming off four back surgeries, has shined in various ways this season. He's No. 10 overall in strokes gained on the PGA Tour, and seven of the nine guys ahead of him have PGA Tour wins. Even if it doesn't seem like he's been super close to winning yet, the data proves that he has been.
- Strokes gained approach the green: 14th
- Strokes gained from tee to green: 15th
- Strokes gained overall: 10th
These are not the numbers a 42-year-old Woods easing back into the game should be posting!
The one place where he's struggled has been off the tee. Woods is No. 105 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained off the tee, and while he's been plenty long (No. 24 at 305.3 yards), his accuracy has lacked. Woods ranks No. 200 on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy and is hitting just 52 percent of fairways.
The numbers back up what I've seen with my eyes. Woods has been messy off the tee, although very strong with his irons recently. On the flip side, I'm continually astonished at Woods' touch around the greens when I've watched him this season. To wit, he only has one tournament in which he's been negative in strokes gained putting, and he's No. 4 on the PGA Tour in scrambling from the rough around the green.
Here are a few other interesting numbers I found when looking into Woods' 2018 statistical profile.
- Scoring average: 69.99 (13th)
- Club head speed: 121.6 MPH (8th)
- Approaches from greater than 200 yards: 48'4" (13th)
- Putting from 15-20 feet: 29.8 percent (6th)
- Round 3 scoring average: 68.6 (6th)
- Par 3 scoring average: 3.1 (131st)
Obviously the numbers only tell a part of the story, but it's still an interesting story. If (and this is a huge if) Woods can figure it out off the tee, he could move even higher than his current strokes gained overall ranking of 10th. That would likely mean a win or some near misses over the next few months as one of the more startling seasons Woods has ever had continues to unfold.
