PGA – MY 2020 FRANKENGOLFER AND MASTERS 2021 PICKS
For those who may have followed my blog for the past several years, you know that I am late in submitting my annual Frankengolfer article. Each year, I filter through the stats from the prior year of the PGA Tour and piece together what I consider the perfect golfer (my Frankengolfer) in four major areas of the game.
I thought about not doing the column this year due to the pandemic. With so many cancelled events and postponements, I felt the stats may provide an incomplete picture of how the season really unfolded.
Still, as unorthodox as the 2019-2020 season was, the PGA Tour did manage to put a schedule together without fans and most players participated in one way or another.
So, that is my disclaimer as I present my 2020 Frankengolfer:
- Driving – PAUL CASEY
- The Greens – JUSTIN THOMAS
- Short Game – DENNY MCCARTHY
- Intangibles – DUSTIN JOHNSON
DRIVING –
During the 2019 season, Brendan Steele was the best in the Total Driving category (Distance + Accuracy). He was also the most accurate and farthest hitting Tour Pro in the last 20 years. His Driving Distance was 302.5 yards – (34 ranking) and Accuracy (68.71% – 22 ranking).
That gave Steele a 56-point total according to PGA Stats, incredibly low for the category. In fact, the next closest player ranked in this category was Gary Woodland with 92 points. Unfortunately, Steele’s accuracy slipped in 2020. He hit for 303.6 yards on average (38 ranking) but his accuracy fell to 59.93% (104 ranking).
During the 2020 season, the two best players in Total Driving had more yardage on average but less accuracy. The top player was Paul Casey. He averaged 307.2 yards on average (23 rank) and 63.60% accuracy (52). That was good for a 75-point total.
Very close behind him was John Rahm. He hit 307.6 yards on average off the tee with a 63.11% accuracy. The Spaniard also ranked fourth in the category of Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and third in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green.
These two players soared above the next closest player in this category and that was Jhonattan Vegas. He hit the ball 309 yards on average and had a 62% accuracy which helped him to ranking fifth in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. He is a very consistently good player with his driver, but if he just worked on the putter more, I think we’d see the 36-year-old Venezuelan more in contention in the future.
THE GREENS –
Just like in 2019, Justin Thomas was the best player in the world with his irons in 2020, ranking first in Stroke Gained: Approach the Green. With his .997 average in this category, he was almost exactly one shot better than the field with his iron play. (Or, if a 72-hole event, it would mean he picked up four shots against the field during that tournament.)
Thomas also impressed in the following other categories – second in Birdie or Better Percentage, fifth in Sand Save Percentage, first in Fairway Proximity, first in Approaches from 125-150 Yards, and second in Approaches From 200-225 Yards. All of which helped him rank second in Scoring Average (Actual), Birdie Average, Par Breakers and SG: Total, along with third in Scoring Average.
An honorable mention in this category is the 24-year-old Californian who turned pro in 2019, Collin Morikawa. This young man used his iron play prowess to have a breakout season in 2020.
All told, Morikawa played 21 events and won twice – at the Workday Charity Open and the PGA Championship, his first major. With a 6-under 64 at the PGA, that would become the lowest final round by a PGA champion in 25 years. Morikawa also finished second at the Charles Schwab Challenge and went on to finish sixth at the Tour Championship.
SHORT GAME –
This is beginning to look a lot like last year’s column… Denny McCarthy was also the third leg of my Frankengolfer in this category in 2019 gaining a .926 strokes per round average with his putter. And, once again, the young American from Maryland ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2020.
But, this past year, McCarthy bettered himself with an outstanding .988 average. According to Golf.com, this ranks as “the second-best putting season of the ShotLink era (since 2004)”, only behind Jason Day’s 1.13 average in 2016.
Another player who was outstanding last season with the flat stick was Ian Poulter, the 45-year-old Brit. In 13 events, he made 12 cuts, finished first in Putting Percentage, first in Putts Per Round (21 low total), fifth in Putting Average, and sixth in SG: Putting.
As an aside, it is well known that Poulter likes to try new putters all the time to keep his game fresh. But, this past week, he pulled off a masterful April Fool’s joke on the world went he posted a video announcing he switched to a belly putter with a claw grip...
INTANGIBLES –
Each year since 1990, the PGA Tour and the PGA of America have handed out separate awards for Player of the Year.
The difference being: the PGA Tour is voted on by its eligible membership; The PGA of America uses a season-long points-based system which gives extra weight for winning majors and the Players Championship.
Since 1992, both these awards have gone to the same player, except once. And so, 2020 being what it was… You guessed it – the awards went to two different players:
- PGA Tour POY – Dustin Johnson.
- PGA of America POY – Justin Thomas.
I think this was the right decision by the PGA Tour to vote D.J. as the POY instead of J.T.
The 2019-2020 season was incomplete, obviously due to the pandemic. There was no British Open or The Players Championship. The Masters and US Open were postponed until later in the year, after the official season was over. Plus, there were several other cancellations and logistical problems for players to get to Tour events. Some players tested positive for the coronavirus and had to take time off.
So, how can we use the same criteria to judge who the Player of the Year is when it comes to points and votes during an imbalanced, oddball season?
Look, both D.J. and J.T. had similar stats last season and were worthy of the award. Both won three times, both came in second twice and made the top 10 a bunch.
But what separated out Dustin Johnson’s season was his ability to win two tournaments in the FedEx Cup Championships, including the Tour Championship and take home the FedEx Cup.
While doing so, Johnson became the first player since Tiger Woods in 1999 to hold the 54-hole lead/co-lead in four consecutive starts (PGA Championship, Northern Trust, BMW Championship, Tour Championship). And, after five top-five finishes in the FedExCup in 11 previous seasons, Johnson claimed the FedExCup for the first time and won the TOUR Championship for his sixth career Playoffs title, the most of any player.
Finally, by winning a tournament in each of his 13 seasons consecutively, Johnson became only the fourth player to accomplish this feat (Nicklaus, Palmer and Woods are the other three.)
So, whether or not J.T. thinks he deserved it more (which he candidly admitted to a reporter on record), I think the PGA Tour made the right decision by honoring Dustin Johnson as the Player of the Year for his ability to win big at the right time and extend the prestige of what is blossoming into a hall of fame career.
INTERESTING NOTE: Tiger Woods has the most PGA of America and PGA Tour Player of the Year awards with 11 each. And, he won both these awards in the same year five years in a row (1999-2003) which no player has ever done before or since.
MASTERS 2021 PICKS
When I choose players to win a particular golf tournament, I always keep in mind who is playing well now. Of course, I’ll also look at the stats to determine which players games are well suited to certain conditions. But it doesn’t mean a hill of beans if the player doesn’t have a good feel for his game at the moment and/or has a nagging injury that could hold him back.
Keeping that standard in mind, here at the players I like to win the 2021 Masters. In no particular order:
JUSTIN THOMAS – It’s been an up and down season for this 27-year-old Louisville native. Within weeks of getting caught on camera uttering a homophobic slur at a golf tournament in January and losing sponsors as a result, Thomas’ beloved grandfather died and his friend and mentor, Tiger Woods, narrowly escaped tragedy when a car he was driving in California rolled over and crashed. Each of these events were deeply personal to J.T., and ones that required some form of self-reflection. Since then, Thomas’ golf game has persevered and prospered, culminating in his first win at The Players Championship last month… I have a feeling the best of J.T. is yet to come this season and it could be that he will have a green jacket on by the end of the weekend. His game is certainly good enough – he’s improved steadily at Augusta since 2016 when he T39. (2017-T22; 2018-T17; 2019-T12; 2020-T4.) Together with his upbeat attitude and growing maturity, this could be J.T.’s year.
JOHN RAHM – I really thought this 26-year-old Spaniard was a lock to win his first Masters last year. It didn’t happen, but he did well enough to complete his third straight top 10 finish at Augusta. The fact that he bounced back after a lackluster Saturday in 2020 and stayed in contention tells me that even when he feels a bit “off”, Rahm’s game is green jacket worthy. Looking at his season leading up to this year’s Masters, Rahm has played extremely well, finishing seven times in the top ten out of eleven tournaments played, including T-5 at the WGC two weeks ago… Beyond that, it feels like destiny is coming for Rahm. Like fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia who won his green jacket in 2017, Rahm’s personal life seems to be coming together with his professional life. Rahm and his wife welcomed into the world their first child, a baby boy, just about a week ago. Clearly on cloud nine, this event which he referred to as the “greatest day” of his life may come on the heels of another important event very soon: his first major win.
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU – The 27-year-old “Mad Scientist” is currently ranked first in the FedEx Cup standings for a reason: He’s had a great season so far, wining the US Open in September and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. He’s also had five Top 10 finishes and he tied for third at The Players just three weeks ago. As the world’s longest driver, it’s obvious this area of his game can be directly attributed to how many strokes he’s gained on the field. And the stats prove it. DeChambeau is ranked first in- SG: Off the Tee, SG: Tee to Green, SG: Total, Scoring Average and Going for the Green. As for only cracking the top twenty-five once at The Masters in four tries, I don’t think that’s a major red flag that this tinkerer can’t win at Augusta. He’s already proven the doubters wrong so many times- I don’t think he’ll stop doing that anytime soon.
SUNGJAE IM – When I first looked at this 23-year-old Korean’s stats for the season, I had to do a double-take. He’s played 18 tournaments since September and that’s with over a month’s break in December… So, I looked back to his prior years on Tour and realized that he competed in 61 events during the 2019 and 2020 seasons combined. All that experience helped him earn Rookie of the Year honors in 2019 and his first PGA Tour title at the Honda Classic in 2020… This kind of durability is not something to be taken lightly with a young person of such talents. Fellow tour players nicknamed Im “Iron Byron” (named after Byron Nelson, the godfather of the modern swing) for the consistency of his ball striking. “He’s one of the most consistent iron players I’ve seen out here and also has one of the best short games I’ve ever seen,” said PGA Tour veteran Harris English. “I can see him contending in a lot of majors, winning majors and playing out here for a long time.” This is why I am excited about this next-gen player and his chances at Augusta. Well, also for the fact that he almost beat Dustin Johnson last year during his Masters debut on the final Sunday. He posted a 15 under (66-70-68-69) that, according to Yahoo Sports, would have won him 80 of the 84 previous Masters if not for playing against Dustin Johnson who was just too good.
Source : PGA Tour Website
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://theladylovessports.com/contact.