PGA Tour: The most dominant players of the West Coast Swing
By Bill Felber
The key to Xander Schauffele’s record was his come-from-behind victory at the Sentry TOC, the one premium tournament on the West Coast Swing. That was the one, you may recall, where he shot a flawless final round 62 to erase Gary Woodland’s five-stroke advantage.
His other three appearances all were solid, although in none of them did Schauffele actually threaten the eventual winners.
At the Farmers, he was a virtual model of consistency, with a 69 plus three rounds of 70 that brought him home at 279. That was good for a tie for 24th.
One week later at the Waste Management, he shot 274 and tied for 10th. This week at the Genesis, his 278 brought him home in a tie for 15th with nine other players, among them Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Tony Finau and Bryson deChambeau.
In composite, that doesn’t initially sound like a dominant resume. What must be kept in mind is that winning the Swing’s most important event – the TOC – counts heavily. The other thing in Schauffele’s statistical favor is that he consistently beat the four-round field average by around one-half a standard deviation or more. In this ultra-competitive tour environment, the player capable of delivering that sort of week-in performance is rare indeed.