WGC Mexico: Report cards for ten of the top PGA TOUR stars
By Bill Felber
Dustin Johnson became a 20-time tournament champion by bruising the field. Given his status as a former U.S. Open champion and world No. 3, Johnson has plenty of golf talent, and this week it was consistently on display. His worst round in Mexico City was a second-round 67.
On what for a person of Johnson’s surpassing talent passes for a normal round, he generally picks up about a third of a stroke on the field off the tee. That’s based on season Strokes Gained Data, which admittedly may not yet have fully formed. He holds his own approaching the green, and adds another third of a stroke putting. On the occasions when he misses a green, Johnson is usually at his best, holding a three-quarters of a stroke advantage on his competition in his recoveries.
When a player wins, he usually improves decisively in one or two of those areas, but Johnson went that generalization one better. Off the tee he picked up nearly a full stroke per round even on his season-long advantage, averaging 1.33 Strokes Gained. But it was in his approaches, usually a neutral facet of his game, where Johnson excelled in Mexico. His Strokes Gained advantage on the field amounted to nearly two strokes per round.
Finally he registered an average 2.12 Strokes Gained on the putting greens, boosting his normal performance another stroke and three-quarters per round. Since his normally competent chipping game was actually sub-par this week (-0.315), it would be inaccurate to say he played flawlessly. Then again, since Johnson hit 80.5 percent of his greens for the week – the tour average is about 67 percent — he didn’t have many recovery opportunities.