Webb Simpson's erratic course to victory at Hilton Head

There was no consistency to Webb Simpson’s game, but there was excellence

A dozen players stood within two strokes of the lead entering Sunday’s final round of the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island. How did one and only one of that dozen separate himself from the pack Sunday?

Webb Simpson shot 64 Sunday to win with a 72-hole score of 264, 22-under par. Although only the day’s third best round, it was best among that top tier of contenders. It backed up Simpson’s pair of Thursday-Friday 65s and his Saturday 68.

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Simpson’s Sunday advantage over his closest Sunday competition turned out to be two keys. One was an old standby, putting. He accumulated 1.581 Strokes Gained Putting Sunday, nearly four times greater than the average of the 11 who began play Sunday ahead o f or in close proximity with him. He had six one-putt greens, all six resulting in birdies.

But Simpson’s second big Sunday boost came from his exquisite iron play. Simpson amassed a 3.132 Strokes Gained Margin approaching greens, more than six times the average gain by his Sunday challengers. Only one of them, Abraham Ancer (3.257), was able to match or even approximate Simpson’s approach game at Harbor Town. And in contrast with Simpson, Ancer’s putter barely registered Sunday.

In a field where the average Sunday score of a top 10 finisher was 65.12, hitting scorching irons was an absolute pre-requisite to winning. Of the approach shots he hit on non-par 5s, 11 stopped within 20 feet of the hole. Simpson made four of those 11 putts. Put that together with his sweep of the par 5 birdie opportunities, toss in zero bogeys and you have a tough guy to beat.

Simpson’s advantages helped him overcome a balky driver Sunday. He registered -0.495 Strokes Gained Off The Tee Sunday, second worst among those who began Sunday play within two strokes.

But he and Daniel Berger – who shot 65 to tie for third – were the only two to record gains in excess of +1.50 Strokes Gained in two of the four major performance categories. And Berger’s gains – 1.606 in approach shots and 1.979 in recoveries – simply were not as cumulatively decisive as Simpson’s Beyond that Berger had the second worst putting day of any of the contenders, scoring -0.763 Strokes Gained on the greens.

Coming off a missed cut at Colonial, the victory capped a funky sort of statistical week for Simpson. Certainly there was no clear pattern to it. In fact the mechanics of his week-long performance could fairly be described as somewhere between random and erratic.

When he shot 65 on Thursday, he drove brilliantly, deriving a 1.619 stroke advantage on the field. His irons were also precise, giving him another 2.384 stroke advantage.

On Friday, he posted another 65, but in a far different mode. Simpson actually spotted the field nine-tenths of a stroke off the tee, and was also fractionally negative with his approach game. But his putter was enchanted, producing a breathtaking +6.008 Strokes Gained on the Greens.

On Saturday Simpson’s putter turned icy, costing him 1.388 strokes against the field. His driver and irons both behaved normally, the result being a 68, his worst round of the week.

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In other words, over his four days at Hilton Head Simpson went:

From brilliant to horrible to OK to pretty bad off the tee.
From great to sub-standard to average to sensational approaching greens.
From so-so to other-worldly to poor to great with the putter.

Fortunately for Simpson, golf is a counting game. Consistency of execution, while generally desirable, is not required…and sometimes — as with this week — not even needed.

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Webb Simpson’s erratic course to victory

By Bill Felber | Jun 22, 2020

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