Who’s better since the restart than Daniel Berger?
By Bill Felber
Two questions in the wake of Daniel Berger’s victory at the AT&T Pro-Am That Wasn’t a Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Sunday.
1. Why are we still surprised when Berger wins?
2. Who, if anyone, has played better golf than Berger since the June restart?
Berger came from two strokes off the pace with a closing 65 to overtake Jordan Spieth, hold off Nate Lashley, and thwart Maverick McNealy’s late charge at the ATT. He did it with an occasionally spectacular round that included a pair of eagles and a back nine 32.
Berger entered the event standing 15th in the Official World Golf ranking, but let’s be honest: Since the Tour resumed activity in Fort Worth last June – with a Berger victory – you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of players who have outshone him.
In fact if you’re looking for a moderate longshot in one of this season’s Majors, Berger merits your consideration.
Compared with the game’s better-known stars — Koepka, Johnson, DeChambeau, Thomas, McIlroy, Rahm, Reed and Finau – Berger for some reason remains relatively unknown. He got little pre-tournament betting support last week.
https://progolfnow.com/2020/11/19/time-ranking-moved-2020/
But that takes us back to question 2: Who, if anybody, has played better golf than Berger since the June restart?
To determine the answer, we’ll measure the average standard deviation of each player’s finish in all of his tournaments since the restart…minimum of 10 starts. The player with the most negative standard deviation – golf being a game where low equals good – deserves to be recognized as the hottest.
From 10th to first, here are the 10 Tour stars with the best average standard deviations since the restart.