Quote:
Originally Posted by Your Boss
Above is from the post I responded to.
Rory giving himself better chances at birdie (so, proximity) has nothing to do with why he was leading TW through the first two rounds. He hasn't hit it better in totality. He has hit more shots closer, but more shots further away as well.
TW has hit more fw's and more greens, but has made more bogies than Rory. And being that Rory has had so many more short birdie putts, but his proximity is almost the same as TW's, we can deduce that Rory is missing it in places further from the hole than Tiger. Rory is obviously getting it up and down a much higher percentage from places on average that are worse than where TW is hitting it. Because he chips and putts better right now.
NXT did the work above. Like him, I agree that Rory is playing better. I just don't think it's necessarily tee to green. His short game is just light years ahead of TW's right now.
So this digression of the first 36 holes is kind of overcome by events/clouded by today.
I just want to make sure I know how to use this whole strokes gained putting.
Honda Tiger is -.3. GOAT Tiger is .7, a difference of 1. So if Honda Tiger putt like GOAT Tiger he'd be -5, tied for 9th with Chalmers. Which is nice.
But we're not done. Honda Tiger hit one into a hazard, kind of like stroke and distance. That shouldn't really count. So if Honda Tiger putt like GOAT Tiger and didn't hit balls in the water, he'd be -7, joint 4th with Brian Harman. Oh yeah. That Brian Harman.
Well, it looks pretty grim. BUT. Tiger and Stevie were such a good team, and Stevie has always been especially good between 100-175 yards (he says that yardage reminds him the most about racing, and when he races, he is in it to win it). So that's like another 2/3 of a stroke a day-- and that's just with Stevie carrying the bag between 175-100 yds out.
So if Honda Tiger putted like GOAT Tiger, didn't hit balls in the water, and had Stevie on his bag, he'd be at -9, tied with Dobie Gillis, and looking up at Rory McIlroy.
Kewl.