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The golf stats that matter most on the PGA Tour

Consider, for a moment, Denny McCarthy. In the 2019-20 season, he was the strokes gained/putting champion of the PGA Tour , and almost became just the second person (after Jason Day) to average an entire stroke gained over the field per round. It was his second straight mythical putting title, and it’s not even a little hyperbolic to call him one of the greatest putters on Earth. That said, if you know anything about Denny McCarthy, you know he’s not one of the greatest players on Earth. In the two seasons when he led the PGA Tour in putting, he finished 111th and 73rd in the FedEx Cup standings and only managed six top-10s in 51 tournaments. There’s no doubt that he’s very good, but there’s also no doubt that in this case, his brilliant putting didn’t translate to superlative results.

Golf, like many sports, is fertile ground for folk wisdom. If you’ve spent time around a course, you’ve heard the expression “drive for show, putt for dough.” McCarthy’s case would cast some doubt on this formulation, but of course the 27-year-old is just one person and it would be a mistake to draw any statistical conclusions from the smallest possible sample size. Right or wrong, though, the “putt for dough” idea is attempting to answer a question of critical importance for players: Which skill matters the most? Which specific aspect of golf has the greatest correlation to sustained success? And which elements are less important than we think?

To search for the answer, I reached out to Rick Gehman, founder of RickRunGood.com and a Golf Digest contributor. There are a few brilliant numbers guys in golf, and he’s one of them. As expected, he took the concept and blew it out of the water. In his words:

I’ve attached a sheet that looks at the 130 official PGA Tour stats and compares them for the 2020 season FedEx Cup Regular Season Points. With only one year, and a shortened one at that, there’s going to be more randomness than usual BUT I think the list certainly passes the eye test.

Gehman’s method was what he called a “straightforward regression model,” in which two variables are compared to each other using 129 qualifying players. The steady variable is FedEx Cup points accrued by a player during the regular season, which was our metric for success (you could argue that total strokes-gained average is better, but I wanted to go by the PGA Tour’s own standard, albeit before the points blow up in the playoffs and skew the results). The second variable is the other 130 stats, with a ranking value assigned to each based on a player’s finish in the year-end standings. By finding out which ones have the closest correlation to each other, you can see which statistics might predict success.

In simpler words, this shows us what the best players did the best.

RELATED: The top 100 PGA Tour pros in 2021, ranked

Let me echo Gehman’s caution up top: With only an abbreviated season’s worth of data, there is bound to be some statistical noise, and to draw definite conclusions of any kind, you’d need to look at a years-long study.

With that said, the list can be found here . The higher the number, the more closely correlated the result is with FedEx Cup success. A few observations:

• As a quality control test, it’s good to see that “official money” and “Official World Golf Ranking” are the top two. Clearly, if these didn’t correlate with our concept of success, something would be seriously wrong.

• Of the comprehensive strokes-gained numbers, SG/approach the green is the most “important” to overall success. It’s the top stat after money and World Ranking, and it’s even above SG/total, which comes in fourth. That last fact is the least intuitive of the results and probably deserves closer inspection.

RELATED: What the sophisticated golf fan should be looking for in 2021

• The top six are: SG/approach the green, SG/off-the-tee, scoring average, SG/total, SG/around the green, and SG/tee-to-green. Again, this all stands to reason and functions as good quality control.

The saying "putt for dough" on the PGA Tour hasn't held up the last two seasons, as Denny McCarthy led both times in strokes gained/putting but finishing 111th and 76th on the FedEx Cup points list, respectively.

Gregory Shamus

• But you might have noticed something missing … where’s putting? Incredibly, SG/putting ranks 64th on the list, exactly at the halfway mark. It’s hard not to think of that number in relation to McCarthy, and while the warning above still has to be observed, it definitely raises some questions about the relative value of putting.

• Looking at the top of the list, there are a lot of stats like “birdie average” and “scoring average” that you’d expect. But when you start getting into highly specific stats, like driving distance and “approaches from > 200 yards” you see the putting categories appear only after several tee-to-green stats.

RELATED: 10 players who will make you money betting on them in 2021

• In particular, long approaches seem to be of some importance. Approaches from longer than 175 yards seem more correlated with success than anything on the green. Greens in regulation is hugely critical, coming in 16th.

• Scrambling matters, too. Not only is SG/around the green fifth overall, but scrambling itself (31st), sand-save percentage (35th), scrambling from the rough (44th) and scrambling from 10-20 yards (49th) are all relatively high.

• Interestingly, “consecutive cuts” finished dead last, one of only two stats with a negative correlation value. Clearly, in a system like the FedEx Cup where points are top heavy, consistency without at least sporadic excellence is a dubious merit.

• In the “Bryson was right” department, driving distance average (28th) is more closely correlated with success than driving-accuracy percentage (52nd).

• If you’re looking for a magic secret stat that perfectly predicts success, you’ll be disappointed. Personally, I was hoping that we’d somehow find out that all the best players were wizards from the left rough between 150-175 yards. Alas …

RELATED: 7 sleepers you need to watch in 2021

After reading Gehman’s list, I wanted to try one more approach that looked only at the top 30 players on tour from last season. It’s less scientific, but I thought it might be worthwhile. Luis Rivera at the PGA Tour helped immensely by providing me with a spreadsheet of the overall ranking in all the major strokes-gained categories from the top 30 in the 2020 FEC rankings. With these numbers, it was possible to do a quick and dirty check for success correlation.

A clutch putt from Mackenzie Hughes, something his stats show he's prone to do, at the BMW Championship earned him the last spot into the 2020 Tour Championship.

Stacy Revere

With fewer players, there will be outliers, and the data will necessarily be less precise. As an example, we can look at Mackenzie Hughes, who missed nine of his first 11 cuts, then made it all the way to the Tour Championship by virtue of catching fire late. He’s in the McCarthy vein, having finished eighth in putting but worse than 140th in the other major categories. Meanwhile, Hideki Matsuyama goes the other way, cleaning up from off the green but finishing a sad 170th in putting.

Here were the average season-ending rankings for each category among this group of 30:

SG/total : 29.7 SG:/tee-to-green : 41.47 SG/approach : 52.97 SG/off-the-tee : 53.67 SG/putting : 65.73 SG/around the green : 71.9

The similarity here is that putting is relatively low, and the biggest difference comes with “around the green,” which looks a lot less significant here. (Also, fans of strokes gained will be relieved to know that SG/total is No. 1 here, as you’d expect it to be.) Again, Gehman’s method is the more sophisticated metric, and should take precedence, but it’s interesting to see what changes and what doesn’t with a slightly different method.

The broad conclusion is that when you look at 2020, tee-to-green golf seems to be a more useful skill than putting. In the real world, a great player needs both, but we may want to get ahead of the curve and tweak that famous expression: Putt for show, do everything else for dough.

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How Much the Average PGA Tour Pro Won in 2021

• Author: Matt Newman

Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The average player on the PGA Tour in the 2021 season earned nearly $1.5 million for his work, according to PGA Tour stats.

The average player on the PGA Tour in the 2021 season earned a tidy $1,485,055 for his work, according to PGA Tour stats .

That’s the highest average for a single season since 2018 when the average PGA Tour pro earned $1,329,295. 

The PGA Tour money list is no longer officially recognized , per the AP's Doug Ferguson. The Tour is apparently now more about the FedEx Cup and its $15 million payout. The player that wins that is just about guaranteed to be the leading overall prize-money earner on Tour. For the purposes of this article, we're looking at only money won in official tournaments, not the FedEx Cup bonuses. 

The PGA Tour average money won first reached a million in the 2007 season. The average that year was $1,027,500 and Tiger Woods led everyone in earnings with $10,867,052. Woods, by the way, first led the Tour in earnings in 1997 when he made $2,066,833. The average that year was $223,748. 

Here are some more takeaways from the 2021 money list:

• Jon Rahm led the PGA Tour in the 2021 season with $7,705,933 won. He earned that in 22 events, including his victory at the U.S. Open . That’s an average of $350,269.68 per event.
• Louis Oosthuizen won the most money ($6,306,679, seventh overall) without winning an event.
• Other players in the Top 25 who did well without winning are Xander Schauffele (12th at $5,240,653); Scott Scheffler (19th at $4,505,589); Sungjae Im (22nd at $4,157,182) and Corey Conners (25th at $4,007,567).
• Brian Gay finished the lowest on the list of any player who won an event. The reigning Bermuda Championship winner was 135th on the money list and banked $916,158. 
• The most-bang-for-your-buck award goes to Bud Cauley. Because of injuries, he played just one event but made $100,650. That would have been No. 1 on the money list every year before 1963.
• Other players who made bank in just one start include Fred Funk ($9,000) and Retief Goosen ($6,810).
• Lee Westwood was the only player in the Top 30 who played less than 20 events. He made $3,435,368 in 19.
• Our fictional golfer Ben Par, the guy who makes par on every hole , would have been 183rd on the money list in 2021.

Louis Oosthuizen came oh-so-close to winning several times in 2021.

Peter van den Berg-USA TODAY Sports

Average PGA Tour Winnings Since 1980

Here is the average won on Tour every year since 1980:

2021: $1,485,055

2020: $1,015,708

2019: $1,225,318

2018: $1,329,295

2017: $1,240,264

2016: $1,174,342

2015: $1,159,903

2014: $1,109,625

2013: $989,414

2012: $1,031,772

2011: $994,741

2010: $1,027,475

2009: $982,478

2008: $1,030,370

2007: $1,027,500

2006: $946,214

2005: $884,799

2004: $871,596

2003: $838,052

2002: $764,064

2001: $646,505

2000:$609,994

1999: $390,919

1998: $274,000

1997: $223,748

1996: $181,817

1995: $175,211

1994: $172,000

1993: $158,344

1992: $153,853

1991: $146,780

1990: $148,720

1989: $137,629

1988: $114,072

1987: $104,922

1986: $83,578

1985: $73,791

1984: $65,402

1983: $58,339

1982: $45,515

1981: $39,542

1980: $38,660

All-time PGA Tour Money Winners

Here are the PGA Tour's leading money winners from today to 1934:

2021: John Rahm, $7,705,933 

2020: Justin Thomas, $7,344,040

2019: Brooks Koepka, $9,684,006

2018: Justin Thomas, $8,694,821

2017: Justin Thomas, $9,921,560

2016: Dustin Johnson, $9,365,185

2015: Jordan Spieth, $12,030,465

2014:  Rory McIlroy , $8,280,096

2013: Tiger Woods, $8,553,439

2012: Rory McIlroy, $8,047,952

2011: Luke Donald, $6,683,214

2010: Matt Kuchar, $4,910,477

2009: Tiger Woods, $10,508,163

2008: Vijay Singh, $6,601,094

2007: Tiger Woods, $10,867,052

2006: Tiger Woods, $9,941,563

2005: Tiger Woods, $10,628,024

2004: Vijay Singh, $10,905,166

2003: Vijay Singh, $7,573,907

2002: Tiger Woods, $6,912,625

2001: Tiger Woods, $5,687,777

2000: Tiger Woods, $9,188,321

1999: Tiger Woods, $6,616,585

1998: David Duval, $2,591,031

1997: Tiger Woods, $2,066,833

1996: Tom Lehman, $1,780,159

1995: Greg Norman, $1,654,959

1994: Nick Price, $1,499,927

1993: Nick Price, $1,478,557

1992: Fred Couples, $1,344,188

1991: Corey Pavin, $979,430

1990: Greg Norman, $1,165,477

1989: Tom Kite, $1,395,278

1988: Curtis Strange, $1,147,644

1987: Curtis Strange, $925,941

1986: Greg Norman, $653,296

1985: Curtis Strange, $542,321

1984: Tom Watson, $476,260

1983: Hal Sutton, $426,668

1982: Craig Stadler, $446,462

1981: Tom Kite, $375,699

1980:Tom Watson, $530,808

1979: Tom Watson, $462,636

1978:Tom Watson, $362,428

1977: Tom Watson, $310,653

1976:  Jack Nicklaus , $266,438

1975: Jack Nicklaus, $298,149

1974: Johnny Miller, $353,021

1973: Jack Nicklaus, $308,362

1972: Jack Nicklaus, $320,542

1971: Jack Nicklaus, $244,490

1970: Lee Trevino, $157,037

1969: Frank Beard, $164,707

1968: Billy Casper, $205,168

1967: Jack Nicklaus, $188,998

1966: Billy Casper, $121,944

1965: Jack Nicklaus, $140,752

1964: Jack Nicklaus, $113,284

1963: Arnold Palmer, $128,230

1962: Arnold Palmer, $81,448

1961: Gary Player, $64,540

1960: Arnold Palmer, $75,263

1959: Art Wall, $53,167

1958: Arnold Palmer, $42,607

1957: Dick Mayer, $65,835

1956: Ted Kroll, $72,835

1955: Julius Boros, $63,121

1954: Bob Toski, $65,819

1953: Lew Worsham, $34,002

1952: Julius Boros, $37,032

1951: Lloyd Mangrum, $26,088

1950: Sam Snead, $35,758

1949: Sam Snead, $31,593

1948: Ben Hogan, $32,112

1947: Jimmy Demaret, $27,936

1946: Ben Hogan, $42,556

1945: Byron Nelson, $63,335

1944: Byron Nelson, $37,967

1942: Ben Hogan, $13,143

1941: Ben Hogan, $18,358

1940: Ben Hogan, $10,655

1939: Henry Picard, $10,303

1938: Sam Snead, $19,534

1937: Harry Cooper, $14,138

1936: Horton Smith, $7,682

1935: Johnny Revolta, $9,543

1934: Paul Runyan, $6,767

PGA Tour purse payout percentages and distribution

The PGA Tour has a standard formula for payout percentages and distribution of its purse and prize money for almost every event. If there's a cut where 65 or more players make the final round or rounds of the tournament, there's standard table of payout percentages and distribution.

The winner of a PGA Tour event gets 18 percent of the purse. Typically, the second place player gets 10.8 percent of the total purse. Then it goes on like that, all the way down to 65th place, which gets 0.215 percent of the total purse.

There are a few situations where the PGA Tour doesn't follow its standard purse payout and distribution formula:

• If the field has no cut, then the winner still gets 18 percent, but the money that would typically be paid out all the way to 65th place is redistributed to the field, giving them more money
• If the field has a cut and more than 65 players make the weekend, the PGA Tour throws extra money into the purse to pay out to players who made the cut

Sample purses shown

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The Unreal Win Percentage of Tiger Woods That Puts Other Golfers to Shame

AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 12: Tiger Woods of the United States watches his tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the 2015 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 12, 2015, in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time. He has 82 PGA Tour and 15 major championship wins in his career so far. Meanwhile, earlier people used to consider golf as an old man’s and boring sport. But Tiger, with his incredible golfing skills and talent, caught the attention of people and popularized this sport. 

Soon after his debut in 1996, he became a global athlete and the face of this incredible sport. Moreover, his performance, especially from 2000 to 2010, was unfathomable. Hence, these 10 to 11 years were considered as Tiger’s era. He dominated almost every time he stepped onto the field. So let us have a look at an interesting stat of Tiger. 

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Tiger Woods’ wins percentage till 2021

Lou Stagner , a golf statistician, recently made a tweet showing the highest win percentage of golfers from 1983 to 2021 with a minimum of 100 events played. So Tiger Woods to date has an incredible 22.9 win percentage on the PGA Tour. He is miles ahead of other golfers, and there is absolutely no one even close to him. 

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Moreover, there is no other golfer who even has a 10-win percentage on the PGA Tour. Therefore, Tiger, with a 22.9 win percentage, shows the dominance he has had in his career with 82 PGA Tours and 15 major championship wins. Moreover, it also defines why he is considered to be the greatest golfer of all time. 

Tiger's win percent is "pretty good"… 😀 🐐 pic.twitter.com/VIRF90rw9O — Lou Stagner (Golf Stat Pro) (@LouStagner) November 27, 2021

Meanwhile, the next best golfer on this list is the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. He has a winning percentage of around 9.4, which is the second-best. There are plenty of players closer to him, with Dustin Johnson at 8.4%, Justin Thomas at 7.9%, and Phil Mickelson at 7.0%. 

Moreover, legendary players like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and others aren’t part of this list as they played most of their golf before 1983. But given their overall records, they could have easily given a tough fight to Woods. But since the actual stats aren’t available, it’s not fair to compare these players with Tiger.  

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PGA TOUR Player Stats 2024

• Statistics are updated nightly
• AGE : Current age of player
• EARNINGS : Official money won
• CUP : FedExCup Points
• EVNTS : Tournaments played
• RNDS : Rounds played
• CUTS : Cuts made
• TOP10 : Top 10 finishes
• WINS : Wins
• SCORE : Scoring average per round
• DDIS : Driving distance (in yards)
• DACC : Driving accuracy %
• GIR : Greens In Regulation %
• PUTTS : Putts per hole
• SAND : Save Percentage
• BIRDS : Birdies per round
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Who Holds The Record For The Lowest PGA Tour Scoring Average?

Tiger Woods holds the record for the lowest scoring average, and he has six full seasons better than anyone else has ever managed

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The list of the top scoring averages in PGA Tour history further underlines Tiger Woods’ dominance in the sport. 

The 15-time Major winner not only holds the record for the best adjusted scoring average ever on Tour, he also owns the top six spots on the list, with his 1999 (68.43), 2000 (67.79), 2002 (68.56), 2003 (68.41), 2007 (67.79) and 2009 (68.05) seasons.

Woods’ best scoring average year was his record-breaking 2000 season. 

In 2000, Woods won nine of the 20 tournaments he entered, including three of the four Majors (he completed the Tiger Slam at the 2021 Masters) and six consecutive PGA Tour events (the longest streak since Ben Hogan in 1948). He also broke or tied nine tournament records in his dominant 15-stroke US Open victory that year.

Every year, the PGA Tour hands out the Byron Nelson award to the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average.

The award was named after Nelson, who held the lowest actual (which differs from adjusted) PGA Tour scoring average record of 68.34 in 1945 for decades before Tiger Woods’ 68.17 in 2000.

Since 1980, scoring average has been weighted to take into account the stroke average of the rest of the field.

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Scottie Scheffler is the next best behind Woods in seventh place, after his incredible display of ball striking in the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season saw him put together an adjusted scoring average of 68.63.

The only other players not named Tiger Woods in the all-time top 10 are Vijay Singh in 2003 (68.65) and Rory McIlroy in 2022 (68.67).

Top 10 PGA Tour adjusted scoring averages

• 1. 67.79 — Tiger Woods, 2000
• 2. 67.79 — Tiger Woods, 2007
• 3. 68.05 — Tiger Woods, 2009
• 4. 68.41 — Tiger Woods, 2003
• 5. 68.43 — Tiger Woods, 1999
• 6. 68.56 — Tiger Woods, 2002
• 7. 68.63 — Scottie Scheffler, 2023
• 8. 68.65 — Vijay Singh, 2003
• 9. 68.66 — Tiger Woods, 2005
• 10. 68.67 — Rory McIlroy, 2022

Byron Nelson award winners

Tiger Woods is the only man to have beaten Scottie Scheffler's 2022-23 PGA Tour scoring average

• 2023 — Scottie Scheffler, 68.63
• 2022 — Rory McIlroy, 68.67
• 2021 — Jon Rahm, 69.30
• 2020 — Webb Simpson, 68.98
• 2019 — Rory McIlroy, 69.06
• 2018 — Dustin Johnson, 68.70
• 2017 — Jordan Spieth, 68.85
• 2016 — Dustin Johnson, 69.17
• 2015 — Jordan Spieth, 68.94
• 2014 — Rory McIlroy, 68.83
• 2013 — Steve Stricker, 68.95
• 2012 — Rory McIlroy, 68.87
• 2011 — Luke Donald, 68.86
• 2010 — Matt Kuchar, 69.61
• 2009 — Tiger Woods, 68.05
• 2008 — Sergio Garcia, 69.12
• 2007 — Tiger Woods, 67.79
• 2006 — Tiger Woods, 68.11
• 2005 — Tiger Woods, 68.66
• 2004 — Vijay Singh, 68.84
• 2003 — Tiger Woods, 68.41
• 2002 — Tiger Woods, 68.56
• 2001 — Tiger Woods, 68.81
• 2000 — Tiger Woods, 67.79
• 1999 — Tiger Woods, 68.43
• 1998 — David Duval, 69.13
• 1997 — Nick Price, 68.98
• 1996 — Tom Lehman, 69.32
• 1995 — Greg Norman, 69.06
• 1994 — Greg Norman, 68.81
• 1993 — Greg Norman, 68.90
• 1992 — Fred Couples, 69.38
• 1991 — Fred Couples, 69.59
• 1990 — Greg Norman, 69.10
• 1989 — Greg Norman, 69.49
• 1988 — Greg Norman, 69.38
• 1987 — David Frost, 70.09
• 1986 — Scott Hoch, 70.08
• 1985 — Don Pooley, 70.36
• 1984 — Calvin Peete, 70.56
• 1983 — Raymond Floyd, 70.61
• 1982 — Tom Kite, 70.21
• 1981 — Tom Kite, 69.80
• 1980 — Lee Trevino, 69.73

What is adjusted scoring average?

Adjusted scoring average, which takes the stroke average of the entire field into account, differs from actual scoring average, which is the mean average of a golfer’s strokes over the course of a season.

According to the PGA Tour, the adjusted scoring average is: “The weighted scoring average which takes the stroke average of the field into account. It is computed by adding a player's total strokes to an adjustment and dividing by the total rounds played. The adjustment is computed by determining the stroke average of the field for each round played. This average is subtracted from par to create an adjustment for each round. A player accumulates these adjustments for each round played. ”

The stat is basically a more accurate representation of scoring average as it takes into account the course, tournament and field.

Joel Kulasingham is freelance writer for Golf Monthly. He has worked as a sports reporter and editor in New Zealand for more than five years, covering a wide range of sports including golf, rugby and football. He moved to London in 2023 and writes for several publications in the UK and abroad. He is a life-long sports nut and has been obsessed with golf since first swinging a club at the age of 13. These days he spends most of his time watching, reading and writing about sports, and playing mediocre golf at courses around London.

The two-time Major winner announced her retirement last month and will bow out after this week's tournament in Texas

By Jonny Leighfield Published 17 April 24

Do you want to become a better iron player? These 10 expert tips will improve your ball striking and help you find more greens in regulation...

By Jo Taylor Published 17 April 24

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Just how often do Tour pros miss short putts? Here’s some context

Of all the differences between pro golfers and ams, the most acute may be what happens over a three-foot putt. Consider that from 2002-2005 Tiger Woods faced 1,540 putts from three feet — and made 1,536 of them. Most weekend warriors are happy to go nine holes without missing a bunny of similar length.

As lethal as that stretch was for Woods, it has become the standard on the PGA Tour. Pros convert three-footers (defined as longer than two, and up to three feet) at a rate of 99.4%. That’s almost the exact percentage of extra points that NFL kickers made — 99.3% — before the league decided the extra point was essentially a useless play and the line should be moved back (an argument for gimmes on Tour, I guess).

The way we consume numbers in sports varies greatly — as do our perceptions of makes and misses. How do missed putts translate to missed field goals or missed free throws? Did you know that MLB pitchers throw strikes (62%) at about the same rate  as NFL kickers make 57-yard field goals (62%) or Tour pros drain 7-foot putts (61%)? The 57-yard field goal certainly feels like the most impressive of the three feats, but the percentage is the same.

With enlightenment in mind, let me guide you a short way down the rabbit hole of Tour putting percentages (inspired by this Potters Putting post ) and their cross-sport equivalents. From now on, you’ll see kick-ins, soccer kicks and field goal kicks in a whole different light.

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PGA Tour percentage: 99.4%. Ice cold.

Context : As addressed above, this is slightly higher than the rate of old NFL extra points, which were made at such a high rate (99.3%) they were deemed useless and the league changed the rule.

PGA Tour percentage: 91.43%

Context : Landon Donovan, arguably the best sharpshooter in U.S. men’s soccer history, converted penalty kicks at a 93% rate . More context? Tiger Woods has gone on to win 93% of the time he has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead. And Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks led the NBA in free throw percentage, also at 93%. Steph Curry shooting free throws (at 91.6%) would provide a near-exact equivalent to Sungjae Im, the Tour’s most average four-foot putter (91.45%).

PGA Tour percentage: 80.72%. Here’s where it starts to get a little interesting.

Context : Penalty kicks in soccer are rarer, louder and generally of much greater consequence, but they’re converted at a similar percentage (82.2%) to your everyday five-footer on Tour.

PGA Tour percentage: 70.21%

Context : Drew Brees holds the NFL’s all-time record for career completion percentage among quarterbacks at 67.3%. I’m guessing most of you, dear readers, would rather face down a six-footer than complete an NFL pass — but I haven’t seen your putting strokes.

PGA Tour percentage: 60.6%

Context : Serena Williams, who made the Wimbledon final again this summer, has gotten 61% of her first serves in this year. Roger Federer is similar, at 62%. Of course, they’re hitting the ball a bit harder…

PGA Tour percentage: 52.86%

Context : Steven Adams was the worst free throw shooter in the NBA this season, staring down 292 tries from the line and converting 146, exactly half (50%). Bad news for Adams in his current profession, but if he did that on 8-foot putts, he’d be Tour-ready!

PGA Tour percentage: 46.38%

Context : Brooklyn Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris led the NBA in 3-point percentage   this year at 47.4% — not too shabby. But the wildest part of this point in the proceedings is that it takes this long for Tour pros to get under the 50% mark when putting. A coin toss from 8-9 feet should be all the reminder you need to keep practicing those shorties.

PGA Tour percentage: 41.25%

Context : Ted Williams was the most recent baseball player to hit the .400 mark for a season — and he did so with a .406 mark in 1941. Over the last 100 years, the highest single-season batting average belongs to Rogers Hornsby at .423. Both numbers are eye-popping now, some 78 years removed from a .400 hitter. There’s a little more variability in 10-footers on Tour, though. Consider that Jim Furyk has drained 19 of 27 (70.4%) from 10 feet this season.

PGA Tour percentage : 30.1%

Context : At last, to the rink! In the NHL, skaters make 29.4% of their shootout attempts. That’s a serious contrast to soccer’s PKs or NBA free throws — but it’s right in line with a mid-length putt.

PGA Tour percentage : 18.3%

Context : Now we’re starting to get deeper into longshot range. Since 2000, NFL kickers have made exactly 20 percent of their field goal attempts outside of 60 yards . Granted, a made 17-footer on Tour feels rather routine, while a 61-yard field goal feels like a triumph of mankind. But those stats don’t lie.

PGA Tour percentage : 12.47%

Context : In the last decade, NFL teams have converted onside kicks at just a 12 percent clip . That number dropped further last year after more restrictive rules were put in place. Either way, this is the comparison that seems most apt — in each case, the 25-footer or the onsides kick, you’re hitting the ball and hoping for a lucky roll.

PGA Tour percentage : 5.45%

Context : Yeah, I realize that “25+” is a bit vague, but that’s the way the Tour keeps their long-range stats. Either way, the chance of a Tour player making a bomb is most similar to the chance Albert Pujols, MLB’s active leader in career home runs, has of hitting one. Pujols has gone yard at a 6.18% clip over the course of his 650-homer career.

Earnings of a PGA Tour Caddy: Salary Plus Winnings

• DESCRIPTION Collin Morikawa and caddie Jonathan Jakovac
• SOURCE Chris Trotman/Getty Images Europe
• PERMISSION Getty Images license

One of the mysteries that surrounds the PGA Tour is how much caddies make. It was always considered a foregone conclusion that PGA Tour caddies earned a weekly salary plus 10 percent of their player's tournament winnings for that week. That's not necessarily the case anymore.

Let's take a look at some of the variables that surround caddies, earnings, and which caddies are most likely doing the best financially.

How Much Do Caddies Make?

A caddy's pay is a combination of a weekly stipend plus a percentage of a player's winnings . While every player/caddie agreement is different, generally speaking, most PGA Tour caddies make a base of between $1,500 and $3,000 per week. Based on a player's finish, a typical caddie rate is around 5% of the winnings for any finish outside the top 10. Players breaking into the top 10, but not winning, will share 6-8% of their prize with their caddies. Winning players may share up to 10% of the prize money with their caddy.

With any player/caddie agreement, terms are agreed upon which could include a caddie taking more for a weekly salary and less on the tournament earnings side. In addition, travel and hotel costs are negotiated and some players cover those costs for their caddie as well.

Caddies can also earn money from sponsorships. While not at the level of the player, caddies can make money by wearing a hat or a logo on their shirt sleeve that represent a company, most likely a club manufacturer or apparel brand.

How Pro's Select a Caddie

There are a number of different ways one is selected to be a caddie on the PGA Tour. More often than not, a pre-existing relationship exists with the player. The most likely relationships include a close friend, coach, or a caddie that has been on tour and is looking for a new employer.

Beyond those more common relationships, you also see siblings, spouses, and even lower-level professionals that haven't made in to the PGA Tour.

The Role of a Caddie Has Changed

For decades, the role of a caddie was pretty cut and dry. The caddie was in charge of carrying the bag, cleaning clubs, replacing divots, helping read putts, and scouting the course.

Today, a caddie tends to be so much more in addition to the above. We see caddies as very close members of a PGA Tour pro's inner circle. You'll even see caddies acting as crowd control for their player as well as their driver to and from the golf course.

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Time and Education Requirements

Most caddies work 30 weeks a year or less. This leaves almost 40 percent of the year free for them to pursue other jobs or enjoy their free time. There is little to no required education or experience needed to become a PGA Tour caddie, so many caddies are able to start working right after high school or college. What matters most is building up a reputation as a knowledgeable caddie

Which Caddies are Making the Most?

It's believed that Justin Thomas' former caddie, Jimmy Johnson, and Collin Morikawa's caddie, Jonathan Jakovac, were the highest earning caddies of 2021. Both are believed to have exceeded $500,000.

It should come as no surprise that Steve Williams, longtime caddie to Tiger Woods, has earned the most of any caddie all-time. It is believed that Williams earned over $12 million on Tiger's bag.

PGA Caddies' Salaries Revealed — How Much Do They Really Make?

PGA caddies get a weekly salary, but that's not all — they also get a cut of their golfer's winnings. So, how much do caddies really make on tour?

Apr. 6 2022, Published 1:10 p.m. ET

The PGA is the organizer of the main professional golf tournaments played by men in the U.S. While the pro golfers are the stars of the sport, their caddies sometimes steal the spotlight.

Tiger Woods ' caddie Joe LaCava has been with the pro since 2011, and before that, his caddie Steve Williams was a household name for die-hard fans of the sport.

So, how much do these assistants on the green really make?

How much do PGA caddies make? Depends on how good their golfer is.

Tiger Woods with former caddie Steve Williams.

Caddies do more than just carry a golfer's equipment around. They're also responsible for giving professionals the distances to the hole, raking bunkers, and replacing divots – anything to ensure the golfer just has to worry about putting the ball in the hole.

According to Top Rank Golf, caddies make a base salary of $1,500–$3,000 per tournament. Along with a salary, caddies also make a percentage of winnings — 10 percent for a win, 7 percent for a top-10 finish, and 5 percent for anything else.

To put that in perspective, Justin Thomas' caddie Jimmy Johnson made an estimated $270,000 in 2021, while Phil Mickelson's caddie, Tim, who happens to also be his brother, made a reported $216,000.

"Every caddie gets a weekly paycheck, no matter where his player finishes," former caddie and ESPN analyst Michael Collins told Insider . "If the player misses the cut, the caddie still has to get a paycheck because the caddie pays for all of his own expenses — airfare, hotel, car, food, all of it."

Hoping for a ton of these this week. pic.twitter.com/ztglLUO1e4 — Tim Mickelson (@goodwalkspoiled) July 13, 2021

He continued, "No caddie and player has the same deal. Everyone negotiates themselves."

This means that the better their golfer is, the more the caddie makes.

The highest-earning caddie of 2021 made over $500,000.

Justin Thomas and his caddie Jimmy Johnson.

Based on the performances of pro golfers, these were the richest caddies of 2021 (via Sporting Free ):

Most of the caddies listed made a base salary of $120,000.

Overall, in the history of the sport, Tiger Woods' caddie Steve Williams is one of the wealthiest, with a net worth estimated at $20 million, earning $1.27 million in 2006 alone.

He was fired by Woods in 2011 after he caddied for his friend and golfer Adam Scott. "I didn’t think that we’d have no communication for the rest of our life," Williams said in the HBO documentary Tiger . “That just didn’t even enter my mind."

Mike "Fluff" Cowan recounted his first paid gig as a caddie, earning $20 a day and 3 percent of earnings. Today, Cowan is Jim Furyk's caddie and is worth $1.5 million.

Long story short, caddies have definitely come a long way in the sport.

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How much do caddies make at the Masters? Here's how their pay at the PGA tournament works.

By Khristopher J. Brooks

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: April 11, 2024 / 3:54 PM EDT / CBS News

Being a caddie at the Masters is an entirely different experience than doing the job anywhere else — just ask Ken Martin.

"Caddies are treated really great at Augusta," said Martin, who caddied for Scottish golfer Sandy Lyle at the major tournament last year. "We had our own locker room. They feed us just wonderful food — the best food I've ever had really. But it's a long week. You have to be fit to get around that hilly course."

Some of the biggest names in professional golf, including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, will converge on the famously hilly course Thursday to compete in the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Golfers are playing for a multimillion dollar cash prize and the chance to don the coveted green jacket for a year.

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Much of this year's attention will be on the cash prize the winning golfer will receive at this year's tournament. The purse for the 2023 Masters totaled $18 million, which was $3 million more than the purse the year before — the largest year-over-year increase in tournament history. Of that total, 2023 winner Jon Rahm took home $3.24 million .

But players aren't the only ones in line for a big payout. The winner's caddie can easily go home with a six-figure paycheck after four days of work. But snagging the four-day gig is the culmination of years spent working one-on-one with the same professional golfer, Martin said. 

Caddies develop a strong friendship with a golfer long before it's time for an elite competition like the Masters, Martin said. Fans seated in the stands, as well those watching at home, can only see the caddie handing the player a club, but in reality, there's a constant back-and-forth communication taking place between golfer and caddie during commercial breaks and while the two are walking to the next hole, he explained. Martin, who played professionally from 1982 to 2015, now teaches the sport at Keiser University in Florida. 

Aside from carrying the heavy bag, the caddie also provides input on which club to use, as well as swing technique, Martin said. That's because most caddies working PGA Tour games  are former professional players with a wealth of knowledge on the game. 

But technique is only a small part of the exchange, he added. With a strong camaraderie forged over the years, it's very likely the two spend most of time chatting like old friends, he said. 

"It's boring to talk about only golf for four to six hours," Martin said. "You're out there for a long time together so the friendship part of it plays a larger role." 

How much do caddies make at the Masters?

Caddies like Martin earn a salary from two sources during the Masters. One part is a weekly wage between $2,000 and $4,000 depending on the caddie's experience, the Association of Professional Caddies and the Caddies Network told CBS MoneyWatch. The weekly wage helps caddies recoup financially because they're required to pay their own travel to Georgia, along with hotel and food while working the tournament. 

Caddies also get a percentage of whatever their player earns after the tournament ends. The caddie of the Master's winner will get 10% of the prize money. For context, Jon Rahm won the Masters' last year and got $3.24 million. 

The caddie for the runner up at the Masters will get 7% of that player's prize winnings; every caddie after that will get 5%. 

Caddies Network CEO John von Stade told CBS MoneyWatch there are rare occasions when a caddie has a private contract with the player, in which case that person's salary will not follow the traditional setup. 

Over the past five years, caddie have seen some positive changes. PGA Tour officials have increased caddies' weekly wages and players' prize money has also climbed — potentially giving caddies a chance to bring home six figures after a tournament.

"But what hasn't changed is, if your player doesn't make the cut, there is no other source of money other than the weekly fee," von Stade said. 

Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. He previously worked as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union. His reporting primarily focuses on the U.S. housing market, the business of sports and bankruptcy.

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By the numbers: Approach play indicative of Masters success

Stats Report

Augusta National's reputation as a ‘second shot’ golf course is fortified with a deep dive into the stats

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The best wedge shots of Jordan Spieth’s career

For decades, players and fans alike have shared the colloquialisms common with Augusta National strategy. From the hilly terrain to the nuanced putting surfaces, “missing it in the right place,” and all points in-between.

In recent years, the advent of Strokes Gained and its application in the major championships have provided a deeper understanding of what is required to win. That includes at Augusta National, where analytics have helped supplement the recent on-course stories played out by the world’s best.

Its reputation as a ‘second shot’ golf course becomes even more fortified with a deep dive into the numbers.

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In order to best explain the significance of approach play at the Masters, the story begins with what players don’t have to worry about off the tee: rough.

Annually, Augusta National yields the lowest penalty for missing fairways among major Tour venues around the world. Consider the rate at which players make birdie or better on certain holes across the last 10 Masters. On seven of 14 holes (par 4s and 5s), there is a difference of less than 10% in birdie-or-better rate depending on whether or not a player hits the fairway. For example, at the fifth hole, players who hit the fairway make birdie or better 8.7% of the time. Players who miss the fairway, 4.7%.

Since 2010, players to finish in the top 10 at the Masters have averaged 9.6 fairways hit per round. Every other finisher at Augusta in that span has averaged almost the same total: 9.5. So while nobody wants to be stuck behind a pine tree, the numbers say that accuracy off the tee isn’t a significant advantage at the season’s first major.

Approach Play Paramount

In any given PGA TOUR season, a look at the Strokes Gained: Approach leaders often closely resembles the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. Six of the top-12 in this week’s OWGR are also ranked 12th or better in Strokes Gained: Approach per round this season on TOUR. That is to say, strong iron play is a prerequisite for great golf almost all the time.

That is even more true at Augusta National, where five of the last seven champions have ranked top-five in the field that week in Strokes Gained: Approach. Jordan Spieth leads all players in that statistic since 2015, averaging 1.17 Strokes Gained: Approach per round. It’s no coincidence that he’s also the leader in cumulative score to par (45-under) and birdies-or-better (141) in that same stretch.

Over the last eight PGA TOUR seasons, tournament winners have gained 35.4% of their strokes against the field with their approach play, the highest percentage of the four Strokes Gained disciplines (Off-the-Tee, Around-the-Green and Putting being the others). At the Masters in that span, that number is a bit higher, 36.0%. While this doesn’t seem like an enormous gap, the margin at which the best iron players can separate themselves from the pack is clearly larger at Augusta than at the typical PGA TOUR venue.

How about the more traditional metric of greens in regulation? Since 2012, nine of 10 Masters winners have ranked inside the top-seven that week in greens in regulation, averaging a stout 73.6%. The field average in that span is 61.3%. For the winners of every other PGA TOUR event in that span, the average GIR rate is 74.1% - not quite as high an advantage over the field (about 66%). There have been 10 Masters victories by three or more strokes since 1996. All 10 of those champions ranked sixth or better for the tournament in greens hit, with four of them leading the field outright.

The Greens at Augusta National

How does the significance of approach play compare to putting? Again, the margins are small, but they add up quickly when it comes to determining who wins the Green Jacket.

For the last seven winners (as far back as the data goes), 33.6% of the strokes gained by tournament winners have come on the greens, a bit less than on approach (36.0%). In seven of those 28 rounds, winners have had negative Strokes Gained: Putting. That is only the case for five rounds when it comes to approach play. Five of the last six Masters winners have ranked outside the top-five that week in Strokes Gained: Putting; only two have done so in Strokes Gained: Approach.

The four players with the most Strokes Gained: Putting per round at the Masters since 2015 are Rickie Fowler (+1.60), Russell Henley (+1.47), Matt Fitzpatrick (+0.85) and Justin Rose (+0.82).

Tiger Woods’ 2019 Triumph

Three years ago, Tiger Woods won his fifth Masters title thanks to a week of exquisite, vintage approach play.

Woods hit more than 80% of his greens in regulation, most of any player in the field and the most by an April Masters champion since Tiger himself 18 years prior. He also led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach, gaining more than a full stroke in Rounds 1, 2 and 3, and a whopping 2.87 on Sunday. In all, more than 57% of Woods’ total strokes gained against the field for the week came from his approaches.

Whoever authors their winning Masters story this week will likely follow a similar formula.

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2024 Corales Puntacana Championship odds: Surprising PGA picks, predictions from model that's called 11 majors

Sportsline's proven model simulated the corales puntacana championship 2024 10,000 times and revealed its pga golf picks.

The seventh PGA Tour iteration of the Corales Puntacana Championship will begin on Thursday at Corales Golf Club in the Dominican Republic. The first two years of the event were played as Web.com Tour tournaments, but it was elevated to the PGA Tour beginning in 2018. Defending champion Matt Wallace is not in the 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship field, but Nicolai Hojgaard is returning after a runner-up finish last year. Hojgaard turned heads at the Masters last week when he was briefly tied for the lead in the third round.

However, Alex Noren is the 12-1 favorite in the 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship odds, followed by Hojgaard (14-1) and Billy Horschel (20-1). There are only four golfers listed inside of 30-1 on the PGA odds board, so are there any longshots you should target with your 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship bets? Before locking in your 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship picks, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine .

Our proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up almost $10,000 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.

McClure's model correctly predicted Scottie Scheffler would finish on top of the leaderboard at the 2024 Masters, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players Championship this season. McClure also included Hideki Matsuyama in his best bets to win the 2024 Genesis Invitational. That bet hit at +9000, and for the entire tournament, McClure's best bets returned nearly $1,000.

The model also predicted Jon Rahm would be victorious at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and The American Express. At the 2023 Masters, the model was all over Rahm's second career major victory heading into the weekend. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the third round, but the model still projected him as the winner. It was the second straight Masters win for the model, which also nailed Scheffler winning in 2022.

In addition, McClure's best bets included Nick Taylor (70-1) winning the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, Jason Day (17-1) winning outright at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, and Rickie Fowler (14-1) finishing on top of the leaderboard at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic.

This same model has also nailed a whopping 11 majors entering the weekend and hit the Masters three straight years. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.

Now that the Corales Puntacana Championship 2024 field is finalized, SportsLine simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard .

Top 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship predictions 

One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship: Noren, who is the favorite has finished inside the top 20 in four straight PGA tournaments, struggles this week and barely cracks the top five. Noren played in his first PGA Tour event in 2008, and he has played in 171 PGA tournaments overall. However, he is still seeking his first victory, so it is difficult to justify his position as the favorite on the odds board this week.

Noren has struggled with his driver this season, ranked outside the top 100 in total driving and driving distance. He also sits outside the top 150 on the PGA Tour in putting average and one-putt percentage, so he would need to make drastic improvements during all four rounds this week. While this is a weaker field due to the RBC Heritage, the model has identified better golfers to back in the Dominican Republic. 

Another surprise: Victor Perez, a 35-1 longshot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. The Frenchman finished inside the top 15 at the PGA Championship last year before making the cut at the Open Championship during a successful 2023 season.

Perez has seven professional wins, including three on the European Tour, and he is still seeking his first PGA Tour victory. The 31-year-old finished T3 in the Puerto Rico Open last month before cracking the top 20 at the Texas Children's Houston Open. He has proven he can beat up on weak fields and he ranks fourth on the PGA Tour in GIR percentage (71.8), making him an excellent longshot pick this week.  See who else to pick here . 

How to make 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship picks

The model is also targeting five other golfers with odds of 30-1 or longer to make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these longshots could hit it big. You can only see the model's picks here .

Who will win the 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Check out the Corales Puntacana Championship 2024 odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected Corales Puntacana Championship leaderboard , all from the model that's nailed 11 golf majors, including the last three Masters.

2024 Corales Puntacana Championship odds, field

Get full 2024 Corales Puntacana Championship picks, best bets, and predictions here .

Alex Noren +1200 Nicolai Hojgaard +1400 Billy Horschel +2000 Aaron Rai +2200 Nate Lashley +3000 Ben Martin +3500 Mark Hubbard +3500 Kevin Yu +3500 Doug Ghim +3500 Davis Thompson +3500 Daniel Berger +3500 Victor Perez +3500 Ben Griffin +4000 K.H. Lee +4000 Bud Cauley +4000 Sam Stevens +4500 Sam Ryder +4500 Justin Lower +4500 Jhonattan Vegas +4500 Thriston Lawrence +4500 S.H. Kim +5000 Joseph Bramlett +5000 Joel Dahmen +5000 Garrick Higgo +5000 Nick Hardy +5500 Max Greyserman +5500 Matt Kuchar +5500 Justin Suh +5500 Greyson Sigg +5500 Chan Kim +5500 Alex Fitzpatrick +6000 Michael Kim +6000 Matti Schmid +6000 Jimmy Stanger +6000 Carl Yuan +6000 Tyler Duncan +6000 Taylor Pendrith +6000 Peter Kuest +6500 Jacob Bridgeman +6500 Chad Ramey +6500 Ben Silverman +7000 Chris Gotterup +7000 Kevin Dougherty +7500 Alex Smalley +8000 Rico Hoey +8000 Joe Highsmith +8000 Hayden Springer +8000 Charley Hoffman +8000 Austin Smotherman +9000 Parker Coody +9000 Martin Trainer +9000

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Rbc heritage 2024 odds, course history and picks to win, share this article.

Anyone else feel a bit hungover after last week’s Masters? Tough to have a signature event follow up the year’s first major championship, but here we are. The PGA Tour’s best players have made the short journey to Hilton Head, South Carolina, for the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who tied for 22nd at Augusta National, headlines the field and is joined by two-time Green Jacket winner and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris, Ludvig Aberg and Patrick Cantlay.

Scheffler has made just one start at Harbour Town, tying for 11th in 2023. It’s tough to see anyone beating this man at the moment, but we’ll try to find a few other guys worth betting on.

Golf course

Harbour Town Golf Links | Par 71 | 7,213 yards

Course history

Course history at Harbour Town for the #RBCHeritage going back to 2015. -Includes average finish position and Strokes Gained per round. Players are sorted by SG: Total. -15th most predictive annual course on Tour. -Happy "Patrick Cantlay Top 5 Week!" -2023, 2022, and 2020 are… pic.twitter.com/57iENzbuV9 — Ron Klos (@PGASplits101) April 15, 2024

Betting odds

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Picks to win

Shane lowry (35/1).

Shane Lowry reacts to his putt on No. 11 during the third round of the 2024 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network)

Lowry didn’t have a great week at Augusta National, eventually tying for 43rd. However, in his three previous starts before the Masters, the Irishman finished T-19 (Players), 3rd (Arnold Palmer Invitational) and T-4 (Cognizant Classic).

A tie for 67th was a disappointing result for Lowry at last year’s RBC Heritage, but he still boasts a solid course history with three top-10 finishes since 2019 (four starts, two T-3s).

Around Harbour Town, driving the ball well is crucial. Lowry ranks first in fairways in regulation and fifth in good-drive percentage.

Note: Lowry opened at 60/1 and is already down to 35/1. People love him this week (which does scare me a little).

Denny McCarthy (45/1)

Denny McCarthy makes a club selection before hitting out of the trees on No. 2 during the first round of the Masters Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Network

McCarthy had a disappointing finish to his week at the Valero Texas Open, losing in a playoff to Akshay Bhatia . However, Harbour Town feels like a great rebound spot for the 31-year-old who is still looking for his first win on Tour.

He’s made the cut in three straight appearances at the RBC Heritage, highlighted by a T-13 performance in 2021 and a T-25 outing last year.

Cam Davis (50/1)

Cameron Davis hits out of a bunker on No. 2 during the first round of the 2024 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network)

Over his last four starts, Davis has finished T-18 (Arnold Palmer Invitational), T-21 (Texas Children’s Houston Open) and T-12 (Masters). He’s trending and heading to a golf course where he’s seen plenty of success.

At his RBC Heritage debut, the Aussie tied for 25th. A year later, in 2022, Davis tied for third. And in 2023, he tied for seventh.

Lucas Glover (55/1)

Lucas Glover plays his shot from the fourth tee during the first round of the Masters Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Glover hasn’t finished inside the top 20 at the RBC Heritage since 2015, but I’m going with feel on this one.

After a disappointing start to his season, Glover has posted finishes of 11th (Valspar Championship), T-25 (Valero Texas Open) and T-20 (Masters) in his last three starts.

He’s ranked sixth in fairways in regulation, 24th in good-drive percentage and ninth in Strokes Gained: Approach.

If the putter and short game cooperate, I expect Glover to have a good week.

Taylor Moore (60/1)

Taylor Moore reacts after holing out his shot on the second hole during the second round of the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Network)

Moore has been incredibly consistent in 2024. In 10 starts, he’s made the weekend 10 times, finished inside the top 25 four times and the top 10 once.

In his last three starts, Moore has finished T-12 (Valspar Championship), T-2 (Texas Children’s Houston Open) and T-20 (Masters).

In his lone appearance in the RBC Heritage (2023, signature event), Moore tied for 11th.

Check out the best equipment you can buy: Best drivers for 2024 | Best irons for 2024 | Best putters for 2024 | Best golf balls for 2024

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2024 Masters comparison: LIV golfers vs PGA players on Sunday | Which Tour won the battle at Augusta?

Scottie scheffler, as the pga tour’s number one player, defended his league by winning at augusta and receiving the green coat from liv’s jon rahm..

In a thrilling Augusta Masters championship, Scottie Scheffler came out once again (two times in the last three years) as the winner, receiving the coveted green jacket from last year’s champion, LIV Golf’s latest acquisition, the Spaniard Jon Rahm. This marks Scheffler’s second major victory and second win at Augusta National. The 27-year-old Texan couldn’t be happier about his victory, and in his first words as champion, he expressed his love for the course, stating that “ just entering Magnolia Lane makes you melt. ”

Rahm handed the jacket to Scheffler in person, making the moment even more special for the winner and the hard-core PGA Tour followers. The green jacket, a symbol of one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world, has become an iconic prize that every golfer dreams of winning, and reason more for the old school golfers to give biased comments on the newly formed runaway tour, and take the opportunity to rub it in their face .

With this year’s Augusta Masters edition finished, it is an excellent moment to recapitulate the standings and positions that the LIV golfers took this year—especially knowing how good of a start they had, with Bryson DeChambeau leading in the first instances of the tournament .

Bryson DeChambeau

DeChambeau shot a one-over 73 and finished the day tied for the lead with Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler, putting him in a good position to win his second major. He was initially leading the average distance, but after the third round, Rory McIlroy overtook him and became the new leader with an average distance of 318.1 yards. Ultimately, Brice had to settle for T6 and a score of -2 , which was a good performance but not enough to win .

Cameron Smith

Australian golfer Cameron Smith is concerned that he might be running out of time to win the Masters despite finishing i n the top 10 for the fifth time . Smith suffered an untimely bout of food poisoning before the tournament but refused to blame it for his inability to catch up with the leaders on the final day.

On Sunday, Smith looked poised to make a final-round charge after making a spectacular eagle on the par-5 second hole. However, his short game let him down for the second day in a row . He was unable to register a single birdie in the final round. After recording his only bogey on the fifth hole, Smith strung together 13 pars in a row, with multiple birdie putts going begging. He finished with a score of 71 on Sunday and tied for sixth overall with a score of two-under, just like his LIV golf compatriot DeChambeau. This marks yet another top-10 finish for the Australian, who was the runner-up in 2020.

Patrick Reed

Reed, who won the 2018 Masters championship, has participated in every major tournament since he debuted at Augusta National Golf Club in 2014. He has made 40 consecutive appearances so far. Despite bogeying the home hole and finishing with a third-round one-over 73, the member of the LIV Golf League still needed a strong finish. However, he could only manage a T12 spot with a score of 1 under. This result has jeopardized his chances of playing in next month’s PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Currently, he is ranked 112th in the Official World Golf Ranking .

DeChambeau and Patrick Reed 👏👏👏👏👍👍 pic.twitter.com/peniAm80fR — Native Texan (@santafelife) April 14, 2024

Tyrrell Hatton

The English golfer finished ninth in the 2024 Augusta with an even score . However, since he joined LIV Golf for the 2024 season, his access to official world golf ranking points has been limited . Unlike his fellow top LIV professionals, he has not won a major championship title and thus has no long-term exemptions for future majors. Currently ranked No. 19 in the world, his ranking is likely to continue to decline due to his performance at Augusta.

The rest of the bunch

Final day ranking:.

• Joaquin Niemann: T-22, 4 over,
• Phil Mickelson: T-43, 8 over,
• Brooks Koepka: T-45, 9 over
• Jon Rahm: T-45, 9 over

Of the 13 LIV golfers participating in the 2024 Masters tournament at the prestigious club nestled among the Georgia pines, only five failed to make the cut. They missed out on advancing to the weekend.

• Sergio Garcia: 7 over
• Bubba Watson: 10 over
• Charl Schwartzel: 11 over
• Dustin Johnson: 13 over
• Adrian Meronk: 14 over

Scouting the Routing: 2024 RBC Heritage

T he battleground on which this lavish prize pool will be contested is one of the most iconic in the sport. Hilton Head Golf Links has played host to the RBC Heritage since 1969, and it's iconic seaside design holds as essential a place in Pete Dye's catalog as TPC Sawgrass, Whistling Straits, or Kiawah Island. It's as close to a throwback week as you'll ever find on the PGA Tour, and if you're sick of the bomb-and-gouge approach taken by modern golfers, Harbour Town is the perfect venue

This piece will serve to break down every key trend and statistic I'm weighing to project a player's viability in the outright market, and set our readers up to make the crucial decisions necessary on pre-week betting boards. Without further ado, here is my comprehensive scouting report on Harbour Town Golf Links and the 2024 RBC Heritage!

The Golf Course

Harbour Town Golf Links - Par 71; 7,213 yards

Past Champions

• 2023 - Matt Fitzpatrick (-17) over Jordan Spieth (playoff)
• 2022 - Jordan Spieth (-13) over Patrick Cantlay (playoff)
• 2021 - Stewart Cink (-19) over Emiliano Grillo/Harold Varner III
• 2020 - Webb Simpson (-22) over Abraham Ancer
• 2019 - C.T. Pan (-12) over Matt Kuchar
• 2018 - Satoshi Kodaira (-12) over Si Woo Kim (playoff)

Harbour Town by the Numbers (Off-The-Tee):

• Average Fairway Width -- 32.4 yards; 16th narrowest on the PGA Tour
• Average Driving Distance -- 275.1 yards; 2nd lowest on Tour
• Driving Accuracy -- 61.4%; 14th highest on Tour
• Rough Penalty -- 0.13; 2nd lowest on Tour
• Non-Rough Penalty -- 0.35; 7th lowest on Tour
• Missed FW Penalty Fraction -- 3.5%; 16th lowest on Tour
• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee Difficulty: (-0.056); 2nd toughest on Tour

If you've been a frequent browser of my course previews, you'll have likely heard the words "short" "positional," and "club-down" more times than you can count. Venues like Sedgefield, Wai'alae, and Innisbrook often receive the label of "positional track that largely takes driver out of players' hands," but perhaps nowhere on Tour is this set of descriptors more appropriate than at Harbour Town.

As evidenced by the second lowest driving distance on the PGA Tour (275.1 yards), Pete Dye's combination of sharp doglegs and tight, treelined corridors makes it difficult for even the straightest drivers of the ball to take the aggressive route on many of these Par 4s. And with only three two-shotters on the property measuring over 460 yards, a player's driving strategy at Harbour Town often boils down to taking whatever club can carry you to the furthest point within the dogleg, and accepting the mid-iron approach shot the designer intended you to have over 50 years ago.

This ultra-conservative off-the-tee test has resulted in a bevy of sub-par drivers making a career around these eclectic links. Since 2014, only two RBC Heritage Champions have gained more than two shots the field off of the tee, and in 2017 and 2019, Wesley Bryan and C.T. Pan lost a combined 4.2 shots with their tee balls and went on to triumph. Elite driving is as deemphasized as you'll ever see on the PGA Tour, and rates out well below Tour average in predictiveness compared to the other three strokes gained metrics.

Despite this overall lack of year-to-year correlation between elite driving and success at Harbour Town, it will still be important to identify players who have at least some degree of aptitude on this particular style of driving track. I'll primarily be looking to historic off-the-tee splits at Harbour Town specifically, as well as a few other corollaries that feature a bevy of club-down opportunities and moderate penalty fractions (TPC Sawgrass, Colonial, TPC River Highlands, etc.).

Harbour Town by the Numbers (Approach):

• Green in Regulation Rate -- 59.9%; 7th lowest on the PGA Tour
• Strokes Gained: Approach Difficulty: (-0.028); 8th toughest on Tour
• 175-200 yards (accounts for 25.0% of historical approach shots)
• 150-175 yards (22.7%)
• 125-150 yards (17.8%)

With many players bottlenecked into similar landing areas off of the tee, the second shot takes on even more significance around Harbour Town compared to a typical week. Top five finishers at the Heritage have gained an average of 4.3 shots to the field with their iron play (37% of their total strokes), and six of the last seven champions in Hilton Head have gained at least 4.8 strokes on approach.

In terms of the key proximity ranges to monitor, Harbour Town is decidedly a short/middle iron course. Nearly 50% of historical approach shots have come from 150-200 yards, and a season-low 14% of second shots come from beyond 200 yards (less than half of what we saw last week).

As a result, I'll be narrowing much of my focus onto the most elite performers within this specific range of approach skill in addition to our typical iron metrics we lean on every week (SG: Approach, GIRs Gained, and Birdie Chances Created). Notably, each of the last four Heritage Champions came into the week riding some recent momentum with their iron play:

• Matt Fitzpatrick had just recorded the best iron week of his season the prior week at Augusta (+4.16)
• Jordan Spieth had gained 6.2 shots on Approach in his last PGA Tour start heading into the Heritage (2022 Valero Texas Open)
• Stewart Sink was riding a run of five straight positive iron weeks heading into the 2021 Heritage (most notably gaining 3.92 strokes on Approach at the Masters and 7.1 the month before at PGA National).
• Webb Simpson had to deal with a four-month layoff for COVID, but entering the pandemic, he was averaging 3.84 strokes gained per tournament with his irons over his last five starts.

Harbour Town by the Numbers (Around the Greens):

• Scrambling Percentage -- 62.2%; 4.8% below Tour Average
• Sand Save Difficulty -- (+0.013); 16th easiest on Tour
• Up-and-Down Difficulty (Fairway) -- (+0.036); 6th easiest on Tour
• Up-and-Down Difficulty (Rough) -- (+0.080); 4th easiest on Tour
• SG: Around the Green Difficulty: (+0.044); 4th easiest on Tour

This week's broadcast factoid comes in the fact that Harbour Town features the second smallest green complexes on the PGA Tour (after Pebble Beach). However, with some of the easiest green complexes to scramble around (and a distinct lack of wind compared to Pebble), I won't be placing nearly the same amount of emphasis on around the green play in Hilton Head.

In each of the last six Heritage iterations, we've seen multiple top five finishers attain that position despite rating out below average around the green, and since 2018, we've seen 2 players don the Tarton Jacket whilst ranking outside the top 40 in Scrambling.

While short game stats do rank well below approach play and putting in terms of leaderboard correlation, there is one scrambling metric to be aware when flushing out your player pool. Bunker play has been an extremely important indicator for success at Harbour Town, as four of the last five winners of the Heritage ranked inside the top 12 that week in Sand Saves, and since 2019, over 80% of top-ten finishers have rated out above the field average from the bunkers.

The fairway and rough cuts around Hilton Head are some of the more benign scrambling surfaces on the PGA Tour -- each ranking inside the bottom 10 in up-and-down difficulty in eight of the last nine seasons. Even famously poor chippers like Stewart Cink and Emiliano Grillo have found a degree of success here by utilizing putter from off of these greenside surrounds, so outside of a small weight on bunker play, I won't be focusing any added energy in projecting the best short-game commodities in this field. Instead, that added weight will be allocated to this preview's final facet.

Harbour Town by the Numbers (Putting):

• Average Green Size: 3,700 sq. feet
• Agronomy -- Poa Trivialis overseed
• Stimpmeter: 11.5
• 3-Putt Percentage: 2.1% (0.9% below Tour Average)
• Strokes Gained: Putting Difficulty: (-0.003); 12th toughest on Tour

Once players find themselves safely aboard the second-smallest set of putting complexes on the PGA Tour, the task becomes a lot more familiar than the rather eclectic test we've outlined in the first three sections. At just 3,700 square feet on average (and not known for an excessive amount of slope or undulation), Hilton Head isn't a golf course where players will have to exhibit elite touch from long range with their putters.

Instead, I'll be focused in on the best putters in the field from 5-15 feet, and unlike many weeks on Tour, the data set available simply by filtering for the last two months is a sufficient sample size to measure putting acumen on these greens. From PGA West to TPC Scottsdale, Sawgrass, Innisbrook, Memorial Park, and TPC San Antonio, poa overseeds are nothing new to PGA Tour players in 2024. I will be drawing much of my putting data from these short-term samples, as well as long-term splits at Harbour Town itself.

Key Stats Roundup (in order of importance):

• Approach Play -- particular emphasis on proximity/strokes gained splits from 150-200 yard
• TPC San Antonio, Memorial Park, Innisbrook, TPC Sawgrass, TPC Scottsdale, PGA West
• Harbour Town, Colonial, TPC River Highlands, TPC Sawgrass, Sedgefield, Wai'alae, etc.
• Sand Saves/Greenside Bunker Proximity

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The Sunday Shortlist

Before the odds come out on Monday morning, here are two to three names I've identified as significant targets upon my initial research.

Patrick Cantlay

It'd been a rough stretch of form for our 2021 FedEx Cup Champion since leaving his home state of California, as two starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the PLAYERS Championship saw him lose a combined 9.9 shots to the field with his approach play en route to finishes of 68th and 36th. However, a pair of hole-outs around Augusta National bolstered Patrick Cantlay to his best iron week since a fourth-place finish at Riviera two months ago (+3.92), and provided a perfect lead-in act for one of Patrick's favorite setups on Tour.

Over six appearances on Hilton Head since 2017, Patrick Cantlay has recorded a staggering five finishes of seventh or better. In three of his last four starts, he entered the final round within two shots of the lead, and if not for a plugged lie in the first hole of a sudden death playoff in 2022, he may well have conquered Jordan Spieth for his eighth PGA Tour Title.

Cantlay possesses all the traits necessary for success around these links: a great strategic mind for navigating this positional driving test (+0.71 Strokes Gained per Round Off-the-Tee at Heritage), an elite aptitude for peppering these difficult-to-hit green complexes (at or above the 90th Percentile in SG/Shot, Proximity to the Hole, and Poor Shot Avoidance from 150-200 yards), and a steadfast short game to save him when things do get out of position (3rd in Greenside Bunker Proximity; 8th in Sand Saves).

Cantlay's putter has also gained at least 4.5 strokes on Harbour Town's greens on three of six career starts, and he ranks inside the top 25 from both 5-10 and 10-15 feet thus far in 2024. It hasn't been an optimal start to the new season for Patty Ice, but I anticipate this being the perfect spot to get his feet officially underneath him. Any price in the 25-1 range would be very enticing -- even in this star-studded field.

Lucas Glover

Already a winner at two of the aforementioned "positional Bermudagrass" courses within the last eight months, Lucas Glover's game appears to be on the brink of contention once again. The former Clemson Tiger has gained a combined 9.3 strokes with his iron play over two starts at Valero/Augusta, and over his last last 50 rounds, only Scottie Scheffler can claim to be a superior iron player from our key approach ranges -- as Lucas ranks 2nd in this field in Weighted Proximity and fifth in Strokes Gained per Shot.

Glover has also long possessed the elite driving accuracy required to routinely gain strokes around Harbour Town's tricky layout -- he ranks fifth in this field in Driving Accuracy this season, and in ten starts at the Heritage since 2014, Glover has gained an average of 0.59 strokes per round off of the tee.

In addition to his metronomic ball-striking, Glover is also surprisingly adept out of the sand: ranking 11th in this field in Sand Saves and fourth in Greenside Bunker Proximity thus far in 2024.

Obviously, the putter has been the entity most responsible for holding Glover back throughout his career, but the relatively benign greens at Harbour Town shouldn't provide nearly the same test as the brutally fast/undulating complexes that gave him fits earlier in the season at Riviera and Bay Hill. In fact, Lucas has managed to gain strokes putting in four of his last six starts on Hilton Head, and with the way his tee-to-green game is trending, it shouldn't take much assistance from the putter to find his name on the first page of the leaderboard. I'd be comfortable backing the veteran at any price >80-1.

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