This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
This week on the PGA Tour is the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club, just outside of Washington, D.C. Here's our stats preview.
What's Going on Here?
So this is where you really got to start paying attention to the schedule. Welcome to the PGA Tour's 2016 summer gauntlet: U.S. Open, Quicken Loans National, Bridgestone Invitational/Barracuda Championship/French Open on the European Tour that is counting as two starts and double European Ryder Cup points, Greenbrier, Open Championship/Barbasol Championship, RBC Canadian Open, PGA Championship, Travelers Championship, Olympics/John Deere Classic, Wyndham, FedEx Cup Playoffs with a week off after the third event, Tour Championship, Ryder Cup. Got all that?
As a result, and as you'll see below, we enter a stretch of events where some fields are going to be really jumbled. Coupled with Tiger Woods' injury, the Quicken Loans National field is weak to say the least. You have to pay attention to the full field entry list (available on PGATour.com) or you're going to be stuck expecting someone to play who isn't.
Who IS at the Quicken Loans National
Before we get to the stat – and the complicated nature of that category for this week – let's go through the field. Rickie Fowler is here (he's sponsored by Quicken Loans), Patrick Reed, James Hahn, Charley Hoffman, Tony Finau, Vijay Singh and John Rahm in his professional debut are the headliners. Also in the field are Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Smylie Kaufman, Wesley Bryan, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas and
This week on the PGA Tour is the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club, just outside of Washington, D.C. Here's our stats preview.
What's Going on Here?
So this is where you really got to start paying attention to the schedule. Welcome to the PGA Tour's 2016 summer gauntlet: U.S. Open, Quicken Loans National, Bridgestone Invitational/Barracuda Championship/French Open on the European Tour that is counting as two starts and double European Ryder Cup points, Greenbrier, Open Championship/Barbasol Championship, RBC Canadian Open, PGA Championship, Travelers Championship, Olympics/John Deere Classic, Wyndham, FedEx Cup Playoffs with a week off after the third event, Tour Championship, Ryder Cup. Got all that?
As a result, and as you'll see below, we enter a stretch of events where some fields are going to be really jumbled. Coupled with Tiger Woods' injury, the Quicken Loans National field is weak to say the least. You have to pay attention to the full field entry list (available on PGATour.com) or you're going to be stuck expecting someone to play who isn't.
Who IS at the Quicken Loans National
Before we get to the stat – and the complicated nature of that category for this week – let's go through the field. Rickie Fowler is here (he's sponsored by Quicken Loans), Patrick Reed, James Hahn, Charley Hoffman, Tony Finau, Vijay Singh and John Rahm in his professional debut are the headliners. Also in the field are Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Smylie Kaufman, Wesley Bryan, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas and Gary Woodland.
Fowler hasn't looked good at all lately, missing the cut at the U.S. Open before staying around the rest of the weekend to work with Butch Harmon. Laser data for all players wasn't readily available, but at Oakmont he hit just 50 percent of his fairways and 55 percent of his greens, not good enough to contend at any PGA Tour event and especially a U.S. Open. He's now missed three consecutive cuts since finishing fourth in Charlotte on a Sunday where he didn't look too steady, either. He ranks 46th in strokes gained-putting, and I don't like him this week.
Meanwhile, Furyk finished second at the U.S. Open and has a game that's trending in the right direction after missing a ton of time following wrist surgery. At Oakmont he hit 66 percent of his fairways, 71 percent of his greens and averaged 1.68 putts per green, all better than average (especially GIR – he was 13 points over the average). Congressional is tight and even though it's not a U.S. Open you have to keep the ball in play. Furyk is a great golfer to do that and a great pick this week. He ranked first in strokes gained–approach to the green last week.
Bryan is one of the Bryan Bros trick shot team, has won twice on the Web.com Tour this season and is one victory on that circuit away from a Battlefield Promotion. He comes to the PGA Tour this week after tying for 58th two weeks ago at the St. Jude Classic. On the Web.com Tour he ranks first in putting average, second in birdie average and second in scoring average. If you need a sleeper this week, he's a great choice.
Haas is also a past champion here and a strong pick if you're looking for a legitimate contender. He tied for 51st last week at U.S. Open and ranks ninth in strokes gained–around the green and 47th in scoring average this season. If you need someone who you can have faith in, make it Haas.
The Stat
When this event was last at Congressional in 2014 Justin Rose won. He's not here. In 2014 he hit 67 percent of his greens and 65 percent of his fairways, both key markers this week. We'll look at greens in regulation. Here are the leaders in that category playing this week:
Lucas Glover - 71.16%
Rickie Fowler - 70.74%
Patrick Rodgers - 69.67%
Roberto Castro - 69.49%
Jhonattan Vegas - 69.49%
None of these players are very impressive, so we'll focus on Castro who has sniffed some leaderboards lately in search of his first PGA Tour victory. He lost in a playoff at Wells Fargo and finished 11th at Memorial in his last start. Besides being high up in GIR he's also 16th in driving accuracy, a key stat this week. If you need someone to start, I recommend him.
The Weather
The course is soft after some recent rains it will be sunny and in the 80s with fairly light winds except for a thunderstorm chance Thursday.
