British Open Putting
Putting at St Andrews is always key to performance, as the giant greens and fierce winds render the usual stats of driving accuracy and greens in regulation much less determinative of outcome than normal, leaving the slower greens of St Andrews to test long-lag distance control.
"Touch" in golf is the ability to handle the green conditions in order to control the distance of putts with accuracy and consistency. So who has good touch?
The quickest measure of player skill for touch at St Andrews is simply to count the 3-putts and 4-putts. Tiger Woods logged five 3-jacks. What does that mean? The field of 77 players who finished had an average of 4.6 3-putts (or worse), so Tiger is a little worse than average.
Players with 0-2 3-putts include:
Oosthuizen (2)
Donald (1)
Lehman (1)
Schwartzel (2)
Canizares (2)
Stricker (1)
Taniguchi (0)
Johnson Z. (2)
Players with 7 or more 3-putts include:
Karlsson (7)
Immelman (9)
McDowell (9+1)
Siem (7)
Mahan (11)
Hanson (10)
Fisher (7)
Clarke (7)
Van Pelt (9)
Villegas (7)
Coltart (8)
A more complicated ranking for putting skill orders the players first by fewest total putts, second by fewest 3- or 4-putts, third by most 0- or 1-putts, and fourth by fewest bogeys or worse:
Player | Total Putts | 3-putts or 4-putts | 1-putts or 0-putts | Bogeys or worse |
1. Canizares | 120 | 2 | 26 | 12 |
2. Barnes | 4 | 28 | 10+3 | |
3. Stricker | 121 | 1 | 24 | 8+3 |
4. Oosthuizen | 2 | 25 | 6 | |
5. Stenson | 3 | 20+3 | 6 | |
6. O'Hair | 3 | 26 | 10+2 | |
7. Donald | 122 | 1 | 23 | 10 |
8. Rock | 3 | 21+2 | 11 | |
9. Westwood | 4 | 24+1 | 6 | |
10. Schwartzel | 124 | 2 | 20+1 | 7+2 |
11. Goosen | 3 | 23 | 5+1 | |
12. Calcavecchia | 3 | 21+1 | 12+3 | |
13. Kuchar | 4 | 24 | 12 | |
14. Jimenez | 5 | 25 | 13+2 | |
15. Clarke | 7 | 25+1 | 13+1 | |
16. Taniguchi | 125 | 0 | 19 | 7+3 |
17. Lehman | 1 | 20 | 8 | |
18. Fowler | 3 | 20+1 | 7+2 | |
19. Johnson D. | 3 | 22 | 6+3 | |
20. Day | 3 | 22 | 10+3 | |
21. Miyase | 3 | 22 | 14 | |
22. Garrido | 4 | 21+1 | 7+2 | |
23. Jeong | 5 | 22+1 | 13 | |
24. Kaymer | 6 | 25 | 11 | |
25. Siem | 7 | 24+1 | 8+3 | |
26. Gallacher | 126 | 4 | 22 | 9+2 |
27. Scotland | 4 | 22 | 10+2 | |
28. Lowry | 5 | 21+1 | 8+2 | |
29. Woods | 5 | 21+1 | 10+2 | |
30. Mickelson | 5+1 | 25 | 9+3 | |
31. Johnson Z. | 127 | 2 | 19 | 15+1 |
32. Dredge | 3 | 20 | 6+3 | |
33. Moriarty | 4 | 21 | 10 | |
34. Na | 4 | 21 | 11+2 | |
35. Ishikawa | 4 | 21 | 11+1 | |
36. Andersson Hed | 4 | 19+1 | 15+3 | |
37. Watney | 5 | 20+1 | 9 | |
38. Scott | 5 | 20+1 | 14+1 | |
39. Casey | 128 | 3 | 19 | 4+2 |
40. Overton | 4 | 20 | 8 | |
41. Daly | 4 | 20 | 10+2 | |
42. Chia | 4+1 | 22 | 12+2 | |
43. Garcia | 5 | 19+1 | 12 | |
44. Kjeldsen | 5 | 17+2 | 13+1 | |
45. Holmes | 6 | 20+1 | 9+1 | |
46. Coltart | 8 | 22+1 | 16+2 | |
47. Marino | 129 | 4 | 19 | 6+3 |
48. Cink | 4 | 17+1 | 10 | |
49. Yang | 4 | 19 | 10+4 | |
50. Slocum | 4 | 17+1 | 9+2 | |
51. Kahn | 4 | 17+1 | 11 | |
52. Singh | 4 | 17+1 | 12 | |
53. Verplank | 5 | 20 | 11+2 | |
54. Glover | 5 | 20 | 17 | |
55. Aiken | 6 | 21 | 15+1 | |
56. McIlroy | 130 | 3+1 | 19 | 8+2 |
57. Johnson R. | 5+1 | 21 | 13+2 | |
58. Karlsson | 7 | 21 | 8+1 | |
59. Villegas | 7 | 19+1 | 10+1 | |
60. Tiley | 131 | 2+1 | 17 | 11+2 |
61. Allenby | 4 | 17 | 5 | |
62. Senden | 4 | 17 | 8+3 | |
63. Montgomerie | 4 | 17 | 7+4 | |
64. Pernice | 5 | 18 | 8+3 | |
65. Kim | 5 | 18 | 10+2 | |
66. Poulter | 6 | 17+1 | 10+2 | |
67. Quiros | 132 | 4 | 16 | 11 |
68. McDowell | 9+1 | 23 | 13+2 | |
69. Molinari | 133 | 6 | 17 | 10 |
70. Leishman | 6 | 17 | 12+1 | |
71. Immelman | 9 | 20 | 14 | |
72. Hanson | 10 | 21 | 14 | |
73. Dyson | 134 | 5 | 15 | 11 |
74. Van Pelt | 9 | 19 | 13 | |
75. Mahan | 11 | 21 | 11+2 | |
76. Senior | 136 | 6 | 14 | 14 |
77. Fisher | 138 | 7 | 13 | 11+1 |
Of the top-10 finishers, the following were also top-10 in putting according to the above ranking:
Oosthuizen
Stenson
O'Hair
Rock
Westwood
Rory McIroy had the worst putting of a top-10 finisher with 130 putts, 3 3-putts, and 1 4-putt. Steve Stricker had superb putting (121 total putts, 1 3-putt) but scored the poorest of the top-10 putters. Mark Calcavecchia also scored poorly with good putting (124 total putts, 3 3-putts). Hunter Mahan had the most 3-putts at 11. Six players had one 4-putt each, including Phil Mickelson.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
The best putting instruction book in golf history is now available for purchaseas an ebook download: Optimal Putting: Brain Science, Instincts, and the Four Skills of Putting (2008, 282-pages)
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