Debby Wong-US Presswire
With the season finale just around the corner, I decided to browse through the statics page to find out who is at the top of the money list on the European Tour, and why. With putters being at the forefront of the conversations this week, I wanted to check out who was leading the tour in putting statistics, and which type of putter they were using.
The one that jumps out on the first page, is who is leading the Stroke Average. This statistic on the PGA determines who wins the Vardon Trophy. On the European Tour, the leader of this stat is Louis Oostuizen. The 30 year old winner of the 2010 British Open, had a stroke average of 69.97 in 49 rounds of golf, and uses a traditional putter.
Oosthuizen has won just a shade over 2 million Euro, and is sixth in the Race To Dubai points. The South African is also tied for 18th on the PGA Scoring Average list, and is 15th on that money list, winning just shy of $3.5 Million dollars.
Justin Rose is second on the Scoring Average list with a 69.84 average in 38 rounds, and is currently in third place Race To Dubai points. He has won just over 2.5 million Euro, and like Oosthuizen, uses a traditional putter.
In fourth place is world number one, Rory McIlroy. McIlroy has a stroke average of 70 on the European tour, and leads the money list in both the European Tour, and the PGA Tour. After his first year on the PGA Tour, he leads the stroke average with a blistering 62.7 strokes per round, which is five strokes a round better than number two, Tiger Woods. Rory should win the Vardon Trophy, and the Byron Nelson Trophy in 2012, as well as the both money lists. Oh! by the way, McIlroy uses a traditional putter.
Putts Per Round GIR is statistic that is defined as both the average number of putts taken per green in regulation and the average number of putts taken per round on greens that are hit in regulation. This stat does not take into account, the tap in that was due to chipping to a within a foot from the fringe.
Luke Donald leads this statistic at 1.698 putts per hole. Luke is currently eighth in Race To Dubai points, and has won 1.8 Million Euro on the European tour in 2012. Luke is currently third in World Rankings, and spent a number of weeks at number one. He is 14th on the PGA money list, taking home $3.5 Million dollars.
Number two in this stat is Swede Peter Hanson, who won a few weeks back in Shanghai, and is currently in second place in Road to Dubai points. Lee Westwood, Marcus Fraser, and surprisingly Sergio Garcia round out the top five.
After further examination, I’m not sure why there are so many people wanting to eliminate the long putters, the best putters on both tours seem to be using traditional putters.
