May
Perspectives on the Wells Fargo Championship
I love this place!
Entrants ranked on history in the event. The value reflects the player’s success and number of years competed within the last eight years, weighted in favor of more recent seasons. A value of 1.000 would mean the player appeared every year and won every time. A value of about .715 puts the player in the top 1 percent of all players who have played the event at least once in the last eight seasons, a value of .335 puts a player in the top 10 percent.
Player | History |
---|---|
Rory McIlroy | 0.830 |
Patrick Reed | 0.793 |
Keith Mitchell | 0.627 |
Joel Dahmen | 0.625 |
Pat Perez | 0.589 |
Brian Harman | 0.585 |
Paul Casey | 0.560 |
Luke List | 0.503 |
Top of the heap
The top eight players (per the Hawley Ratings) among this event’s entries.
Player | Rank | Rating |
---|---|---|
Rory McIlroy | 8 | 1208.1 |
Corey Conners | 15 | 1029.5 |
Paul Casey | 16 | 1026.7 |
Matthew Fitzpatrick | 18 | 950.5 |
Cameron Young | 20 | 942.9 |
Russell Henley | 21 | 937.5 |
Tyrrell Hatton | 22 | 931.0 |
Seamus Power | 31 | 814.1 |
Sorry, can’t make it
The top four players (per the Hawley Ratings) who are not playing this event.
Player | Rank | Rating |
---|---|---|
Jon Rahm | 1 | 1542.7 |
Patrick Cantlay | 2 | 1398.4 |
Justin Thomas | 3 | 1358.1 |
Scottie Scheffler | 4 | 1314.5 |
Ooh, that’s hot
Players are ranked by performance in their last four appearances in comparison with their current Hawley Rating.
Player | Upward change |
---|---|
Matthew NeSmith | 1708.6 |
Brendan Steele | 1396.6 |
Matt Kuchar | 1368.2 |
Anirban Lahiri | 1339.8 |
Corey Conners | 1305.6 |
Troy Merritt | 921.5 |
David Lipsky | 804.3 |
Matthew Fitzpatrick | 683.2 |
Brr, that’s cold
Players are ranked by performance in their last four appearances in comparison with their current Hawley Rating.
Player | Downward change |
---|---|
Keegan Bradley | -742.7 |
Matthew Wolff | -531.4 |
Charley Hoffman | -469.8 |
Webb Simpson | -419.8 |
Abraham Ancer | -404.3 |
Pat Perez | -363.9 |
Russell Knox | -358.6 |
Lanto Griffin | -333.9 |
Certain skills required
Among a set of 10 PGA Tour and DP World Tour statistics that reflect physical characteristics of the course, this table shows the four that have the highest unique correlation with player performance. Events on this course (TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm) within the last eight years are considered, and the minimum is 80 player appearances. In mathematical terms, the number shown is the partial correlation coefficient.
Stat value | Statistic |
---|---|
0.40 | Driving accuracy |
0.31 | Shots gained in approach |
0.13 | Shots gained off the tee |
0.07 | Shots gained putting |
Location, location, location
Event entrants ranked by predicted score per 18 holes based solely on “course fit” — i.e. based on the player’s current percentile standing in each of the four statistics shown above.
Course fit | Player |
---|---|
Chez Reavie | 69.18 |
Corey Conners | 69.26 |
Abraham Ancer | 69.30 |
Ryan Armour | 69.42 |
Brian Stuard | 69.51 |
Russell Henley | 69.54 |
Hayden Buckley | 69.64 |
Russell Knox | 69.81 |
Anyplace but here
Event entrants ranked by worst predicted score per 18 holes based solely on “course fit” — i.e. the player’s current percentile standing in each of the four statistics shown above.
Course fit | Player |
---|---|
Martin Trainer | 73.3 |
Kevin Chappell | 73.1 |
Peter Uihlein | 72.9 |
Seung-yul Noh | 72.8 |
Jim Knous | 72.8 |
Brandon Hagy | 72.7 |
Jonas Blixt | 72.6 |
Jared Wolfe | 72.5 |
Staying close to home
Exempt entrants ranked by miles between their listed residence as of January 2022 and the event venue.
Player | Residence | Distance |
---|---|---|
Marc Leishman | Virginia Beach VA | 175 |
Brandon Wu | Scarsdale NY | 225 |
Ryan Blaum | Raleigh NC | 225 |
Cameron Percy | Raleigh NC | 225 |
Chesson Hadley | Raleigh NC | 225 |
Ben Kohles | Cary NC | 250 |
Alex Smalley | Greensboro NC | 250 |
Justin Lower | Uniontown OH | 250 |
Mathematically speaking
The following table shows the correlations between player ranking in the above tables and their actual finish positions. In other words, to what extent does the ordering of players in the table correspond to the order of finish.
Statistic | Correlation to results |
---|---|
Top of the heap | 0.272 |
Ooh, that’s hot | 0.169 |
I love this place | 0.166 |
Location, location, location | 0.118 |