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
Billy Horschel	0.697
Ryan Palmer	0.638
Charley Hoffman	0.625
Nick Watney	0.545
Charl Schwartzel	0.512
Cameron Smith	0.493
Scott Stallings	0.490
Kevin Kisner	0.486

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Top of the heap

The top eight players (per the Hawley Ratings) among this event’s entries.

Player	Rank	Rating
Scottie Scheffler	3	1328.9
Patrick Cantlay	4	1302.4
Cameron Smith	5	1283.2
Viktor Hovland	7	1212.6
Collin Morikawa	9	1166.6
Xander Schauffele	10	1154.9
Shane Lowry	12	1056.3
Will Zalatoris	13	1050.2

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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	1511.7
Justin Thomas	2	1362.6
Dustin Johnson	6	1230.1
Rory McIlroy	8	1205.7

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Ooh, that’s hot

Players are ranked by performance in their last four appearances in comparison with their current Hawley Rating.

Player	Upward change
Scottie Scheffler & Doc Redman	787.5
Talor Gooch & Max Homa	747.6
Sepp Straka & David Skinns	735.3
Sergio Garcia & Tommy Fleetwood	657.1
Joaquin Niemann & Matthew NeSmith	616.5
Sam Burns & Billy Horschel	607.8
Cameron Smith & David Lipsky	589.9
Shane Lowry & Dylan Wu	575.4

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Brr, that’s cold

Players are ranked by performance in their last four appearances in comparison with their current Hawley Rating.

Player	Downward change
Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele	-517.4
Taylor Moore & Brandt Snedeker	-276.6
Emiliano Grillo & Rafa Cabrera Bello	-273.4
Charley Hoffman & Vincent Whaley	-267.0
Ryan Palmer & Scott Piercy	-265.6
Alex Smalley & Hayden Buckley	-215.0
Sam Ryder & Seth Reeves	-185.3
Wesley Bryan & Trey Mullinax	-181.7

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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 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
0.26	Putts per GIR
0.09	Shots gained in approach
0.06	Shots gained off the tee
0.01	Shots gained putting

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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
Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele	69.02
Sam Burns & Billy Horschel	69.17
Robert MacIntyre & Hank Lebioda	69.18
Cameron Smith & David Lipsky	69.20
Viktor Hovland & Sahith Theegala	69.20
Talor Gooch & Max Homa	69.21
Tom Hoge & Paul Barjon	69.22

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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
Sung Kang & Michael Kim	69.9
Dawie van der Walt & Brett Drewitt	69.9
Bill Haas & Jay Haas	69.8
Greyson Sigg & Henrik Stenson	69.8
Scott Gutschewski & DA Points	69.7
Henrik Norlander & Sean O’Hair	69.7
Russell Knox & Martin Trainer	69.7
Sepp Straka & David Skinns	69.6

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Staying close to home

Exempt entrants ranked by miles between their listed residence as of January 2022 and the event venue.

Player	Residence	Distance
Davis Riley	Hattiesburg MS	100
Bubba Watson	Pensacola FL	175
Chad Ramey	Fulton MS	200
Chase Seiffert	Panama City FL	275
Sam Burns	Shreveport LA	275
Mark Hubbard	The Woodlands TX	325
Trey Mullinax	Gardendale Al	325
Jason Dufner	Auburn AL	325

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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