10
May

Perspectives on the AT&T Byron Nelson

Thomas Hawley 0 comment

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
Jordan Spieth 0.653
Rory Sabbatini 0.607
Marc Leishman 0.533
Sung Kang 0.501
Matt Kuchar 0.487
Scott Stallings 0.469
Hideki Matsuyama 0.438
Scott Piercy 0.433

Top of the heap

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

Player Rank Rating
Justin Thomas 3 1356.0
Scottie Scheffler 4 1317.7
Xander Schauffele 7 1239.4
Dustin Johnson 8 1213.5
Will Zalatoris 11 1120.7
Sam Burns 15 1048.2
Joaquin Niemann 21 916.3
Jordan Spieth 24 914.7

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 1546.1
Patrick Cantlay 2 1401.1
Rory McIlroy 5 1262.1
Cameron Smith 6 1258.1

Ooh, that’s hot

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

Player Upward change
Will Zalatoris 1538.1
Matt Kuchar 1405.4
Sam Burns 1204.4
Matthew NeSmith 941.1
Adam Hadwin 884.4
JJ Spaun 763.7
Jhonattan Vegas 604.8
Scottie Scheffler 593.8

Brr, that’s cold

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

Player Downward change
Charley Hoffman -455.0
Tom Hoge -438.0
Christiaan Bezuidenhout -432.6
Matthew Wolff -425.5
Ryan Palmer -366.8
Pat Perez -364.5
Sahith Theegala -362.2
Carlos Ortiz -358.3

Certain skills required

Among a set of 10 PGA Tour and DP World Tour statistics that reflect physical characteristics of this week’s course, TPC Craig Ranch, 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
0.18 Greens in regulation
0.14 Driving distance
0.13 Shots gained around the green
0.07 Driving accuracy

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
Hayden Buckley 68.73
Luke List 68.75
Scottie Scheffler 68.78
Taylor Moore 68.83
Will Zalatoris 68.84
Joseph Bramlett 68.86
Jhonattan Vegas 68.86
Mito Pereira 68.87

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
Jonas Blixt 70.4
Joshua Creel 70.4
Kelly Kraft 70.1
Martin Trainer 70.1
Kiradech Aphibarnrat 70.1
Wesley Bryan 70.0
Shaun Norris 69.9
Stephan Jaeger 69.9

Staying close to home

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

Player Residence Distance
John Huh Dallas TX 31
Kramer Hickok Dallas TX 31
Harry Higgs Dallas TX 31
Jordan Spieth Dallas TX 31
Kelly Kraft Dallas TX 31
Carlos Ortiz Dallas TX 31
Austin Smotherman Dallas TX 31
Will Zalatoris Dallas TX 31
Max McGreevy Dallas TX 31
Beau Hossler Dallas TX 31
Scottie Scheffler Dallas TX 31
Taylor Moore Dallas TX 31

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 0.289
I love this place 0.166
Ooh, that’s hot 0.161
Location, location, location 0.071
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