20
Jun

Perspectives on the Travelers Championship

Thomas Hawley 0 comment

I love this place!

Entrants ranked on history in the Travelers Championship. 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
Patrick Cantlay 0.635
Brian Harman 0.610
Jason Day 0.556
Marc Leishman 0.546
Kevin Streelman 0.517
Zach Johnson 0.493
Russell Henley 0.482
Brendan Steele 0.482

Top of the heap

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

Player Rank Rating
Rory McIlroy 2 1521.9
Patrick Cantlay 3 1499.2
Justin Thomas 4 1478.0
Scottie Scheffler 5 1463.7
Xander Schauffele 6 1417.6
Sam Burns 10 1195.0
Jordan Spieth 13 1125.6
Joaquin Niemann 20 1024.1

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 1609.6
Will Zalatoris 7 1359.2
Cameron Smith 8 1301.2
Matthew Fitzpatrick 9 1237.8

Ooh, that’s hot

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

Player Upward change
Brendan Steele 1782.5
Davis Riley 1611.4
Rory McIlroy 1543.5
Denny McCarthy 1517.9
Mito Pereira 1490.7
Patrick Cantlay 1315.1
Xander Schauffele 1265.3
Seamus Power 1212.5

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 -895.4
Russell Henley -771.2
Kevin Kisner -625.5
Erik van Rooyen -580.5
Harris English -554.4
Maverick McNealy -548.2
Sepp Straka -501.0
Kevin Streelman -476.2

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 the TPC River Highlands 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
0.29 Shots gained off the tee
0.14 Shots gained in approach
0.06 Shots gained around the green
0.04 Putts per GIR

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
Rory McIlroy 68.02
Justin Thomas 68.15
Joaquin Niemann 68.28
Luke List 68.35
Xander Schauffele 68.39
Mito Pereira 68.42
Sungjae Im 68.50
Jordan Spieth 68.51

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 70.9
Chesson Hadley 70.9
Richy Werenski 70.7
Joshua Creel 70.7
Kelly Kraft 70.6
Austin Cook 70.5
Ben Kohles 70.5
Brett Drewitt 70.5

Staying close to home

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

Player Residence Distance
Brandon Wu Scarsdale NY 75
Keegan Bradley Woodstock VT 150
Marc Leishman Virginia Beach VA 375
Michael Gligic Kitchener ON 425
Ryan Armour Silver Lake OH 450
Justin Lower Uniontown OH 450
Jason Kokrak Cleveland Oh 475
Cameron Percy Raleigh NC 525
Chesson Hadley Raleigh NC 525

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 0.328
I love this place 0.177
Ooh, that’s hot 0.151
Location, location, location 0.032
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