The Open is upon us! Starting early tomorrow morning 156 players will attempt to win the special 150th Open at the legendary St Andrews.
In this article, we are going to pick out 8 key stats to look and pick out the top ranked player in each price bracket.
First, though, let’s have a look at the weather as this can help shape what key stats we want to look at.
Weather Forecast
There has been a lot of speculation about how the Old Course can stand up to the modern game.
With its exposure to the Scottish coastline and no trees on the property to stifle conditions, the severity of the wind will ultimately dictate how low players can score.
As of 13:00 Wednesday the weather forecast continues to look very calm with no discernible split between AM or PM waves on Thursday and Friday. Saturday and Sunday look just as calm.
Forecast taken from https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/leuchars
8 Key stats – Top in each price bracket
Birdies or better gained
With the weather looking so calm there is a potential for shooting low scores. Here are the top birdie makers this year.
| Birdie or Better gained | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Justin Thomas | 1st |
| 18-20m | Cam Smith | 2nd |
| 16-18m | Sam Burns | 10th |
| 14-16m | Russell Henley | 9th |
| 12-14m | Keith Mitchell | 18th |
Par 4 Scoring
St Andrews has 14 Par 4’s. Much more than your average course with many of them potentially drivable. Par 4 scoring will be important.
| Par 4 Scoring | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Justin Thomas | 1st |
| 18-20m | Xander Schauffele | 3rd |
| 16-18m | Sungjae Im | Tied 4th |
| 14-16m | Seamus Power | 2nd |
| 12-14m | Chris Kirk | Tied 26th |
Driving Distance – All Drives
With the course dry and firm the ball will run far which actually might neutralize the maximum benefit of distance. However, it never hurts. Especially on the reachable Par 4’s.
| Driving distance – All drives | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Jon Rahm | 1st |
| 18-20m | Dustin Johnson | 12th |
| 16-18m | Brooks Koepka | 10th |
| 14-16m | Cam Young | 2nd |
| 12-14m | Luke List | 4th |
3-putt avoidance
With the humungous greens at St Andrews this is a clear key stat. Being able to avoid too many 3-putts when putting from long distance will be very key if you are to have a good week.
| 3-putt avoidance | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Justin Thomas | 43rd |
| 18-20m | Xander Schauffele | 4th |
| 16-18m | Tyrell Hatton | 3rd |
| 14-16m | Talor Gooch | 2nd |
| 12-14m | Lucas Herbert | 5th |
Approach for 50-125 yards
With so much run of the fairways, there won’t be too many long irons needed from the fairways this week. 50-125 yards looks a good distance to target.
| Approach for 50-125 yards | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Jusin Thomas | 1st |
| 18-20m | Cam Smith | 3rd |
| 16-18m | Max Homa | 5th |
| 14-16m | Russell Henley | 8th |
| 12-14m | Chris Kirk | 4th |
Scrambling
Links golf courses demand plenty of imagination. The need to get out of tricky situations will occur multiple times over the weekend and here are some of the best at doing so.
| Scrambling | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Justin Thomas | 9th |
| 18-20m | Shane Lowry | 2nd |
| 16-18m | Sungjae Im | 4th |
| 14-16m | Christian Bezuidenhaut | 5th |
| 12-14m | Keith Mitchell | 14th |
Open History
The demands of a British Open are much different from your normal PGA-style event. Having a good track record at previous events shows a player has been able to adapt.
| Open history (min 8 rounds since 2017) | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Jordan Spieth | 1st |
| 18-20m | Xander Schauffele | 5th |
| 16-18m | Brooks Koepka | 2nd |
| 14-16m | Robert Macintyre | 7th |
| 12-14m | Justin Harding | 11th |
Form (last 24 rounds)
Form is always important. Here we have taken the last 24 rounds and included the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
* Majority of rounds come from DP World Tour.
| Form – 24 rounds (* Majority on DP World Tour) | ||
| Price | Player | Rank |
| 20m+ | Rory McIlroy | 1st |
| 18-20m | Xander Schauffele | 2nd |
| 16-18m | Tony Finau | 3rd |
| 14-16m | Ryan Fox* | 4th |
| 12-14m | Jason Scrivner* | 17th |
If you would like to delve deeper into some of these stats and more we recommend heading to https://www.pgatour.com/stats.html Hopefully this has added some food for thought when choosing your player pool for this week’s contest.
Head over to the FanTeam golf lobby to check out all our player pricing.
Good luck!
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