✈️ 2,897 Miles, But Who's Counting?

U.S. Open Review & Travelers Preview | Stats, Trends & More!

Jun 20, 2023

The TOUR heads from coast to coast as it travels to Cromwell, CT from Los Angeles, CA. Many of the top players in the world are making the trek for this elevated event which marks the last “non-major, non-playoff” elevated event.

Good Luck
Rick

🏆 Last Week’s Optimal Lineup 🌇

📈 Major Implications

The rise of Wyndham Clark has been well documented within this newsletter, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he contended in LA. However, even as a staunch supporter of his game, I was stunned to see him get it done. Hat tip, Wyndham.

Since the start of 2023, Clark has gained 1.86 strokes per round — the 5th best mark on TOUR. His closest statistical comps are:

OTT: Sam Burns
APP: Xander Schauffele
ARG: Tony Finau
PUTT: Rickie Fowler

That’s one helluva player.

🍧 Short & Sweet?

The 15th hole at LACC played to a jarring 81-yards on Saturday. It certainly caused plenty of consternation on the tee box but did it produce the desired results? What were the desired results?

Over 87% of players hit the green on the 15th, with 11 birdies, 49 pars, 4 bogeys and one double. It played to a 2.923 scoring average and was the fourth easiest hole on the course.

While it was cool, interesting and unique — I didn’t find that it offered a lot of variety. Standing on the teebox, many golfers opted for the same strategy. Hit something 20 feet left of the pin. Over and over again — 20 feet left of the pin.

Some made the putt, most didn’t. The hole didn’t lead to large range of outcomes nor did it lead to a wide range of strategies.

❓ Trivia!

In 2019, Chez Reavie won this event by four strokes, which still remains the largest winning margin since 1982. That snapped a 3,983 day span between Reavie’s first career TOUR win and his second.

What tournament did Reavie win in 2008 to start the timer?
(Answer at bottom of the email)

🙊 No Distance Debate Here

TPC River Highlands checks in at just 6,852 yards on the scorecard, making it the shortest par-70 on the schedule. It also introduces lots of names who could find themselves in the mix this week. Here are the best players on “Short Courses” dating back to 2018.

❌ Miss The Green, Pay The Price

Without distances as a defense mechanism, TPC River Highlands keeps players in check with water waiting to accept errant shots and difficult areas around-the-greens. Let’s look deeper at the latter. The other “difficult short-grass ARG” courses include St. Andrews, Augusta National, TPC Summerlin, Sedgefield and Memorial Park. Here are the best ARG players at those courses since 2018.

🔥Who’s Hot & Who’s Not? ❄️

Hideki Matsuyama is getting no respect (!) when it comes to the state of his game. Many oddsmakers and fantasy sites have Matsuyama along side his peers of Max Homa, Sungjae Im and Justin Thomas. However, Hideki has been wayyyy better than those guys lately.

The chart above is a way to visualize “how hot” a golfer is playing compared to their own 100 round baseline. Hideki is playing 0.28 strokes per round better in his last 36 rounds compared to his 100 round baseline. He’s also doing it in a very sustainable way, smashing himself from tee-to-green and still putting worse than even he would expect.

Homa, Thomas, Im, Cam Young, and Tom Kim are all big losers to themselves in the same timeframe.

🔦In Case You Missed It

👕 I gave out a U.S. Open Swag Box last week, congrats to Mike whose name was drawn.

✏️ Kyle Porter summed up why Rory McIlroy is a fool and why we keep coming back for more.

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Trivia Answer:
RBC Canadian Open (July 27, 2008)
He beat Billy Mayfair by three strokes.