Dean & DeLuca Fantasy Stats

Dean & DeLuca Invitational

May 25th – 28th, 2017

Colonial C.C.

Fort Worth, TX

Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,209

Purse: $6.9 million

with $1,206,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:
Jordan Spieth

by Sal Johnson

Founder, Chief Data Officer, GOLFstats

E-mail me at:
sal@golfstats.com

This is based on the most important stats for Colonial, based on data from last years Dean & Deluca, and using data from all the players in the field with stats from 2017. What we do is take their rank for each stat and then add up the four catagories.
The scoring average of the field at Colonial in 2016 was 70.20 making it the 18th hardest course on the PGA Tour with par being 70 it was a quarter of a shot over par and almost a half a shot harder that the course played in 2015 when it was 69.78, so with par being 70 that means the average score was just quarter stroke under par, making Colonial the 21st hardest course to score on in 2015. So why the difference? Rain and wind, in 2015 they had flooding conditions the week before the tournament and the course was very wet. On top of that winds averaged between 10-15 mph. Last year the course didn’t have as much rain and winds blew up to 20 mph the first three days and calmed a bit for the final round.
Colonial Country Club is a relic to a bygone era in which accuracy off the tee, precision shotmaking to the greens is important. On top of that when the course is dry and runs, put in some wind and it can play tough. But with no wind, wet conditions you will see a lot of birdies and eagles and that’s what has happened over the years. You can’t overpower this course, that’s why you won’t see long ball hitters like Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson, Gary Woodland and J.B. Holmes here. Every great shotmaker from the last 70 years have won at Colonial including Hogan, Nicklaus, Snead, Boros, Littler, Wadkins, Price, Trevino, Casper, Watson, Scott and Mickelson to name a few. Most important stat to look at is Ball Striking, looking at the list for 2017 the odds are a player in the top-30 of that list will win this week. So why is this so important in a time when overpowering courses is the Norm? There is no room to add yardage to Colonial. Since the course opened in 1946, only 169 yards have been added. With 12 of the 14 par 4s and 5s being doglegs, players have to throttle back and hit fairway woods and irons to keep it in play. So hitting it long gives you no advantage because length means nothing when you have to lay up, so short drivers will be in the same part of the fairway as long hitters. That is the reason why players like Corey Pavin, Rory Sabbatini, Steve Stricker, David Toms and Zach Johnson have won this event.
In looking at our four categories, one thing to keep in mind is that the last two winners were a rarity, 2015 champion Chris Kirk stats from tee to green were terrible and he won the tournament because of his putting, he was 2nd in Strokes Gained Putting. The same with last year’s champion Jordan Spieth, he was T-54th in Driving Accuracy and T-17th in Greens hit. But just like Kirk, Spieth was the best on and around the greens. He was 1st in Scrambling, T-1st in overall Putting Average, 2nd in Strokes Gain Putting. He also made a lot of birdies, was T-1st in Birdie Average and 2nd in Par Breakers so I guess in the long run we cover ourselves as our third important stat is Par Breaker as last year Colonial was 15th in that stat and finally our last stat is Strokes Gained Putting.

Oh before we go it’s probably important to see how the weather will be. All four days will be very hot and humid, with it getting close to 100 on Friday and Saturday. Sunday they are calling for Thunderstorms that will bring the thermometer down to 89 degrees. One thing to look for is a wind player, Thursday and Friday it will blow 20 mph, Saturday down to 18 and Sunday 14. So with no rain Tuesday and Wednesday, hot conditions with wind drying out the course Colonial will have some of it’s buzz this week.

*Ball Striking: Tells a players overall ball hitting skills by computing a players rank in total driving and greens in regulation

*Fairway Accuracy: percentage of times a drive is in the fairway.

*Par Breakers: The course allows a lot of birdies and eagles to be made, so parbreakers is the percent of time scores are under par.

*Strokes Gained Putting: The number of putts a player takes from a specific distance is measured against a statistical baseline to determine the player’s strokes gained or lost on a hole.

The 110 of the 121 players from this year’s field with stats from 2017:

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.

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