Fortinet Championship Key Fantasy Stats

Fortinet Championship

September 14th – 17th, 2023

Silverado C.C. (North)

Napa, CA

Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,123

Purse: $8.4 million

with $1,512,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:
Max Homa

by Sal Johnson

Founder, Chief Data Officer, GOLFstats

E-mail me at:
sal@golfstats.com

This is based on the most vital stats from Silverado Resort, North course based on data from last year’s Fortinet Open and using data from all the players in the field with stats from 2023. This event opened up the 2023 season, and with the change to the tour, the season will continue as players that were 71st and higher in FedExCup points to finish in the top 125 and lick up their cards for the 2024 season. Just like previous years, fall winners will still earn invitations to the Masters Tournament and the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Also, all stats, earnings, and victories in the fall will tie into the 2022-23 season.
This is the tenth year that the Fortinet Championship is being played at Silverado, which has a history of holding PGA Tour events going back to the 60s. So the resort has had a deep relationship with professional golf. A couple of years ago, Johnny Miller put together an investment group to buy the Napa resort and its two golf courses which were built in the 1960s. Both courses were designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and were good, but they were never updated with the advent of new equipment. So when Miller came in, he wanted to rework the two courses and bring them up to date. He started first on the North Course by revamping all of the greens, put in new bunkering realigning the fairways, and trimming the trees that were too cumbersome. The most important item in the alteration was changing the greens by adding some undulation and making them very fast. Miller also added 300 yards, so it will play at a par 72 and at 7,166 yards. Since those changes, the course is now playing at 7,123 yards
Last year the course played to a 71.52 scoring average, just about a half shot under par, and was the 21st hardest course on the PGA Tour in 2023. The previous year Silverado played to a 71.04 scoring average, just about a shot under par and was the 32nd hardest course on the PGA Tour in 2022. It played almost a shot above the 2021 scoring average of 70.21 and the same as it played in 2020 (71.24, 19th hardest course that year). Historically, the lack of wind makes the course play harder and easier.
For the pros, the hardest aspect of the course was hitting fairways, in 2023, 46.77% of the fairways were hit as it was the 2nd hardest fairways to hit on the PGA Tour. The hardest on tour was Oak Hill C.C. which held the PGA Championship as 45.04% of the fairways were hit. In 2022, 47.10% of the fairways were hit as it was again the 2nd hardest fairways to hit on the PGA Tour in 2022, only Wilmington C.C., which held the BMW Championship, was harder to hit. Again hitting fairways is key, in 2021 51.64% of the fairways were hit as it was the 6th hardest fairways to hit In 2020 the field hit 50.03% of the fairways as it was the 2nd hardest fairways to hit in 2020. Only Olympia Fields, the site of the BMW Championship, were harder to hit. This is the norm for Silverado in 2019, 53.65% of the fairways were hit as it ranked the 4th hardest course to hit in 2019.
Even with the tight fairways, the players hit 66.44% of the greens, ranking 26th on the PGA Tour in 2023. The previous year the players hit 67.05% of the greens as it ranked 28th hardest on the PGA Tour in 2022. Because the course only plays at a short 7,123 yards, it only means that despite missing a fairway, the player has a short iron that is easily maneuverable from rough. So in previous years, the rough was harder than other years, but with the drought, that isn’t the case. Now in 2021, the players hit 71.72% of the greens making it the 43rd hardest course to hit in regulation. Now this was the all-time record for Silverado, in past years, it was harder to hit. In 2020 65.73% of the greens were hit, making it the 16th hardest course to hit in regulation.
One of the things that keeps scoring low is the total amount of birdies made, last year 1.632 were made as only 14 other courses saw more birdies made. In 2022, 1,688 were made, as only 11 other courses saw more birdies made. In 2021 1,891 birdies were made and only two other courses in 2021 saw more birdies made, so hitting fairways and greens does lead to making a lot of birdies.
As for the greens, last year, the average distance of putts made was 73 feet, 1 inch as it ranked T-16th. They were the 6th hardest greens to score on the previous year as players made 70.0 feet of putts. The previous year in 2021, it was the 3rd hardest greens to score on as the players made 68 feet and 9 inches of putts per round.

So a combination of hitting it far and straight is important, so our first category is Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green. In looking at last year’s champion Max Homa, he was 1st in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green as he was 34th in driving distance and T-7th in Driving accuracy. The previous year had Homa winning as he was 2nd in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green as he was 45th in driving distance and T-15th in driving accuracy. The 2021 champion Stewart Cink, he was 3rd in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green as he was 17th in driving distance and was T-51st in driving accuracy. In 2020, Cameron Champ was 1st in Strokes Gained Tee-to-green, leading in driving distance and was T-21st in driving accuracy. In 2019 Kevin Tway won, and he was T-40th in Driving Accuracy and T-14th in driving distance so he was 3rd in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green. Comparing this with Brendan Steele, who won back to back in 2018 and 2017, Steele was 1st in Strokes Gained Tee-to-green in 2018 and 11th in 2017 so we can see the importance of this stat. So our first category is Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green.
Our second most important category is Strokes Gained Around-the-Green. That is because last year, the course ranked 26th in greens hit as Homa ranked 7th in Strokes Gained Around-the-Green and T-17th in greens hit. The previous year Silverado ranked 28th in greens hit. In 2021 the course ranked 43rd in greens hit. Now it was drastically different in 2020 when the course ranked 16th in greens hit. So those who miss greens, have to get it up and down to score well.
Last year the players got it up and down from off the green 59.42% of the time and ranked 29th for courses in 2023. As for Homa, he ranked 3rd in Scrambling, getting it up and down 85.71%. In the previous year, Silverado got it up and down 60.79% of the time, T-29th for all courses in 2022. In 2021 the players got it up and down from off the green at 61.99%, making it the 36th course in scrambling. In 2020 it was 60.89%, making it the 28th course in scrambling. As for bunkering the 18 greens have 36 bunkers around them so many players will have to get up and down from the sand, last year, Silverado ranked 32nd in Sand Save Percentage, while Max Homa was T-36th in his win. In 2022 the course ranked T-21st in Sand Save percentage, while in 2021, it ranked 35th, in 2020, it ranked 25th. As for the champions, 2022 Max Homa was 24th in Strokes Gained Around-the-Green as he was T-75th in scrambling and T-60th in Sand Save percentage. He wasn’t very impressive in this category, but in 2021 Stewart Cink was 8th in Strokes Gained Around-the-Green as he was 2nd in Scrambling and T-68th in Sand Save Percentage. In 2020 the winner Cameron Champ was 19th in Strokes Gained Around-the-Green as he was 1st in scrambling and 11th in Sand Save percentage. In 2019 Kevin Tway was 7th in Strokes Gained Around-the-Green as he also was first in scrambling.
Our third category was Strokes Gained Putting. The greens are a combination of Poa annua and Bent so we all know it takes a special person to be able to putt well on Poa annua greens. Last year Max Homa ranked 15th in Strokes Gained Putting, and in the previous year, Homa was 22nd in Strokes Gained Putting. In 2021 Stewart Cink ranked 16th in strokes Gained Putting. In 2020, Cameron Champ ranked 28th in Strokes Gained putting, while 2019 champion Kevin Tway was 18th, 2018 winner Brendan Steele was 29th, and in 2017 he was 6th.
Our last category is Par Breakers because to win, you have to make a lot of birdies, along with some eagles. Last year Silverado was 20th in Par Breakers as winner Max Homa was T-10th as he made 18 birdies which was T-10th, and made one eagle. The previous year 2022 Silverado was 28th in Par Breakers as winner Max Homa was T-1st as he made 24 birdies, which was T-1st, and two eagles. In 2021, Silverado was 43rd in Par Breakers as Stewart Cink was T-6th and made 23 birdies, finishing T-5th. In 2020 the course played a lot harder as it was 15th in Par Breakers as Cameron Champ was T-4th as he made 21 birdiers which also finished T-4th. In 2019 Kevin Tway was T-10th making 19 birdies. Brendan Steele was 5th in Par Breakers in 2018 and T-1st in 2017 when he made 24 birdies.

*Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green: Looks at the combination of length off the tee and accuracy, then getting the ball on the green so it determines who is best at all of these items.

*Strokes Gained Around-the-Green: Looks at the combination of gaining strokes by getting up and down after missing a green.

*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.

*Par Breakers: Combination of birdies and eagles made to show under-par scoring.

Of the 156 players in the field, 113 have stats on the PGA Tour for 2023:

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