data golf

The live blog is back up and running for Players week! We'll be on site Wednesday-Sunday. Posts are coming in slowly so far, but we do have our first poll of the week.

@JosephLaMagna fyi, Scottie isn't losing a stroke/round on approach in his last 3 events. You must have looked at cumulative/event. Also, should really look at adjusted SG... Scottie's last 3 events were against the strongest in golf. We maintain "official" adj. stats: datagolf.com/stats/tour-lis…

Full piece: thefriedegg.com/articles/updat…

Updated Best Golfers in the World

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 Not trying to do a sleight of hand with comparisons, honestly. Here's Rahm's 50-round moving average in his career. I don't think anyone think he's elevated since moving to LIV... we have him staying pretty steady.

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 Original point was that you didn't like the disconnect between SG and points. I explained why, you moved on to a new complaint. His best seasons are around +2.5, that's what I was referring to.

Jon Rahm would rank 7th in DG points if he’d won all four LIV events this season, even though he would have been the best player in the world in True Strokes Gained in that stretch. Sick system they’ve cooked up.

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 Original tweet was that you don't like that Rahm could be 1st in true SG but 7th in points. But then you switched to saying you just don't like true SG. Rahm is currently +2.6 this year... so I guess you think he should be even higher (i.e. best golf of his career?).

@DataGolf @Jkrom11 Think it all aligns pretty well with the overarching thought that LIV players, and therefore wins, are undervalued in the system as a whole.

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 Right. Original tweet is a little odd then, if you don't believe true SG is a useful metric for LIV. I think the betting odds exercise is a useful one for convincing yourself that PR ~ LIV in 2026.

@DataGolf @Jkrom11 I'm just letting @Jkrom11 go down his rabbit hole here but largely I think the rankings aren't accurate enough to get a ton of value from that. But, LIV also had the same amount of top 50 players and more top 100 per the DG rankings.

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 Not a good comparison, because you'll have bad players overperform in R1&R2 to make the cut (and good players who do the opposite). Best player (Hojgaard) MC'd. Why aren't you just counting the number of top 50 players, top 100, etc, in the field. That is the relevant metric.

@Jkrom11 @DataGolf LIV: 298 PR: 445

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 Re: Puerto Rico vs LIV, one useful exercise could be to compare the betting odds of similar players in each field. We list pre-tournament odds on past results pages. R. Hojgaard was 12-1 to win Puerto Rico. His odds to win a LIV event would be pretty similar, I think.

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 Take any group of top players (like the Players field this week), and their skill will deteriorate over the next 2 years. This effect is even stronger on LIV given how old their average player is.

@TeeTimesPub @Jkrom11 If you agree with DG rankings, then you should agree with DG Points. They are directly derived from true SG / DG rankings. Average ranking not really relevant if you aren't accounting for field size.

@Jkrom11 @DataGolf A better ranking than the full LIV field? No, the average rank was still lower than the average in a LIV event. By ~40. Also, points aren't factored in based on who made the cut, it's who's in the event at the start, so not really a factor.

Big time update to the top of Cam Young's profile. 5-4-4-2 ranking line. The Players silver and gold in the career achievements column is a nice look too.

FedExCup projections: datagolf.com/tours/pga-tour…

FedExCup projections have been updated on the site. 26 of the top 70 playoff spots are locked (over 99% chance). Another 9 players are over 90%, which means roughly half (35) of the playoff spots are already set. The projected point cutoff to qualify for the playoffs is 569.

@joe_____schmoe He's second in adjusted strokes gained, so yes he is playing well. But DG Points are based on how hard it is to achieve your finishes... if you don't play in strong fields you won't earn many points, regardless of how well you play. To be the best you have to beat the best.

@DataGolf Rahm 17th 😂 bro has a win 2 seconds and a 5th Even if he did that again and had 8 total events he’d be 7th? Might wanna check these calcs boys

Updated 2026 DG Points list. Both the SG and Points (DG PoY) title are wide open as we head into major season. Scottie leads the SG race at +2.7 but 6 others are over +2.0. Bridgeman leads the points race but five players are lurking within 5 points.

Full 2026 list: datagolf.com/dg-points?view…

The Players winners since returning to March. Average DG Rank of 4.3.

@WallysWorld09 With a cumulative stat like career points, playing a lot of events will always be a big advantage.

@DataGolf Appreciate the response. But starts outweighing majors seems like that might need to be adjusted

I really need @DataGolf to explain how Rickie Fowler is higher on their career points list than Brooks Koepka

@theGreek82 Correct.

@DataGolf Is there no Paul Lawrie because you are rightly recognising his ET wins as proper wins? (unlike they do in US!)

Best first wins on the PGA Tour, since 1990: A win today from Thorbjornsen would put him 5th on this list.

We are heading on to the course, follow along here: datagolf.com/live-blog/the-…