Whatever data Mark Horton is supplying his PGA Tour clients these days, it seems to be paying off.
The English statistician counts both Sam Burns and Billy Horschel among those coming to him for guidance in their golf games. And each registered Tour wins in consecutive weeks last month, as Burns captured the Charles Schwab Challenge before Horschel cruised to victory at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.
"Hortsy (Horton) is unbelievable," Horschel said after his win. "He's been on my team since 2014. First year he comes on the team we win the FedExCup. He's very English and he's very blunt, and we had a conversation before he joined my team about my record on the PGA Tour and things I didn't do well.
"My short game wasn't very good and I had stone hands. And this week I showed him finally that I have a short game that can live up to the golf course and save me at times."
Horschel's game at the Memorial wasn't just good, it was unprecedented. His +13.58 Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green was the most at an event in his PGA Tour career and best since the 2018 Wyndham Championship (+10.74, tied for 11th). It broke his long-time career record of +13.07, set a decade ago at the 2012 Sanderson Farms Championship.
He was the fourth Memorial winner since 2003 to rank first in both Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green as well as Greens in Regulation (53), joining Patrick Cantlay (2021), Jason Dufner (2017) and Tiger Woods (2012). He also finished the week ranked second in Proximity to the Hole, his third time on Tour ranking in the top-two and more than four feet closer than his previous average in eight previous starts at the Memorial.
Credit to Horschel for his performance. And in the meantime, Horton will keep crunching the numbers.
"He just tells me where I need to be on holes, where guys are making bogeys, where the birdies are coming from, the perfect way for me to plot my way around the golf course," Horschel explained. "That's what I love to do. I love to put my ball here, put the ball there. And he backs me up with that data that's he's been giving me for the last eight years."
SCHAUFFELE FINALLY CONVERTS
Xander Schauffele knew the record. The numbers don't lie.
0-4 lifetime. Oh for four. Goose egg.
That was Schauffele's career record on the PGA Tour when holding a 54-hole lead or co-lead. The now six-time Tour winner was still waiting to successfully convert a third-round position atop the leaderboard into a victory, and the Travelers Championship was one more opportunity to do it.
"In the past when I had a 54-hole lead or close to the lead, my Sundays felt really fast," he said. "And I'd be sitting back in the hotel or at a house on Sunday [afterward] thinking, 'What happened today?'"
This time, he said, Schauffele wanted to stay in the present and focus on the task at hand, which was each and every shot. They would all be critical to stave off Cantlay, who trailed him by only a stroke entering the final round, with more players not far behind.
"I told [my caddie] to hold me accountable on the first hole walking up there," Schauffele said. "And he did a really great job, and both of us were pretty much dialled in from the first hole."
That they were. Schauffele finished the week hitting 63 greens in regulation, leading the field and tying his most hit during an event on Tour in his career. He also hit 63 earlier this season at the WM Phoenix Open, where he tied for third, and hit 60 twice at both the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Championship (T2) and CIMB Classic (T3).
That precision helped Schauffele finish with a Strokes Gained: Total of +16.39, the most at an event in his career. His previous best total was +15.31, set in 2020 at The CJ CUP.
Schauffele trailed Sahith Theegala by one stroke as he approached the last, but the tournament leader closed with a double-bogey before Schauffele hit his approach to 3 feet, setting up the winning birdie. It marked his first individual PGA Tour title since the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
"It's been a year where my stats have been very solid, just haven't really put in four good rounds of golf," Schauffele said afterward. "I think subconsciously or without myself even really knowing I was getting a little impatient. And this week I was just trying to be self-aware as possible to just stay as patient as possible. I had to just realise that I put the work in and if I can just sort of do what I've been doing and just focus a little bit more throughout the day that it will pay off in a big way, and fortunately it did."
MCILROY DIALS IT IN
When Rory McIlroy looked ahead to the final-round forecast at the RBC Canadian Open, a simple glance at the wind direction told him all he’d need to know about his chances for victory.
"Seeing that southerly wind again, I knew I needed to go out and shoot 5-or-6-under par to have a chance to win," he said.
Simple enough. McIlroy posted an eight-under 62 to edge Tony Finau by two strokes for his 21st PGA Tour victory.
"You needed to keep your foot down, you needed to keep your foot on the pedal," McIlroy said of his mindset. "I got off to a faster start today than I have done the previous few days."
McIlroy has feasted in final rounds this year, joining Finau as one of only two players on Tour with four final rounds of six-under or better this year. Prior to his eight-under 62 in Canada, he also posted a pair of six-under 66s at The Players Championship and The CJ CUP to go along with an epic eight-under 64 at The Masters.
It marked his third final round of 62 or better en route to a PGA Tour win, something no other winner has done more than once since 1983. He also shot a final-round 61 to win the 2019 RBC Canadian Open, as well as a 62 at the Wells Fargo Championship.
The Northern Irishman was buoyed by an incredible approach shot performance, as he averaged just over 3 feet to the hole from 100 to 125 yards out, 14 feet closer than the field average in the final round.
McIlroy 'wasted a lot of energy' backing PGA Tour in LIV row
Andrew 'Beef' Johnston feels Rory McIlroy "wasted a lot of energy" in his staunch support of the PGA Tour.
McIlroy was one of the biggest opponents of the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, which lured huge names from the PGA Tour, including Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau.
Yet in a shocking turn of events this week, it was announced that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) had merged with LIV Tour's backers – Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF).
That has left McIlroy, who said he still "hates LIV" in an awkward position, and Johnston feels the world number three has expended unnecessary energy defending the PGA Tour.
"Potentially, I think in some respect it could help him because I think he's just going to turn around and say, 'Alright, I'm going to concentrate and I'm going to do me'," said Johnston in an interview with Stats Perform.
"And that's what he should [do]. I've kind of been hoping Rory would do that. He shouldn't have to get involved and back the PGA Tour as hard as he has.
"I think he's wasted a lot of energy on that and I'd love to just see him focus on golf and pick up more titles and more majors because he's one of the best golfers we've seen.
"I just want to see him concentrate on his golf. So hopefully he gets through this meeting and he just goes, 'Do you know what I'm looking forward, just let it be.' And he can crack on. I'd like to see him do that, to be honest."
Reflecting on the news, Johnston said: "It's just insane. It's nuts. For what, two years, it's been so far away from that, so far away from doing that.
"I think I was talking about it a week ago or so. I said 'There's never ever going to be a deal because there's lawsuits going on and everything's kicking off, and no one will budge at all'. And all of a sudden, bang! That news comes out of the blue. And when I mean out of the blue, I don't think anyone knew.
"I don't even think Tiger [Woods] or Rory knew. I mean if they don't know that none of us are going to know."
Asked if it was a positive step for the sport, Johnston said: "It depends how they format it.
"If they format it where a player can tee up on any of the three tours knowing that if I have a good couple of seasons I can get into the Ryder Cup, I could get into LIV or however they're going to format the tournaments, and there's a way that you could be rewarded for playing good golf and getting into these high money bonus events, which I'm sure is going to happen, then great.
"There's going to be a lot of unhappy people and a lot of unhappy players right now. My first thoughts are people who have backed the tour, like Rory and Jon Rahm, people like that, and they've turned down a hell of a lot of money.
"They really propped the Tour and backed the Tour only to be sort of stabbed in the back. Absolutely blindsided by this. I can't imagine how they're feeling, they've got to be absolutely fuming about it."
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Rory McIlroy left feeling ‘like a sacrificial lamb’ after golf merger
Rory McIlroy admitted he felt like a “sacrificial lamb” and still “hated” LIV Golf as he responded to the shock declaration of peace in golf’s civil war.
McIlroy and Tiger Woods had established themselves as the biggest supporters of the PGA Tour in its battle with LIV Golf, but were both kept in the dark about the stunning deal announced on Tuesday.
Fellow players reacted with surprise and a sense of betrayal at the news that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were merging their commercial operations with the golf-related businesses of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV.
McIlroy, whose previously close friendship with Sergio Garcia broke down after the Spaniard joined LIV, said: “It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens.
“Removing myself from the situation, I see how this is better for the game of golf, there’s no denying it.”
McIlroy, who said he was never offered any money to join LIV, was asked if those who did turn down massive offers should be compensated.
The world number three said: “The simple answer is yes. The complex answer is how does that happen?
“That’s all up in the air at the minute. For me as an individual, there’s just going to have to be conversations that are had.”
McIlroy attempted to distinguish between LIV Golf and the PIF, admitting: “It’s not LIV. I still hate LIV. I hope it goes away and I would fully expect that it does.
“That’s where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF, very different from LIV.”
Rory McIlroy ‘surprised’ and has ‘mixed emotions’ over peace deal in world golf
Rory McIlroy admitted he was “surprised” and had “mixed emotions” after learning of the shock declaration of peace in golf’s civil war.
McIlroy and Tiger Woods had established themselves as the biggest supporters of the PGA Tour in its battle with LIV Golf, but were both kept in the dark about the stunning deal announced on Tuesday.
Fellow players reacted with surprise and a sense of betrayal at the news that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were merging their commercial operations with the golf-related businesses of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV.
“It was a surprise, I knew there had been discussions going on in the background but I didn’t expect it to happen as quickly as it did,” McIlroy said in a press conference ahead of the RBC Canadian Open.
The Northern Irishman added: “I gather the (PGA) Tour felt they were in a real position of strength coming off the DP World Tour winning their legal case in London; it weakened the other side’s position.
“I think ultimately, when I try to remove myself from the situation and try to look at the bigger picture and I look 10 years down the line, I think ultimately it’s going to be good for the game of professional golf.
“It unifies it and secures its financial future. There’s mixed emotions in there as well.
“I don’t understand all the intricacies of what’s going on. There is a lot of ambiguity, a lot to still be thrashed out but at least it means the litigation goes away, which has been a massive burden for everyone and we can start to work toward some kind of way of unifying the game at the elite level.”
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