Ridgewood may favor Tiger’s game
Woods’ strengths suited to course’s stat history
The FedExCup Playoffs are set to begin Thursday at 7,385-yard, par-71 Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. Based on the statistics from previous events at the club and the state of Tiger Woods’ game, the 14-time major winner should be licking his chops to play this A.W. Tillinghast gem.
The weakest part of Woods’ game right now is his driving. He generates plenty of speed and ranks No. 34 in driving distance, but he hits only 55.4 percent of the fairways (ranked 176th). He failed to hit a fairway on the front nine in the final round of the PGA Championship, and at critical times his inconsistency has hurt him.
The good news is that distance and effectiveness with the driver were not critical for success the last time the PGA Tour was at Ridgewood.
In 2014, when Hunter Mahan won the Barclays Championship at Ridgewood, the field’s driving distance average was 277 yards, 11 yards shorter than the season-ending average. Woods did not play in that event, but collectively the players who earned top-10 finishes that week averaged just 276 yards per tee shot. Four of them — Cameron Tringale, Stuart Appleby, Jim Furyk and Kevin Na — had a negative strokes gained off the tee for the week. That means they gave away strokes to the average player in the field based on driving performance. No player who finished in the top 10 averaged more than 285 yards off the tee that week.
Woods is capable of hitting his 3wood more than 280 yards. He has said his driving iron can fly 260 yards and roll another 20 or 30 if the course is dry. So, while Woods likely will hit driver off the tee on the three par-5s at Ridgewood, the stats suggest that he might not have to hit a lot of drivers overall.
The players who were in the top 10 in the 2014 Barclays putted exceptionally well. Collectively, almost 64 percent of their total strokes gained for the week came from putting.
Since Woods switched to a TaylorMade TP Collection Ardmore 3 putter at the Quicken Loans National at the end of June, his putting has improved.
There is no strokes gained putting data available for the British Open, but in the three other events he has played since with the TaylorMade putter where ShotLink tracked his shots, his strokes gained putting average was 1.05. That means he earned about a full-shot advantage over the field over 18 holes based solely on the quality of his put- ting. Before the switch, his season-long strokes gained putting average was 0.108.
At the 2010 Barclays, where Woods finished tied for 12th, and the 2008 Barclays, which he did not play after season-ending knee surgery, players who earned top-10 finishes did not putt as well as they did in 2014. However, their approach shots were better, and they drove the ball slightly better. Still, the course was not a bombers’ paradise.
If Ridgewood does not require golfers to smash driver to contend, and history indicates that it does not, then Woods’ biggest weakness can be minimized and what he does best — hit great iron shots, scramble and make putts — could carry him to his first win since 2013.