For our Masters preview last week, we looked at two important distance ‘bins’ for approach (APP) play at Augusta National. Now, as the tournament gets underway, we take a closer look at around the green (ARG) Player Quality and trends for a selection of players inside the top-20 on the Official World Golf Rankings.
The three players inside the world top-20 that have the highest ARG Player Quality scores are currently Scottie Scheffler (No.3), Joaquin Niemann (2), and Louis Oosthuizen (1), though we do not include the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in our calculations.
All three came into Masters week boasting serious credentials — Scheffler as the newly crowned world No. 1 and a winner of three recent tournaments; Niemann as the runaway winner at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, a course that asks similarly searching questions of a player’s iron play and creativity around the greens; and Oosthuizen, who has made the cut in his last eight Masters, won an Open Championship at St Andrews and finished second in all four majors, including losing a Masters playoff to Bubba Watson in 2012.
It is important to note that we have only recently started to work with PGA Tour ShotLink Data and have yet to add weather adjustments. Also, we are currently developing a new element of the Clippd model that factors in course conditions and set-up (rough length, green speed, fairways firmness etc), which will mean the Player Quality numbers for these elite tournament professionals will go up. As it stands, however, we are still comparing these players equally.
Scottie Scheffler
The new world number one’s ARG Player Quality is currently 107. Scheffler’s year-long ARG graph (below) is shown in red, indicating a very slight downward trend across the last 12 months. What’s clear, though, is how consistently excellent he has been across the period, one that has seen him become a Ryder Cup player, a regular winner and a fixture in the highest echelons of the world rankings. A 69 on day one was what we have come to expect.
Joaquin Niemann
Joaquin Niemann of Chile is making his third appearance at the Masters. His first, in 2018, was courtesy of winning the Latin America Amateur Championship (while ranked as the world’s best male amateur). After making the cut in all four majors last year, the 23-year-old signalled his intentions by opening with a pair of 63s at Riviera in February to spread eagle the field in the Genesis Invitational, a tournament featuring one of the strongest fields in golf. He comes into the Masters with an ARG Player Quality of 108, a score that has risen sharply over the last 12 months (below). The highlight of his 69 on day one was holing out for an eagle two on the 9th.
As you can see below in Niemann’s Round Insights for those first two rounds at Riviera, his around the green (ARG) Shot Quality for round one was an extraordinary 137, including six of seven shots in the category finishing comfortably inside the 6ft conversion zone for a 100% up and down performance. In round two, his approach (APP) Shot Quality was an equally stunning 133. Over the 36 holes and 126 shots he hit, 44 scored 120 and above for Shot Quality and only three could be classified as bad (40 and below in Shot Quality).
Louis Oosthuizen
The 39-year-old South African not only possesses one of the most beautiful swings in golf, he also has the calibre of short game that Augusta demands. The changes to holes 11 and 15, in particular, are likely to ask searching questions of players’ ability in this department.
On 11, players missing the green right will now be required to play an even more delicate, high-premium chip, while the lengthening of hole 15 will likely see more players facing one of the toughest shots on the course: a pitch off a downhill lie over the water to the green. With an ARG Player Quality of 109 (below), Oosthuizen looked well equipped to meet such challenges although his opening 76 was disappointing. The injury that forced him to withdraw before round two must have been a factor.
Four players from the world’s top-20 are tucked in behind this trio, all scoring 106 for ARG Player Quality. They are Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy. Thomas, who featured among our top players for APP in the distance bins of 140-160 yards and 220+ yards, finished 6th at Riviera, where in his second round 64 he posted an Average ARG Shot Quality of 135 with an average proximity to the hole of 3 ft 9 ins from the five shots he played in the category. Few would have predicted a first round of 76 from one of the pre-tournament favourites.
We hope you enjoy what promises to be another outstanding Masters Tournament.
The three players inside the world top-20 that have the highest ARG Player Quality scores are currently Scottie Scheffler (No.3), Joaquin Niemann (2), and Louis Oosthuizen (1), though we do not include the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in our calculations.
All three came into Masters week boasting serious credentials — Scheffler as the newly crowned world No. 1 and a winner of three recent tournaments; Niemann as the runaway winner at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, a course that asks similarly searching questions of a player’s iron play and creativity around the greens; and Oosthuizen, who has made the cut in his last eight Masters, won an Open Championship at St Andrews and finished second in all four majors, including losing a Masters playoff to Bubba Watson in 2012.
It is important to note that we have only recently started to work with PGA Tour ShotLink Data and have yet to add weather adjustments. Also, we are currently developing a new element of the Clippd model that factors in course conditions and set-up (rough length, green speed, fairways firmness etc), which will mean the Player Quality numbers for these elite tournament professionals will go up. As it stands, however, we are still comparing these players equally.
Scottie Scheffler
The new world number one’s ARG Player Quality is currently 107. Scheffler’s year-long ARG graph (below) is shown in red, indicating a very slight downward trend across the last 12 months. What’s clear, though, is how consistently excellent he has been across the period, one that has seen him become a Ryder Cup player, a regular winner and a fixture in the highest echelons of the world rankings. A 69 on day one was what we have come to expect.
Scottie Scheffler ARG Player Quality – 1-year trend and Average Shot Quality for last 20 rounds
Joaquin Niemann
Joaquin Niemann of Chile is making his third appearance at the Masters. His first, in 2018, was courtesy of winning the Latin America Amateur Championship (while ranked as the world’s best male amateur). After making the cut in all four majors last year, the 23-year-old signalled his intentions by opening with a pair of 63s at Riviera in February to spread eagle the field in the Genesis Invitational, a tournament featuring one of the strongest fields in golf. He comes into the Masters with an ARG Player Quality of 108, a score that has risen sharply over the last 12 months (below). The highlight of his 69 on day one was holing out for an eagle two on the 9th.
Joaquin Niemann ARG Player Quality – 1-year trend and Average Shot Quality for last 20 rounds
As you can see below in Niemann’s Round Insights for those first two rounds at Riviera, his around the green (ARG) Shot Quality for round one was an extraordinary 137, including six of seven shots in the category finishing comfortably inside the 6ft conversion zone for a 100% up and down performance. In round two, his approach (APP) Shot Quality was an equally stunning 133. Over the 36 holes and 126 shots he hit, 44 scored 120 and above for Shot Quality and only three could be classified as bad (40 and below in Shot Quality).
Louis Oosthuizen
The 39-year-old South African not only possesses one of the most beautiful swings in golf, he also has the calibre of short game that Augusta demands. The changes to holes 11 and 15, in particular, are likely to ask searching questions of players’ ability in this department.
On 11, players missing the green right will now be required to play an even more delicate, high-premium chip, while the lengthening of hole 15 will likely see more players facing one of the toughest shots on the course: a pitch off a downhill lie over the water to the green. With an ARG Player Quality of 109 (below), Oosthuizen looked well equipped to meet such challenges although his opening 76 was disappointing. The injury that forced him to withdraw before round two must have been a factor.
Louis Oosthuizen ARG Player Quality – 1-year trend and Average Shot Quality for last 20 rounds
And one more familiar name to considerFour players from the world’s top-20 are tucked in behind this trio, all scoring 106 for ARG Player Quality. They are Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy. Thomas, who featured among our top players for APP in the distance bins of 140-160 yards and 220+ yards, finished 6th at Riviera, where in his second round 64 he posted an Average ARG Shot Quality of 135 with an average proximity to the hole of 3 ft 9 ins from the five shots he played in the category. Few would have predicted a first round of 76 from one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Last edited by Josh; 19-04-22 at 12:44.
