Augusta National needs no introduction. It's one of the most famous courses in the world. We could always use a refresher, though.
The course is a par 72 that will play up to 7,475 yards. It's a course where hitting driver is the recommended route on most holes. The fairways will rarely give you an even lie and the green complexes are even more severe.
It's an all-around test but let's see what golfers might be up to the challenge based on course fit. We will hone in on two of those course-fit stats. Golfers that play well on bentgrass greens and golfers that play well on fast greens.
Bentgrass Greens
The greens at Augusta National are Penn-A1 Bentgrass. They are mowed with a technique that eliminates any grain. As pure as gold.
Let's see who has performed best on courses with bentgrass greens, over the last two years:
Jon Rahm
Patrick Cantlay
Justin Thomas
Xander Schauffele
Patrick Reed
Hideki Matsuyama
Dustin Johnson
Rory McIlroy
Webb Simpson
Adam Scott
Tyrrell Hatton
Tony Finau
Henrik Stenson
Tommy Fleetwood
Bryson DeChambeau
We can also look at a golfer's performance versus their baseline to see who over-performs most. Here is that list:
Henrik Stenson
Tyler Duncan
Lanto Griffin
Jordan Spieth
Bernd Wiesberger
Patrick Reed
Kevin Na
Corey Conners
Sebastian Munoz
Si Woo Kim
Patrick Cantlay
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Tony Finau
Kevin Kisner
Andrew Putnam
Overlap List: names that show up on both lists include Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed, Patrick Cantlay, and Tony Finau.
Stenson has three of his five TOUR wins on bermudagrass but he's fared much better on bentgrass over the last two years. He's still searching for his form right now, always important to factor in before you blindly back the split stats.
Fast Greens
It's an understatement to say the greens at Augusta National are fast. They are lightning and rate out anywhere from 12 to 15 feet on the stimp.
Some golfers naturally putt better on faster greens. It could be due to their putting technique or the style of greens they grew up playing on. Others just play better on courses with fast greens because of their course management or ball-striking tools.
Here are the top performers on courses with fast greens, over the last two years:
Rory McIlroy
Jon Rahm
Adam Scott
Justin Thomas
Xander Schauffele
Hideki Matsuyama
Patrick Cantlay
Tony Finau
Webb Simpson
Dustin Johnson
Bryson DeChambeau
Jason Kokrak
Erik van Rooyen
Brooks Koepka
Patrick Reed
We can also look at a golfer's performance versus their baseline to see who over-performs most. Here is that list:
Lanto Griffin
Adam Scott
Brendon Todd
Brandt Snedeker
Jordan Spieth
Tony Finau
Jason Kokrak
Erik van Rooyen
Matt Wallace
Max Homa
C.T. Pan
Jimmy Walker
Scottie Scheffler
Jason Day
Hideki Matsuyama
Overlap List: names that show up on both lists include Adam Scott, Tony Finau, Jason Kokrak, Erik van Rooyen, and Hideki Matsuyama.
You probably noticed right away that ball-striking is crucial on course with fast greens. The easiest way to avoid putting disasters is just to hit it closer or hit it into the correct areas of the green to allow for easier putts.
FanDuel Focus
Tony Finau ($10,400): The big Samoan has quickly become a course horse at Augusta National. He finished T10 in his 2018 debut and followed it up with a T5 last year. He's been T21 or better on the leaderboard after all eight rounds played at ANGC. Talking about it at Winged Foot he had this to say, "I have a great record there. I know what it takes to contend there, having seen Tiger win there last year in the final group, so I'm going to crank my game up and get it ready for Augusta National." Finau also arrives with five straight top 25s so the game is sharp.
Erik van Rooyen ($8,200): When looking for value, the South African is certainly one that pokes his head this week. EVR only has 18 measured PGA TOUR events in his career but he's gained four or more strokes on approach in five of those starts. Three of those came in major championships, one was at a WGC, and another at the Memorial. His ball-striking stands up with the best in the world. His form was spotty after the restart but he arrives with a T23 at the U.S. Open and a T20 last week in Houston. Another top 25 would likely pay off this cheap price tag.