Ernie Els secured the Volvo Order of Merit title with three victories and a record €4,061,904 but behind these bare facts lies a wealth of information contained within the Reuters Statistics.
Since their introduction in 1998, the Reuters Statistics have become vital in the analysis of every player performance throughout the season. For players, commentators, the media and armchair fans around the world, these statistics have become an integral part of the game of golf, giving a comprehensive insight into all aspects of play, highlighting a particular player’’s strengths and weaknesses and exactly where he won or indeed lost a tournament.
This week, at the Volvo Masters Andalucia, another thrilling season reaches its climax and among the many sub plots of the week is who will top the various Reuters Statistics categories.
Throughout an enthralling season the seven Reuters Statistics categories have been hotly contested with the lead changing hands on a regular basis. With one event of the season remaining, a number of the awards are still up for grabs.
The most prestigious of all the Reuters Statistics categories is that of the Stroke Average. Els currently tops the list, as he did in 2003, with an impressive stroke average of 69.16, but he can still be caught by Luke Donald, the young Englishman needing a score of 271 at Valderrama to claim the top honours.
Both players have enjoyed exceptional seasons, Els winning the Heineken Classic, the World Golf Championships – American Express Championship and HSBC World Match Play Championship while Donald captured the Scandinavian Masters by Carlsberg and the Omega European Masters. The next four days will determine who tops the Stroke Average Category.
The consistency of Els’’s game is further underlined by another of the Reuters Statistics categories as he shares the lead in the Greens in Regulation category with Frenchman Thomas Levet with a 76% success rate, equating to some 13.7 greens hit in regulation per round. This category is now Levet’’s to win or lose as, with Els absent from the Volvo Masters Andalucia, Levet has the unenviable task of hitting 14 greens per round over one of the most testing layouts on The European Tour International Schedule, Club de Golf Valderrama, to win the award. Any worse than that and the title goes to Els.
The Average Putts per Round category is also up for grabs in Spain this week with American Rob Rashell leading the way with an average of 28.3. Frenchman Christian Cevear and Argentina’’s Angel Cabrera are both in the hunt for the title though, needing 27 and 26 putts per round respectively over the four days at Valderrama to top this category.
Whilst the Stroke Average award may be the most prestigious for the purists, the two driving categories are for the showmen. Driving Distance is always a battle for the heavyweights and 2004 was no exception with big-hitting Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina stealing the show with a huge 313.9 yards for his average drive, knocking Italian Emanuele Canonica into the second place with 312.9 yards. All top 15 players averaged over 300 yards.
England’’s Andrew Marshall proved the straightest hitter of the year, topping the Driving Accuracy category with a 71.9% success rate, just 0.1% ahead of left-hander Chris Gane of England.
Driving Statistics are all very impressive but it is invariably around the greens that tournaments are won and lost. The Putts per Greens in Regulation is the strongest guide as to who the best putters on Tour are and a glance through the top five in this Reuters Statistics category underlines that point. Els, Padraig Harrington, David Howell and Nick O’’Hern were all in the top five but the honours this year went to Argentina’’s Angel Cabrera with 1.7 putts per green in regulation, or putting it another way, almost one birdie in every three attempts.
In the final category Swede Klas Eriksson emerged as the season’’s best bunker player, getting up and down from sand 60 times from his 79 visits to bunkers during the season, a strike rate of 75.9% to win the Sand Saves category.
But overall, by combining the various categories, Els reigned supreme and the Reuters Statistics have again proved an invaluable source of information for players and fans alike.
