golfrewind.com

In round 1 of the Honda Classic

Average Driving
David Toms 299.3
Padraig Harrington 298.7

Driving Accuracy
David Toms 71.4%
Padraig Harrington 50%

GIR
David Toms 61.1%
Padraig Harrington 72.2%

Putts Per GIR
David Toms 1.364
Padraig Harrington 1.846

Avg. Proximity to Pin
David Toms 39'10"
Padraig Harrington 34'8"

Basically from those stats, they are driving it a similar distance with Toms, much more accuate.
But despite that, Harrington still has a much higher Green in Regulation percentage.
Harrington is also averaging closer to the pin, but Toms is putting much better and that has made a big difference in his score being -5, to Harrington at -1.
Pity about that double bogey for Padraig.

On the PGA Tour the evidence is clearly conclusive that driving accuracy has nothing to do with one's abiliity to score low rounds. It may factor more in the majors. But on most regular tour events the three most crictical stats are greens in regulation, putts per greens in regulation, and the abiltiy to get up and down and save par.

Drive for show, put for dough. Oh so true. Simp

Don't forget...

Total Time of Round:

Toms - 4:15
Harrington - still playing

Please don't go there again!!

Plus we forgot to figure in if they were playing with forged blades or cavity back's! Simp

UNFAIR
He's still on Irish time

Seriously though I hope Doc Bob starts to get through to Pawd soon. I look forward to seeing Pawd later on in the year.

Round 2

Harringtons green in regulation stat went down from 72% to 56%, yet he scored 5 strokes better.
He did take 5 putts less, that is 25 versus 30 in round 1.
He drove the ball 21 yards longer, 319.5 from 298.5, yet his driving accuracy was also improved from 50% up to 64%.

I took note of a couple of their drives on holes when I happened to catch what was going on.
I was very surprised at how much further Harrington was hitting the ball than Toms.
Here are just the holes that I happened to catch:
Hole 9: Harrington 313 yards, Toms 264 yards.
Hole 10: Harrington 291 yards, Toms 241 yards.
Hole 12: Harrington 365 yards, Toms 315 yards.
Hole 13: Harrington 275 yards, Toms 272 yards.
Hole 14: Harrington 272 yards, Toms 259 yards.
Hole 17: Harrington 361 yards, Toms 328 yards.
Hole 18: Harrington 279 yards, Toms 283 yards.

From those stats, Harrington was outdriving Toms by about 50 yards on alot of the holes. Someone suggested in another topic, that Harrington wasn't long enough for The Masters. Perhaps he is.

Harrington is certainly long enough to win a Masters... he's not noted for being a bomber, but like Toms he is actually sneaky long.

Let's face it, if Mike Weir can win the Masters, Harrington is long enough to win it as well. Length is important at Augusta, but more so is having a razor sharp short game and putting stroke in the week in question.

Let's keep in mind that they've lengthened Augusta National since Mike Weir won. So distance is going to count there more than in the past. Which is something that both Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have voiced displeasure about. They want to the course to be more of shotmakers course.

I do agree with you that to win at Augusta you REALLY need to master the greens.

So far in 2006 Harrington is ranked 26th in driving distance, less than half a yard behind Phil Mickelson, and well ahead of David Toms.

Harrington's got the all round game to do it at Augusta, but he has to be on his game, and he WILL have to overcome his "bridesmaid" reputation.

As for the length of Augusta, I know they continue to lengthen it, but Chris DiMarco who is neither long nor straight has contended in the last two years. IMO any top 25 player who is in form can contend.

Any top 75 player can contend, if invited.

That says alot.


I think his 2 pga wins got him over that hurdle. In both cases, he won the event, as opposed to being handed it. A 63 in the last round of the Honda Classic, and in his 2nd win, he chased down Jim Furyk who was playing very well.

Not to be picky, but despite that glittering final round, Vijay pretty much handed it to him by missing a 2 foot putt.

He did, but Harrington put him under pressure, because Harrington had a dreadful chip shot to negotiate that could easily have meant bogey. He got up and down with a solid putt and that put extra pressure on Vijay. But yes Vijay should still have got that putt and kept the playoff going.
Vijay's putt was more difficult than Olazabal's or Daly's when they handed it to Tiger recently enough.