The Masters 2022 stats round-up: where the Green Jacket was won and lost
- Dave Tindall
- 11 April 2022
A look at some of the key metrics from the week at Augusta National and what fuelled Scottie Scheffler’s three-shot victory.
At the 2022 Masters, Scottie Scheffler played Augusta National in three strokes fewer than anyone else to secure his first Major and fourth win in six starts.
His 72-hole score of 10-under was the second year running that the Green Jacket winner was the only man in the field to shoot double digits under par.
But what did he do better than anyone else? Here's a look at how the leaders performed on the stats.
Scottish Scheffler - Winner
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee - 9th
Strokes Gained: Approach - 6th
Strokes Gained: Around The Green - 3rd
Strokes Gained: Tee To Green - 2nd
Strokes Gained: Putting - 13th
That's some body of work. Scheffler's worst ranking was 13th (putting) so his all-round game was fantastic.
Indeed, in the old-fashioned stats, he was 1st for All-Around. In the others, Scheffler ranked 16th for Driving Distance, 10th for Driving Accuracy, 5th for Greens In Regulation, 9th for Scrambling, 4th for Putting Average and 5th for Putts Per Round.
There were simply no weaknesses and that's why he was better than anyone else.
Rory McIlroy - Runner-up
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee - 4th
Strokes Gained: Approach - 13th
Strokes Gained: Around The Green - 1st
Strokes Gained: Tee To Green - 1st
Strokes Gained: Putting - 35th
Rory was a magician around the greens, drove the ball well and hit his irons better than many were giving him credit for.
In the traditional stats, he was 1st for Driving Distance and 43rd for Driving Accuracy.
It's hard to find fault in a player who finished runner-up but the difference between second and first for Rory was that he didn't quite hit enough fairways or hole enough putts.
McIlroy's ranking of 35th for SG: Putting was the worst ranking of the top 11 finishers.
Shane Lowry - Tied 3rd
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee - 1st
Strokes Gained: Approach - 51st
Strokes Gained: Around The Green - 4th
Strokes Gained: Tee To Green - 12th
Strokes Gained: Putting - 4th
Lowry's short game was superb (4th for both Putting and Around The Green) and he drove the ball better than anyone in the field.
But his ranking of 51st for SG: Approach put him almost dead last of the 52 players who made the cut. That ultimately cost him getting closer to Scheffler.
On the traditional stats, he was 27th in Driving Distance, 3rd in Driving Accuracy and 20th for Greens In Regulation.
Cameron Smith - Tied 3rd
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee - 50th
Strokes Gained: Approach - 2nd
Strokes Gained: Around The Green - 16th
Strokes Gained: Tee To Green - 7th
Strokes Gained: Putting - 9th
It's harsh but the enduring image of Smith's week will be him dumping his tee-shot into the water at 12 when bang in contention.
On the stats, he didn't drive it well enough, finishing 50 out of 52 for SG: Off The Tee.
That's also shown in the traditional stats where he was 46th (out of 52) for Driving Accuracy.
Collin Morikawa - 5th
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee - 20th
Strokes Gained: Approach - 8th
Strokes Gained: Around The Green - 8th
Strokes Gained: Tee To Green - 3rd
Strokes Gained: Putting - 22nd
Morikawa's season-long stats show him only 176th for SG: Around The Green but he did that part of the game much better at Augusta (8th).
His putter stood the test although he's been much better on the greens overall this season (31st for SG: Putting in 2021/2022).
He was only 37th for Driving Distance but otherwise the Open champ was strong across the board.
The key stats at the 2022 Masters
Expanding the review of 2022 beyond the top five, what else did the numbers say at Augusta National this year?
It's worth looking as they could provide key pointers for next year.
Strokes Gained: Around The Green
It's normally the least important SG stat in an average PGA Tour event but not at Augusta National.
Six of the top seven on the leaderboard ranked 11th or better for Around The Green this year. Runner-up McIlroy was 1st and winner Scheffler 3rd.
That backs up last year's findings when five of the top six finishers ranked 9th or higher for Around The Green.
Bogey Count
Birdies get the attention but the stats show that the top two - Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy - made the fewest mistakes.
Scottie Scheffler, forever a Masters champion. #themasters pic.twitter.com/ybAzniU3d8
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 11, 2022
Using bogey count (+1 for bogeys, +2 for doubles and +3 for triples etc), McIlroy had the lowest tally for the week of +10 (eight bogeys and a double).
Scheffler was due to win that category after only reaching +9 (nine bogeys) after 71 holes but he doubled the last to finish at +11.
Danny Willett (T12) also had a bogey count of +11 after 11 bogeys.
Shane Lowry (T3) was only over par on nine holes but that included a double and a triple, giving him a bogey count of +12.
The Par 4s
Only two players were under par for the week on Augusta National's 12 par 4s.
They were runner-up McIlroy and Will Zalatoris (T6) who played those combined 40 holes in 1-under.
Scheffler (winner) and Lowry (T3) were next best (even par) on the Par 4s so it was a key stat.
The Par 5s
Eight players were double digits under par on the Par 5s in 2021. Winner Hideki Matsuyama was -11 across those long holes at 2, 8, 13 and 15 to rank third.
In the 2022 Masters, the Par 5s were harder - there were no eagles at 15 for the first time since 1965 - but playing them well was still key to success.
Cam Smith (T3) had the lowest tally of -9 while Scheffler and McIlroy were ranked 2nd on the Par 5s with -8.
