What the stats say: How does Tiger compare to the rest of the PGA Tour?

How is Tiger’s coming back going? He finished 2nd at the Valspar Championship, and now he’s had enough rounds for us to be able to look at the key stats from his return. 

So far, he’s already jumped from World No. 666th in December to 149th in just five events, posting results of T9-T23-MC-T12-T2 (including the unofficial Hero World Challenge event) as he edges ever closer to his 80th PGA Tour victory. 

Just last year at the President’s Cup Woods admitted there was a chance he may never play professionally again, and now it feels like question isn’t will he ever win again, to when will he win again?

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Next week, he heads to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational – a place where he’s won eight times in his career. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, how is he actually doing against the rest of the PGA Tour? The Valspar was a much better week for Tiger in terms of driving and less so in sharp iron shots, but so far it’s been the weaker part of his game.

What he is doing though, is showing a fused spine won’t slow him down – ranking 2nd in clubhead speed on tour behind Kevin Mitchell, and 0.07mph better than Rory McIlroy. But what about how the rest of the current World’s top 10 are doing in the 2017/18 season so far? (This graph excludes Sergio Garcia and Brooks Koepka, who haven’t played enough events on the PGA Tour this season to qualify for statistics.)

  Tiger DJ Thomas Rahm Spieth Rose Matsuyama Fowler Day
Driving distance 303.4 (T42)   311.0 (13th)  312.5 (9th)  306.7 (27th)  298.3 (82nd)  309.7 (17th)  298.1 (83rd)  294.0 (117th)  315.4 (6th)
Driving accuracy 48.9% (199th)  56.89% (132nd)   59.07% (101%) 57.22% (124th)   58.46% (112th)  53.18% (172nd) 60.74% (81st)   64.44% (35th)  65.92% (24th)
Scoring average 69.47 (5th) 68.843 (1st)  69.054 (2nd)  70.105 (28th)  70.080 (26th)  69.476 (7th)  70.732 (68th)  69.987 (19th)  69.473 (6th)
Clubhead speed 122.5 mph (2nd) 121.61 (7th)   117.70 (28th)  118.41 (23rd)  114.10 (88th)  117.67 (29th)  118.09 (25th) 115.05 (71st)  117.54 (132nd) 
GIR 61.1% (174th)  70.00% (27th)  70.14% (25th)  69.05% (41st)  69.91% (28th)  66.67% (78th)  71.90% (8th)  71.39% (12th) 65.63% (101st) 
Scrambling 63.3% (28th)   62.96% (29th)  65.70% (12th)  60.90% (57th)  69.23% (2nd)  64.58% (17th)  61.63% (49th)  65.05% (14th)  60.61% (62nd)
Putts per round 28.1 (8th)  27.75 (3rd)  28.19 (15th)  28.11 (10th)  28.96 (76th)  28.25 (21st)  29.24 (119th)  29.15 (102nd)  27.94 (7th)
One Putt-Percentage 45.24% (2nd) 43.61% (11th)   43.75% (10th)  44.44% (6th)  38.66% (102nd)  44.10% (9th)  39.87% (64th)  39.17% (87th) 45.14% (3rd) 
Putting from 3′ 1st  129th   82nd  101st  190th 156th  1st  113th 1st
Ball speed 180.62 (8th)  182.76 (1st)  176.73 (26th)  177.42 (22nd)  171.74 (63rd)  172.74 (52nd)  175.42 (33rd) 172.81 (51st)   175.56 (32nd)
SG: Total 11th 1st  5th  14th  28th  19th  3rd  46th  6th
SG: Tee-to-Green 28th 4th  7th  32nd  9th  55th  5th  27th  94th
SG: Off-the-Tee 104th 1st  28th  2nd   24th  19th  60th  52nd  21st
SG: Approach 19th 61st  9th   137th  24th 156th   2nd  30th  185th
SG: Around-the-Green 21st 15th 59th  84th 17th   33rd 31st   38th  29th
SG: Putting 23rd 14th  36th  29th 167th   11th 51st   139th  1st
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