21 July 2012 11:36
GMT
There is a an old saying which suggests you drive for show but putt for dough but this week Adam Scott seems to be doing his best to prove that wrong.
The Australian is currently lying in 21st place on the putting stats with a total of 56 putts over the first two rounds but is a clear No.1 in the Driving Distance charts with an average of 312.5 yards which is more than three feet more than second-placed Dustin Johnson.
Some TheOpen.com readers might be surprised to learn that after the first two rounds a certain Tiger Woods is heading the Driving Accuracy charts having hit 93% of the fairways to date although in his case Tee Shot Accuracy might be a more applicable description because his driver has seldom been out of his bag. That also explains why he is languishing in 129th place in the Driving Distance stats with an average of 266.8 which would be very impressive for most of us but is much nearer last-place Miguel Angel Jimenez (244.5 yards) than the aforementioned Scott.
Lee Westwood is often said to be hampered by his putting and that is certainly borne out by the statistics over the first two rounds of this year’s Open. The Englishman hit 100% of his fairways yesterday but he is down in 120th place in the Average Putts category having taken 30 on Thursday and 32 yesterday afternoon. In contrast the leader in that statistical category is New Zealand’s Steven Alker who is averaging 25 putts a round which might go a long way to explaining why the 40 year-old came through Local Final Qualifying at West Lancs went into today’s third round just outside the top 10 on 2 under par after a pair of 69s.
Meanwhile leader Brandt Snedeker continues to provide graphic evidence that you have to be a good all-rounder if you want to excel at this sport. He ranks only 91st in the Fairways Hit category but is No. 1 in Greens in Regulation (31 out of 36), 16th in Driving Distance (296.8 yards), and 45th in Total Putts (58). It is also worth noting that the leader is second (behind Scott) as far as number of birdies scored is concerned (10 over 2 rounds) and has not been in a single bunker over the first two rounds.
That last stat might well be the most pertinent of them all.