In previous years when the British Open was about two weeks away, golf season was in mid-swing with the PGA Championship still on the horizon. But the PGA Tour reworked its schedule before this season, and as hard as it might be to believe, there’s only about a month until the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The cream has risen to the top in a key statistic: strokes gained approach the green. The stat measures (in strokes) how much of an advantage or disadvantage a player has over the field in each round when hitting non-tee shots from beyond 30 yards of the putting surface. Golfers who excel in this area tend to give themselves a lot of birdie chances and avoid big numbers.
The following list reveals the 10 highest-ranked players in strokes gained approach the green, along with the irons they play.
10. Jason Kokrak, 0.833
IRONS: PXG 0311T GEN2 (3-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts
9. Rory McIlroy, 0.843
IRONS: TaylorMade P790 UDI (2), with Project X HZRDUS Black 105 shaft; TaylorMade P750 (3, 4), P730 (5-9), with Project X 7.0 shafts
8. Tiger Woods, 0.863
IRONS: TaylorMade P-7TW (3-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts
7. Talor Gooch, 0.882
IRONS: Callaway Apex Pro 2016 (4), X Forged 2018 (5-6), Apex MB (7-9), with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 125X shafts
6. Emiliano Grillo, 0.904
IRONS: Callaway Apex MB (4-9), with Project X 6.5 Flighted shafts
5. Sergio Garcia, 0.911
IRONS: Callaway Apex MB (3-PW), with Nippon Pro Modus3 130X
4. Keegan Bradley, 0.942
IRONS: Srixon U45 (20 degrees), Z-745 (4-9), Z-945 (PW), with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 120X shafts
3. Hideki Matsuyama, 0.946
IRONS: Srixon Z-945 (4-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts
2. Justin Thomas, 0.952
IRONS: Titleist T100 prototype (4), 718 MB (5-9), with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Tour Issue shafts
1. Henrik Stenson, 1.245
IRONS: Callaway Legacy Black (3-PW), with Nippon Modus 120X shafts
