Capelle On Golf

In the first round match of the 2008 Accenture Match Play, Tiger Woods and J.B. Holmes were dead even as they strode to the tee of the 601 yard par five 17th, a three shotter for most pros. But not for these bombers.

After a 320 yard drive into the right rough, Tiger smashed a fairway wood 280 yards onto the green, 35’ from the cup. His shot was caught perfectly by the Golf Channel camera crew, the arc of this 280 yard missile tracing a path across the desert sky, and every bit as thrilling as watching the arc of a tape measure home run. Holmes, who had split the fairway with a 347 yard blast, then smoked a long iron on the fly onto the middle of the green, 45’ from the hole. After Holmes lag stopped five feet short, Tiger rolled in his curving eagle putt to take a 1-up lead. If Holmes had made his putt (he picked up his ball), that’s seven strokes for this twosome on a monster par five, all possible thanks to their ability to hit long and accurate shots.

Play like this needs to be recognized by the PGA Tour. In short, par fives hit in two is a stat that should be as important to golf as baseball’s home run is to our national pastime. And, since golfers play a different number of events, golf’s “home run” leaders should be based on a percentage of par fives hit in two. Otherwise Tiger, the ultimate power player, would be far down the rankings due to his limited schedule.

This stat would be easy enough to implement, especially since there is evidence that the numbers are already being kept, but just not published. As an example, about a year ago Golf Magazine revealed that Woods reached the par fives in two 40.9% of the time in 2006 compared to the tour average of 21.6%. Par fours hit in one should be a separate stat since the opportunities to hit them in one are far less, so including them would disrupt the average.

If you would like to see the PGA Tour publish par fives in two, let them know by emailing them at tour headquarters. You could use this letter, or compose your own:

Dear PGA Tour,

A stat showing the number of par fives in two hit by each player would be of great interest to me and to my fellow golf fans. The stat should show them ranked by percentage of par fives hit, as opposed to ranking them by the total number hit. Implementing this stat would give golf the equivalent of a home run, and it could spur fan interest in your other stats as well. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,