Wonks: Justin Rose Is (Statistically) Golf's Best Ballstriker

Luke Kerr-Dineen reports from the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference where they gave out awards and presented papers. Of interest to golfers was Lucius Riccio, Columbia University professor, presenting "Quantifying Long Approach Ball Striking."

Besides findings on certain players as ballstrikers--Rose, Westwood, Woods and Watson are among the best statistically--Riccio waxed on the increasing importance of stats thanks to ShotLink.

Riccio was presenting at the conference because his paper won last year's CDW Shotlink Intelligence award, a contest hosted by the PGA Tour. The tour agreed to turn over all the data it collected from tournament play to entrants with the caveat that the papers that result from it will be appropriately attributed.

"For a long time, golf was anti-analytical," Riccio said. "For a stats nerd like me, this is just like heaven."

There was also this for the rest of us:

    •    Of the 26-stroke difference between someone who shoots 69 and someone who shoots 95, 18 strokes are lost on full shots, and just eight on the greens.