Weird Numbers, Vol. 2

The Golf Channel's Sunday postgame posted a slightly different set of numbers than NBC, but the basic point gets across:

                        1999                             2005

Fairways Hit       68.8%                           51.6%
GIR                    43.6%                           49.8%
Putts Per GIR      1.63                             1.89

TGC's Kraig Kann asked NBC's Mark Rolfing to explain this stat. Rolfing replied that the greens in regulation number went up because "the rough was much tougher this time." Uh okay. Mark, they hit MORE greens, and FEWER of the narrowed fairways. Could it be that they were hitting many more SW's and PW's this time?

Here's what Tiger said about flogging after the round to NBC: “Because of the hole locations, even if you put the ball in the fairway, its still unbelievably difficult to get close to, so even if I drive it in the rough it’s no big deal, I have sixty-degree sand wedge in my hand and figure I can hack it up there and make birdie.”

The Tiger par-4 approach yardages I remembered to write down: 83 yards to #1, 55 yards to #7's back pin, 126 yards to #11, 49 yards to #13.