Is There Such Thing As A Clutch Factor In Golf?

That's the question Jaime Diaz contemplates at GolfDigest.com now that the analytics gurus, apparently not busy enough sitting around crafting algorithms and thinking life is just one big fantasy league, have now attempted to get their hands on concept of clutch-performing athletes.

Their conclusion, as with most analytics, is to demean the intangible attributes of great athletes that they will never understand.

But as Diaz explains, there are special performers under pressure who like the limelight more than others. We've seen it in every generation of golfer and it's why we're excited to have a new breed showing the same (or improved) signs of clutch behavior when they get near a lead.

Statistically, pressure generally has a negative effect on performance in golf. Sometimes, memorably, it will act as a spur to a super-focused effort that produces a great round. But mostly scores get higher.

Take Tiger Woods in his prime. His 14-1 record with at least a share of the 54-hole lead in majors, which extends to 54-4 (a 94 percent conversion rate) in all official events, is arguably his most impressive and telling record (the PGA Tour average is perennially below 40 percent). And yet, as David Barrett pointed out in Golf World, from 2003 to 2009, Woods’ final round scoring average of 69.38 was higher than his overall scoring average of 69.11 for that same period. In other words, even Woods played worse than normal on Sunday with a lead.

And this is where analytics are unable to take into account course setup, weather, pressure, history, etc...go back to ruining baseball, stat geeks!