Bryson DeChambeau set the PGA Tour’s record for driving distance last season. DeChambeau drove it 322.1 yards on average, the highest mark in the category since tracking began in 1980.
He nearly set another distance record, too.
DeChambeau made 91.20 percent of his putts within 10 feet last season, the highest mark since Jim Furyk made 92.40 percent in 2002, the first year tracking began. DeChambeau was the Tour’s best ever in long distance. And he was nearly the best ever over the past 18 years in short distance.
It’s worth noting that Furyk’s mark came on 659 fewer putts. He made 389 of 421 putts within 10 feet in 2002, while DeChambeau made 985 of 1,080. Furyk also has the third-highest percentage, with 91.14, on 1,080 of 1,185 putts, in 2006.
Perhaps not surprisingly, DeChambeau also led the Tour last season in putting from 5 to 10 feet, with 67.66 percent made (159 of 239). That’s 18th best in the category since 2002, when tracking began. (Steve Allan is best with a 73.13 percentage, on 98 of 134 putts, in 2002.)
DeChambeau’s flatstick, Justin Thomas recently said, was just as important as the big stick in winning the U.S. Open in September.
“Bryson won the U.S. Open because he putts the hell out of it; not because he hits it really far,” Thomas said on GOLF’s Subpar. “Yeah, it helps, but if he putted like every other person who hits as far as him, he would, you know, probably be putting my mail in my mailbox every other day.”
