To give us an idea of how good a player is off the tee, their total driving stats is a good place to start though it won’t give us a definitive answer.
Total driving is an old-school statistic that combines a player’s rank in driving distance and driving accuracy to create a single metric for overall tee-shot performance.
A player’s total driving score is calculated by adding their season-long rank in driving distance and driving accuracy – and the lower the resulting number, the better the player’s total driving performance.
Strokes gained analyses performance by measuring a player’s advantage or disadvantage against a field average for every shot.
Strokes gained provides a comprehensive analysis of a golfer’s entire game by comparing each shot to the average performance from the same situation and therefore revealing precise strengths and weaknesses.
We’ve listed the players in order of Strokes gained – Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton aren’t listed as they now play on LIV Golf but both would certainly appear at the top end of these lists.
SG: Off-the-Tee Total Driving (Distance-Accuracy)
Rory McIlroy 3rd 0.671 77th (2-159)
Ludvig Aberg 10th 0.524 12th (18-85)
Tommy Fleetwood 48th 0.242 47th (118-25)
Bob MacIntyre 50th 0.228 47th (88-55)
Sepp Straka 50th 0.228 66th (133-22)
Rasmus Hojgaard 69th 0.139 44th (7-134)
Matt Fitzpatrick 76th 0.103 59th (88-60)
Viktor Hovland 77th 0.099 27th (85-41)
Shane Lowry 81st 0.085 98th (132-43)
Justin Rose 135th -0.254 137th (97-99)
*Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton not listed
European Ryder Cup team driving conclusions
1) Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler (1st) are out on their own in these teams. Accuracy wise McIlroy looks to have problems but his distance makes up for that.
Stats can be deceiving as McIlroy is often spoken of as the best driver in the modern era, yet he is down in 77th spot this season for total driving.
2) Ludvig Aberg’s driving is as ridiculously good as it looks. It’s his approach play and around the greens that have let him down at times this season.
Off the tee the Swede averages 313 yards which, other than Bryson DeChambeau, is longer than any of the Americans.
3) Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka are two of the shorter hitters on both teams but they are almost identical in terms of their distance off the tee.
And they play the same ball, and they played together last time. So pencil them in for at least one foursomes outing.
4) Tommy Fleetwood and McIlroy will certainly partner one another, at least in the singles, and they could well be the pairing that Europe build everything around.
They have split up after the morning foursomes but there is a good argument for just sticking with them, given that the likes of Matt Fitzpatrick are bang in form and might not need pairing up with a stronger player.
5) Justin Rose is the only player to be losing shots to the field off the tee on either team. In fact his overall stats don’t make for very cheerful reading but, then again, they’re just stats.
The Englishman has been consistently brilliant in raising his game for the Ryder Cup and he’s such a valuable asset for Luke Donald’s side.
