Ryan Fox and Robert MacIntyre will head into Saturday with a two-shot lead on the field, with each man looking to build off their European success by capturing their first title on the PGA Tour.
Fox's four wins in Europe will outweigh MacIntyre's two victories, but it is still a wide-open board that features two Canadians looking to build off of Nick Taylor's victory last year (Mackenzie Hughes fourth and Corey Conners 13th).
I don't love this board because the composition of in-tournament data fails to merge with the lack of pre-tournament information we had on Hamilton, but here are the numbers as we head into round three.
If you haven't already, you can find me on Twitter (@TeeOffSports). There, I provide a link to my pre-tournament model, a powerful and interactive data spreadsheet that allows user input to create custom golf rankings. That sheet is released every Monday, so be sure to check it out and construct your own numbers from my database of information.
2024 RBC Canadian Open
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
Through two rounds, we find an extremely weird return for the Strokes Gained Off The Tee data.
Five of the top 15 players missed the weekend, including 11 of the top 22 when we stretch the board further.
It hasn't been all bad when we consider that four of the top 10 on that list (Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Sam Burns, and David Skinns) find themselves in the top seven of the board, but it does feel like some in the industry made an error in overvaluing driving distance pre-event since no player inside the top 20 for length is currently within the top 10 of the board.
Strokes Gained: Approach
Ryan Fox and Tyler Duncan are the only two players in this event ranked in the top 10 of the field this week for Strokes Gained Off-The-Tee and Approach.
Naturally, the lack of consistency in the data this week has one ranked first for the event (Fox) and the other 30th (Duncan).
Strokes Gained: Around The Green
While most of the data is choppy at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, the lack of around-the-green impact makes sense when you consider that all the pertinent returns stem around the irons and putter.
Anyone who has struggled to hit a green in regulation has floundered on this leaderboard.
Strokes Gained: Putting
Players Gaining In All Four Strokes Gained Metrics
Expected Score When Given Baseline Putting + Around-The-Green
(Top 70 Players)
Biggest Underachievers On The Leaderboard
(Who Missed Cut)
Biggest Underachievers On The Leaderboard
(Who Made Cut)
Biggest Overachievers On The Leaderboard
(Who Made Cut)
