The 15th Presidents Cup is here, and the USA are the big favorites again.
Jim Furyk’s team includes World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and No.2 Xander Schauffele, with six Major winners among them, while Mike Weir’s team has three.
I analyzed the 2024 PGA Tour stats for all 24 players, looking at Strokes Gained, driving distance and accuracy, greens in regulation, and birdie averages.
USA Dominance
The USA leads in every category I checked—strokes gained, driving distance, accuracy, greens in regulation, and birdie average. This was surprising because I thought the Internationals might excel in some areas like putting or finding fairways more often. But no, Jim Furyk’s squad has an edge everywhere.
They also have higher world rankings and more Major wins. With nine consecutive Presidents Cup victories under their belt, they are rightly favorites again. However, stats don’t decide matches; the Internationals could still pull off a surprise with their home crowd cheering them on.
Scheffler and Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler tops Strokes Gained: Total, tee to green, off the tee, and approach categories but struggles with putting (ranked 70th). His average ranking across core SG metrics is 15.2 (second overall). Xander Schauffele averages 8.7 due to solid stats and better putting this year (10th in SG: Putting).
Fans might think that if Scheffler improves his putting game even a little bit, he would be unstoppable.
Mackenzie Hughes Shines on Greens
Mackenzie Hughes stands out as the best around and on the greens among all 24 players this year. He ranks third around the greens on the PGA Tour and fifth in putting—making him officially the best putter at this year’s Presidents Cup. Expect Mike Weir to use him frequently in both foursomes and four-ball formats.
International Team’s Best Putters
Despite lagging behind overall in strokes gained categories (US 57.4 vs Internationals 69.2), the International team boasts three top putters: Mackenzie Hughes (5th), Taylor Pendrith (7th), and Jason Day (9th). The USA’s top putter is Xander Schauffele at 10th place.
These excellent putters will likely play crucial roles for their team this year.
Other International Standouts?
Besides having great putters like Mackenzie Hughes who excels at short games too—the Internationals also feature long hitters Byeong Hun An (317 yards) & Min Woo Lee (315 yards). Corey Conners shines with iron play while Si Woo Kim excels at accurate driving; Sungjae Im makes most birdies per round among them!
USA’s Biggest Advantage: Iron Play
When averaging out all SG rankings between both sides—the biggest gap lies within ‘Approach-the-green’ category where Americans hold significant lead by over +28 points! Top performers include Scottie Scheffler (#1), Tony Finau (#2) & Collin Morikawa (#5); whereas only Corey Conners (#3) represents internationals here effectively enough compared against rest of competition fielded so far till date…
All twelve American players rank inside top-97 PGA Tour Approach statistics list unlike three international counterparts falling outside top-133 range altogether respectively speaking thereby highlighting inherent disparity existing therein accordingly too likewise henceforth thereof…
Max Homa
Max Homa was picked as a wildcard by Jim Furyk but hasn’t had his best season statistically speaking thus far either way ultimately anyways… His highest SG ranking stands merely at #28 ‘Around-the-green’ followed closely next up thereafter then subsequently thereafter again afterwards eventually finally culminating altogether down towards bottom end spectrum ranging anywhere between #75 through #156 across various other respective categories involved therein respectively likewise henceforth thereof…
What’s your take on these insights? Do you think stats will hold true during actual gameplay or surprises await us ahead instead perhaps maybe?
