Daily Fantasy Golf Course Primer: The Open Championship

The Open Championship is back on the menu for the first time in a long time, and it feels great.

The COVID-19 pandemic took The Open Championship off of the golf calendar in 2020, so we have gone a full two years since Shane Lowry won the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush.

The Open Championship is always a bit tricky to prepare for because of the rotating course setup, but we do have a few stops at Royal St. George's that we can dig into.

What should we know about Royal St. George's Golf Club in order to prepare fully for this week’s major?

Royal St. George's Course Information

Par: 70
Distance: 7,204
Average Green Size:
Green Type: Bentgrass
Stimpmeter:
Past 5 Winning Scores (Course): -5, -1, -13, +2, -4
Past 5 Winning Scores (Event): -15, -8, -12, -20, -15

Royal St. George's has held The Open Championship 14 times, including five times since 1981. The winners over those past five include Bill Rogers (1981), Sandy Lyle (1985), Greg Norman (1993), Ben Curtis (2003), and Darren Clarke (2011).

As with most British Opens, we should anticipate the winning score not to go too low, though we have seen some outliers in recent years.

Shane Lowry won by 6 shots in 2019, Jordan Spieth won by 3 shots in 2017, Henrik Stenson won by 3 shots in 2016 (and Phil Mickelson's runner-up result was 11 shots clear of third-place).

The average winning score across all Open Championships since 1980 has been -9.0.

At Royal St. George's, though, it's been -4.2, making it the second-toughest venue in that span behind only Carnoustie (-3.0), which has hosted three times.

In total, Royal St. George's has featured 3 of the 11 highest winning scores over the past 40 British Opens, so expect this event to give golfers a proper test.

Royal St. George's Hole-by-Hole Breakdown

We've got a bit of a mix of long and short holes on the course. Four holes are at least 110% longer than the median hole relative to par. That includes two long par 3s of at least 238 yards and two par 4s that stretch nearly 500 yards.

The shorter holes on the course comprise two par 3s under 175 yards and a 379-yard par 4.

In total, the course is about as long as your usual par 70 that PGA Tour players see.

Key Stats for The Open Championship at Royal St. George's

- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Good Drive Rate
- Strokes Gained: Putting on Bentgrass
- Scrambling/Strokes Gained: Around the Green
- Bogey Avoidance

Back in 2011 when we saw The Open Championship at this course, we saw that scrambling -- among non-Shotlink data, which we don't have for the event -- actually correlated strongest with stroke differential, followed closely by greens in regulation.

As for driving, we're really looking at driving it well enough to remain in play. By far, driving distance correlated stronger with stroke differential than fairways hit, but good drive rate doubled distance alone in terms of correlation with stroke differential.

But as always at a major, we need our golfers to have minimal weaknesses if any, and that's generally the key for me this week. Can you do it all?

Golfers With Great Event History at The Open Championship

These golfers have the best strokes gained average at Open Championships since 2015 (so, the past five iterations) among golfers with more than eight rounds played.

Jordan Spieth (2.5)
Henrik Stenson (2.5)
Rory McIlroy (2.5)
Tony Finau (2.1)
Zach Johnson (2.0)
Brooks Koepka (1.9)
Jason Day (1.7)
Justin Rose (1.7)
Phil Mickelson (1.7)
Xander Schauffele (1.7)
Alexander Noren (1.7)
Andrew Johnston (1.6)
Francesco Molinari (1.6)
Matt Kuchar (1.5)
Patrick Reed (1.5)
Tommy Fleetwood (1.4)

Past Open Championship winners who are in the field include: Shane Lowry (2019), Francesco Molinari (2018), Jordan Spieth (2017), Henrik Stenson (2016), Zach Johnson (2015), Rory McIlroy (2014), Phil Mickelson (2013), Ernie Els (2002, 2012), Darren Clarke (2011, at Royal St. George's), Louis Oosthuizen (2010), Stewart Cink (2009), Padraig Harrington (2007, 2008), and David Duval (2001).