Breaking down the best links-style players ahead of The Open

The unmistakable visage of The Old Course will captivate sports fans worldwide this week at The 150th Open Championship.

The greatest champions our sport has ever known have often played their best on these sacred grounds. Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Seve Ballesteros, and Peter Thomson all won Opens here. Tiger Woods completed his first career grand slam here in 2000. Jack Nicklaus, his third in 1978. Which player will add his name to the incredible list of Open champions at St Andrews?

Twenty First Group analyzed every DP World and PGA Tour event – including The Open – played on coastal courses of the British Isles going back more than ten years. In all, the collection spanned more than 26,000 rounds of competition. Combing through the results yielded some interesting names, including many in the field this week at St Andrews.

Jordan Spieth

The 2017 Champion Golfer of the Year, Jordan Spieth has made the most of his opportunities when crossing the Atlantic. Since 2015, Spieth has averaged more than 2-and-a-half Strokes Gained: Total per round on these links-style courses as defined by our dataset. Among the more than 300 players with ten or more rounds in that span, that is easily the best rate of any player. In fact, only nine other players are gaining 1.5 strokes or more in that span, a testament to just how good Spieth has been.

Spieth’s success on these courses doesn’t boil down to just one statistic. He hits about 4 percent more greens in regulation than the field per round, and scrambles about 9 percent better. He also averages one putt fewer per round than the competition on these setups.

Spieth is a combined 42-under-par at The Open Championship since 2015, 16 strokes better than any other player in that span. His career Strokes Gained: Total average at The Open of 2.25 per round is the best of any player with 20 or more rounds played going all the way back to 1995.

Jon Rahm

Former world number one Jon Rahm’s complete game means he’s a ‘course fit’ regardless of venue, worldwide. But he’s building a particularly glimmering list of results on many of the classic setups across Europe. He’s won the Irish Open twice, and last year finished tied for third at Royal St Georges, four shots behind Collin Morikawa. Since 2017, Rahm has averaged 1.99 Strokes Gained: Total on links-style courses, the fourth-best average among players with ten or more rounds played.

Rahm has been able to capitalize on his distance advantage on these types of courses: since 2015, he has averaged 10 yards more than the field off the tee. Throw in a greens in regulation rate of 72 percent, and Rahm is one of just a dozen players to average a 10-plus yard advantage off the tee and hit 70 percent G.I.R. or more among the hundreds of players in our data set.

Rahm has averaged 2.19 Strokes Gained: Total per round in the major championships since the beginning of 2020, third-best of any player in that span.

Tommy Fleetwood

Since 2017, Tommy Fleetwood has averaged a stellar 2.25 strokes under par per round on links courses as defined in this exercise. That’s not only the best of any player in that span, it’s more than a quarter-of-a-stroke better than anyone else who has 20 or more rounds in that stretch. Fleetwood has hit 76.6 percent of his greens in regulation on these courses, the second-best rate of any player. He’s also among the most experienced players in recent years, ranking second in rounds played (82) among everyone in our data set.

After missing the cut in each of his first three starts at The Open Championship, Fleetwood has turned his fortunes around in recent years. Fleetwood is a combined 13-under-par at The Open since 2017, fourth-best of any player in that stretch. Tommy’s best Open result was a runner-up finish to Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush three summers ago.

Tyrrell Hatton

Not many players in the field this week aside from Tiger Woods can claim to have won multiple tournaments at St Andrews on the professional level. One of them who can is Tyrrell Hatton, a two-time winner of the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links. Since 2015, Hatton is a combined 147 strokes under par on British Isles, seaside courses in DP World and PGA Tour play. That’s nine shots better than second place (Fleetwood, -138) and 32 strokes ahead of third (Eddie Pepperell, -115).

Two of Hatton’s three best ever finishes in major championships have come at The Open – in 2016 at Royal Troon (T-5) and three years later at Royal Portrush (T-6).

Tony Finau

Since 2015, only four players have hit five percent more greens in regulation and also scrambled five percent better than the field on these links style setups. One of those golfers is Tony Finau – a man who ranks fourth in Strokes Gained: Total per round in our dataset in that stretch. Tony has typically overwhelmed these courses with driver, averaging 12.6 more yards off the tee than the field average.

Finau is one of five players to have finished in the top-15 each of the last two Open Championships (2019 and 2021). He is also one of just three players since 1995 to have played 20 or more rounds at The Open and had a Strokes Gained: Total average of 2 or better per round. Spieth and Woods are the others.

Xander Schauffele

Perhaps the hottest player in the world, Xander Schauffele enters this week’s Open Championship having won his last two PGA TOUR starts, the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open. Schauffele will be the sixth player in the last ten seasons to tee it up in a major coming off wins in back-to-back PGA TOUR starts – each of the previous five would finish in the top-ten that week.

Even before last week’s win at The Renaissance Club, Schauffele was building a strong resume on links style European courses. Since 2017, Schauffele is ranked fifth among all players in Strokes Gained: Total per round on these courses, averaging 1.93 per round. His putting has been especially strong in these events, averaging 2.9 fewer putts per 72 holes than the field average.