Defending RBC champion Webb Simpson uses a well-balanced game to succeed

So where does Simpson gain his strokes against the competition? The short answer: everywhere else on the golf course.

Approach Play Prowess

Only three players ranked in the top 25 on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach every season from 2015 through 2020 – Hideki Matsuyama, Paul Casey and Simpson. In 2019-20, Simpson hit more than 70% of his greens in regulation for the first time in his career.

Simpson’s ability to convert on approach opportunities with his wedges is among the best in the sport today. Over the last six PGA TOUR seasons, there are more than 150 players with 300 or more approach shots from 50-125 yards. Of that group, Simpson ranks fifth in average score to par per chance, at -0.21. He is just two-one-hundredths of a stroke behind the leader in that statistic, Jon Rahm.

Strengths and Balance

While Simpson has flashed strong approach play consistently over the last several seasons, it’s far from the only reason he is among the best players in the world. Simpson essentially does everything well.

Let’s look at the top 20 players in Strokes Gained: Total from last season on the PGA TOUR. As you might expect, many players see their biggest advantages come from one, or two, particular sets of skills. For example, Collin Morikawa ranked 14th on the PGA TOUR last season in Strokes Gained: Total. Seventy-two percent of his strokes gained came from approach shots alone. Matsuyama, who ranked 17th in Strokes Gained: Total, also made more than 70% of his gains with his approach play.

On the flipside, Matt Fitzpatrick, who ranked 16th in Strokes Gained: Total, gained 76.5% of his strokes on putts and shots around the green. Patrick Reed followed a similar trend, gaining 70.7% of his strokes in the same manner.

That brings us back to Simpson, and the balance within his game. Of those top 20 players in Strokes Gained: Total in 2019-2020, only one player gained more than 40% or more of his strokes on approach shots – and 40% of more of his strokes on putts and shots around the green combined: Simpson.

Putting Turnaround

No statistical analysis of Simpson should go without noting his unbelievable improvement on the greens after initially struggling post-anchor ban. As recently as 2016, Simpson was a dismal 177th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting. That season, he made less than 63% of his putts from 4-8 feet. For contrast, TOUR leader that season Kevin Kisner made nearly 77% of his putts from that range.

Fast forward five years, and Simpson has become one of the best putters on TOUR. This season, he ranks 13th in Strokes Gained: Putting – the fourth consecutive season he has ranked in the top 15. Not only is Simpson the only player currently to hold that distinction, nobody else has even ranked that highly in more than two of those seasons.

Simpson is proof that even in today’s game, a player can excel with just TOUR-average distance off the tee.