These PGA Tour players made the biggest strokes-gained improvements, declines

There is no shortage of metrics on the PGA Tour.

Some of the most useful are the strokes-gained statistics. Whether it’s off the tee, approaching the green, around the green or putting, these strokes-gained numbers quantify where players stack up against their peers in the most important facets of the game.

Using these metrics, we can also see how much better – or worse – a particular player got in each of those four areas. Who made the greatest driving gain? Who improved the most on approach? Who suffered the biggest setback with putter?

All of those questions can easily be answered.

And so, with that said, who were the PGA Tour’s biggest strokes-gained gainers – and losers – from last season to this season?

Some notable findings:

• Maverick McNealy improved the most across the board, using a 165-place gain in his off-the-tee ranking to rise 227 total spots, one spot clear of Davis Thompson, who improved 226 places despite backing up 12 spots to No. 38 off the tee. McNealy’s off-the-tee ranking gain was the single greatest improvement, and it more than offset his slight drop in putting, as he went from the Tour’s top-ranked putter to No. 29. McNealy became an equipment free agent this year, and had a TaylorMade Qi10 driver in the bag, along with TaylorMade P7CB irons that he switched to this fall, when he won the RSM Classic for his first Tour win. He still uses an Odyssey putter.

• Akshay Bhatia’s putting, up 150 spots, was the second biggest gain this season, followed by Keith Mitchell’s approach play, which was up 148 places. Bhatia switched to a broomstick putter in September 2023. Mitchell began the year working with Georgia assistant coach Mookie DeMoss on improving his course management, especially off the tee to take pressure off his approach shots; it worked.

• Cameron Champ’s 128-spot improvement in putting, to No. 37, was tied with Sam Stevens for second best on Tour, though it might’ve been the most impressive rise as Champ had never finished a season ranked better than 123rd with the flatstick.

• On the flip side, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler not only plummeted 307 and 295 total spots, respectively, but they were also two of only three players to have top-5 declines in multiple strokes-gained categories, both doing so on approach and around the greens. Max Homa dropped 123 places off the tee, tops on Tour, and 100 in putting, tied for fifth. Fowler talked in June about his biggest issue being with the flatstick, saying, “I feel like a lot of it can go back to not putting well. … Putting well helps free up other things. You’re not seeing putts go in and it kind of adds some extra stress to having to hit greens or hit it closer, chip it close, that circle gets quite a bit bigger once you see some go in.” Fowler has since switched to a LAB putter, though looking at his stats, putting was his smallest drop, at only 18 spots to No. 66. He lost most of his ground with his approach play (down 117 places) and around the greens (down 100 spots).

Here is a further dive into the numbers:

Off the tee

Biggest improvements
1. Maverick McNealy, +165 (to No. 23)
2. Kurt Kitayama, +110 (to No. 16)
3. Sahith Theegala, +106 (to No. 28)
4. Alex Noren, +91 (to No. 79)
5. Ryan Brehm, +88 (to No. 81)

Biggest declines
1. Max Homa, -123 (to No. 164)
2. Garrick Higgo, -122 (to No. 140)
3. S.H. Kim, -113 (to No. 142)
4. Cam Davis, -110 (to No. 127)
5. Brandon Wu, -99 (to No. 169)

Last season’s top 5
1. Scottie Scheffler, -1 (to No. 2)
2. Ludvig Åberg, -12 (to No. 14)
3. Rory McIlroy, -1 (to No. 4)
4. Patrick Cantlay, -57 (to No. 61)
6. Kevin Yu, -6 (to No. 12)

Approach the green

Biggest improvements
1. Keith Mitchell, +148 (to No. 12)
2. Seamus Power, +112 (to No. 57)
3. Davis Thompson, +111 (to No. 38)
4. Austin Smotherman, +104 (to No. 20)
5. Henrik Norlander, +95 (to No. 11)

Biggest declines
1. Justin Rose, -140 (to No. 157)
2. Davis Riley, -128 (to No. 168)
3. Adam Schenk, -123 (to No. 171)
4. Rickie Fowler, -117 (to No. 124)
5. Ryan Palmer, -107 (to No. 167)

Last season’s top 5
1. Scottie Scheffler, +0 (still No. 1)
2. Collin Morikawa, -40 (to No. 42)
3. Xander Schauffele, -3 (to No. 6)
5. Tony Finau, +3 (to No. 2)
6. Gary Woodland, -41 (to No. 47)

Around the green

Biggest improvements
1. Webb Simpson, +140 (to No. 2)
2. Ryan Moore, +123 (to No. 37)
3. Kevin Tway, +104 (to No. 47)
4. Chez Reavie, +100 (to No. 63)
5. Collin Morikawa, +86 (to No. 10)

Biggest declines
1. Rickie Fowler, -100 (to No. 121)
2. Ben An, -98 (to No. 104)
3. Viktor Hovland, -94 (to No. 180)
4. Justin Rose, -92 (to No. 112)
5. Jordan Spieth, -80 (to No. 108)
5. J.J. Spaun, -80 (to No. 112)

Last season’s top 5
2. Aaron Baddeley, -5 (to No. 7)
3. Brendon Todd, -16 (to No. 19)
4. Justin Thomas, +1 (to No. 3)
5. Scottie Scheffler, -12 (to No. 17)
6. Ben An, -98 (to No. 104)

Putting

Biggest improvements
1. Akshay Bhatia, +150 (to No. 33)
2. Cameron Champ, +128 (to No. 37)
2. Sam Stevens, +128 (to No. 38)
4. Tyson Alexander, +123 (to No. 36)
5. Erik van Rooyen, +112 (to No. 26)

Biggest declines
1. Nicolai Hojgaard, -120 (to No. 144)
2. Adam Svensson, -113 (to No. 172)
3. Sam Ryder, -108 (to No. 122)
4. Keegan Bradley, -105 (to No. 125)
5. Chris Kirk, -100 (to No. 170)
5. Max Homa, -100 (to No. 106)
5. Brice Garnett, -100 (to No. 169)

Last season’s top 5
1. Maverick McNealy, -28 (to No. 29)
2. Taylor Montgomery, +1 (to No. 1)
3. Denny McCarthy, -1 (to No. 4)
4. Harry Hall, -39 (to No. 43)
5. Xander Schauffele, -7 (to No. 12)

Overall

Biggest improvements
1. Maverick McNealy, +227
2. Davis Thompson, +226
3. Erik van Rooyen, +187
4. Nico Echavarria, +178
5. Zach Johnson, +170

Biggest declines
1. Justin Rose, -307
2. Rickie Fowler, -295
3. Max Homa, -289
4. Cam Davis, -230
5. Adam Schenk, -177

Full breakdown

PLAYER	2024 OTT	2024 APP	2024 ATG	2024 PUTT	2023 OTT	2023 APP	2023 ATG	2023 PUTT	OTT +/-	APP +/-	ATG +/-	PUTT +/-	OVR +/-
Maverick McNealy	23	118	10	29	188	159	59	1	165	41	49	-28	227
Davis Thompson	38	38	5	90	26	149	88	134	-12	111	83	44	226
Erik van Rooyen	40	94	149	26	84	95	179	138	44	1	30	112	187
Nico Echavarria	116	101	126	79	125	172	166	137	9	71	40	58	178
Zach Johnson	124	126	67	22	147	164	123	75	23	38	56	53	170
Kevin Tway	64	174	47	28	89	140	151	95	25	-34	104	67	162
Billy Horschel	71	107	64	21	152	133	95	41	81	26	31	20	158
Henrik Norlander	103	11	99	131	141	106	98	155	38	95	-1	24	156
Patton Kizzire	120	18	85	127	157	111	103	117	37	93	18	-10	138
Wesley Bryan	100	129	65	126	180	173	18	180	80	44	-47	54	131
Austin Smotherman	52	20	111	176	96	124	170	98	44	104	59	-78	129
Harry Hall	139	77	6	43	173	163	53	4	34	86	47	-39	128
Taylor Pendrith	70	68	118	5	40	103	144	102	-30	35	26	97	128
Tyson Alexander	179	166	78	36	177	161	89	159	-2	-5	11	123	127
Akshay Bhatia	59	48	119	33	32	33	128	183	-27	-15	9	150	117
Kurt Kitayama	16	10	66	171	126	49	70	133	110	39	4	-38	115
Sam Stevens	17	143	72	38	31	115	66	166	14	-28	-6	128	108
C.T. Pan	114	81	12	89	145	55	91	110	31	-26	79	21	105
Aaron Rai	34	7	56	87	38	35	56	152	4	28	0	65	97
Cameron Champ	1	181	182	37	19	122	192	165	18	-59	10	128	97
Keith Mitchell	7	12	101	159	7	160	121	85	0	148	20	-74	94
Andrew Novak	69	23	40	100	101	99	51	72	32	76	11	-28	91
Alex Noren	79	43	8	54	170	74	11	18	91	31	3	-36	89
Collin Morikawa	19	42	10	73	21	2	96	114	2	-40	86	41	89
Doug Ghim	20	8	106	135	50	70	79	150	30	62	-27	15	80
Matti Schmid	47	100	157	46	52	108	187	82	5	8	30	36	79
Christiaan Bezuidenhout	144	58	44	20	171	77	42	53	27	19	-2	33	77
Martin Trainer	176	183	122	32	168	187	126	108	-8	4	4	76	76
Xander Schauffele	10	6	42	12	47	3	90	5	37	-3	48	-7	75
Scottie Scheffler	2	1	17	77	1	1	5	162	-1	0	-12	85	72
Carson Young	36	85	170	68	81	93	185	71	45	8	15	3	71
Matt Wallace	150	60	24	82	176	72	34	104	26	12	10	22	70
Sam Burns	44	73	80	14	46	129	97	8	2	56	17	-6	69
Martin Laird	161	150	18	61	144	113	92	107	-17	-37	74	46	66
Seamus Power	95	57	95	91	110	169	60	63	15	112	-35	-28	64
Mackenzie Hughes	153	136	4	3	163	154	8	34	10	18	4	31	63
Webb Simpson	125	148	2	157	151	97	142	105	26	-51	140	-52	63
Chez Reavie	168	28	63	155	153	38	163	122	-15	10	100	-33	62
Lucas Glover	112	5	48	139	45	15	133	169	-67	10	85	30	58
Charley Hoffman	72	74	89	146	111	31	116	181	39	-43	27	35	58
Justin Lower	145	78	131	31	154	91	161	35	9	13	30	4	56
Hideki Matsuyama	33	15	1	121	81	12	13	119	48	-3	12	-2	55
Ryan Moore	118	24	37	177	124	22	160	103	6	-2	123	-74	53
Brian Harman	88	35	74	40	48	105	107	27	-40	70	33	-13	50
Lanto Griffin	56	76	174	123	71	171	141	89	15	95	-33	-34	43
Sahith Theegala	28	44	81	48	134	69	22	17	106	25	-59	-31	41
Si Woo Kim	38	14	43	140	25	44	44	163	-13	30	1	23	41
Chad Ramey	129	162	87	25	104	155	140	44	-25	-7	53	19	40
Russell Henley	106	33	21	39	63	18	29	120	-43	-15	8	81	31
Beau Hossler	85	156	9	14	53	158	25	56	-32	2	16	42	28
Taylor Moore	46	142	92	55	114	112	110	25	68	-30	18	-30	26
Joel Dahmen	40	16	141	181	65	83	65	188	25	67	-76	7	23
Cameron Young	25	87	102	145	12	92	119	158	-13	5	17	13	22
Kevin Chappell	128	145	82	86	138	81	137	106	10	-64	55	20	21
Corey Conners	21	3	124	128	11	21	135	128	-10	18	11	0	19
Ben Griffin	130	34	23	52	117	89	12	39	-13	55	-11	-13	18
Adam Scott	31	88	71	27	28	143	37	19	-3	55	-34	-8	10
Kevin Yu	12	36	155	153	6	66	101	191	-6	30	-54	38	8
Ryan Brehm	81	173	181	160	169	184	186	61	88	11	5	-99	5
Tom Hoge	120	4	160	93	155	9	151	66	35	5	-9	-27	4
Brice Garnett	136	69	26	169	127	137	71	69	-9	68	45	-100	4
David Lipsky	167	49	60	162	131	43	87	179	-36	-6	27	17	2
Austin Eckroat	30	27	157	129	34	102	131	76	4	75	-26	-53	0
Nate Lashley	148	63	34	88	121	45	84	81	-27	-18	50	-7	-2
J.T. Poston	110	105	31	50	118	47	99	29	8	-58	68	-21	-3
Carl Yuan	54	153	119	179	67	142	161	132	13	-11	42	-47	-3
Andrew Putnam	170	63	22	41	174	25	73	12	4	-38	51	-29	-12
Sepp Straka	48	40	172	104	101	23	167	60	53	-17	-5	-44	-13
Tony Finau	68	2	12	156	44	5	49	125	-24	3	37	-31	-15
Joseph Bramlett	26	90	32	173	54	37	54	160	28	-53	22	-13	-16
Ludvig Åberg	14	21	105	67	2	107	39	42	-12	86	-66	-25	-17
K.H. Lee	79	140	48	62	90	94	26	101	11	-46	-22	39	-18
Justin Thomas	72	9	3	174	62	39	4	135	-10	30	1	-39	-18
Troy Merritt	133	79	91	161	107	126	41	172	-26	47	-50	11	-18
Harris English	84	149	73	16	159	79	49	16	75	-70	-24	0	-19
Robby Shelton	173	134	15	94	160	80	35	121	-13	-54	20	27	-20
Aaron Baddeley	182	153	7	18	187	117	2	31	5	-36	-5	13	-23
Michael Kim	147	37	97	78	106	59	93	78	-41	22	-4	0	-23
Zac Blair	154	89	38	120	156	88	36	97	2	-1	-2	-23	-24
Emiliano Grillo	97	44	177	68	57	62	158	84	-40	18	-19	16	-25
Nick Hardy	48	61	175	135	80	61	164	87	32	0	-11	-48	-27
Chesson Hadley	94	131	150	45	139	42	181	30	45	-89	31	-15	-28
Sungjae Im	29	99	25	65	24	87	17	62	-5	-12	-8	-3	-28
Greyson Sigg	122	25	30	175	83	65	77	96	-39	40	47	-79	-31
Taylor Montgomery	184	165	33	1	148	181	18	2	-36	16	-15	1	-34
Byeong Hun An	22	70	104	113	27	98	6	144	5	28	-98	31	-34
Shane Lowry	53	12	114	112	30	28	82	116	-23	16	-32	4	-35
Thomas Detry	78	137	151	10	93	118	78	50	15	-19	-73	40	-37
Patrick Rodgers	58	135	76	71	61	120	47	67	3	-15	-29	-4	-45
Ben Taylor	177	177	60	74	181	127	101	32	4	-50	41	-42	-47
Denny McCarthy	155	111	14	4	90	85	58	3	-65	-26	44	-1	-48
Tyler Duncan	45	172	137	142	22	134	177	113	-23	-38	40	-29	-50
Brandon Wu	169	109	52	124	70	84	115	135	-99	-25	63	11	-50
Wyndham Clark	18	96	83	19	74	29	27	33	56	-67	-56	14	-53
Rory McIlroy	4	52	28	59	3	8	14	65	-1	-44	-14	6	-53
Peter Malnati	174	146	83	48	186	165	23	23	12	19	-60	-25	-54
Justin Suh	141	170	144	6	86	125	183	10	-55	-45	39	4	-57
Davis Riley	162	168	129	41	105	40	173	125	-57	-128	44	84	-57
Matt Kuchar	143	128	29	29	94	100	9	68	-49	-28	-20	39	-58
Jason Day	74	152	55	9	37	110	45	37	-37	-42	-10	28	-61
Mark Hubbard	98	53	108	98	141	14	43	93	43	-39	-65	-5	-66
Gary Woodland	99	47	166	143	15	6	178	186	-84	-41	12	43	-70
Tom Kim	74	49	86	114	75	10	93	73	1	-39	7	-41	-72
J.J. Spaun	111	17	112	108	43	51	32	149	-68	34	-80	41	-73
Luke List	81	133	162	103	9	52	147	189	-72	-81	-15	86	-82
Keegan Bradley	67	41	100	125	58	57	113	20	-9	16	13	-105	-85
Stephan Jaeger	32	120	54	99	39	62	7	110	7	-58	-47	11	-87
Dylan Wu	152	72	92	76	99	53	111	40	-53	-19	19	-36	-89
S.H. Kim	142	176	52	16	29	174	38	49	-113	-2	-14	33	-96
Viktor Hovland	13	18	180	44	8	11	86	54	-5	-7	-94	10	-96
Adam Svensson	95	32	58	172	59	50	85	59	-36	18	27	-113	-104
Ryan Palmer	77	167	135	165	56	60	154	168	-21	-107	19	3	-106
Kevin Streelman	93	114	117	138	98	78	61	118	5	-36	-56	-20	-107
Matt NeSmith	113	116	148	133	99	56	124	124	-14	-60	-24	-9	-107
Eric Cole	159	66	45	47	158	19	16	13	-1	-47	-29	-34	-111
Garrick Higgo	140	157	132	83	18	161	143	77	-122	4	11	-6	-113
Alex Smalley	27	120	146	168	48	32	106	161	21	-88	-40	-7	-114
Brendon Todd	166	164	19	24	164	67	3	22	-2	-97	-16	-2	-117
Matt Fitzpatrick	102	127	79	23	55	116	31	11	-47	-11	-48	-12	-118
Nick Taylor	130	55	90	109	128	36	48	52	-2	-19	-42	-57	-120
Lee Hodges	114	29	160	158	51	68	155	64	-63	39	-5	-94	-123
Hayden Buckley	90	144	155	152	10	130	191	86	-80	-14	36	-66	-124
Jordan Spieth	15	138	108	101	59	71	28	79	44	-67	-80	-22	-125
Patrick Cantlay	61	102	35	53	4	16	57	47	-57	-86	22	-6	-127
Sam Ryder	156	49	152	122	172	24	127	14	16	-25	-25	-108	-142
Chris Kirk	43	83	69	170	97	34	15	70	54	-49	-54	-100	-149
Adam Hadwin	109	114	103	96	103	64	83	21	-6	-50	-20	-75	-151
Callum Tarren	158	122	143	178	64	73	165	141	-94	-49	22	-37	-158
Nicolai Højgaard	107	30	168	144	116	41	108	24	9	11	-60	-120	-160
Vincent Norrman	55	147	169	184	23	90	124	157	-32	-57	-45	-27	-161
Tommy Fleetwood	35	92	35	92	33	27	10	14	-2	-65	-25	-78	-170
Adam Schenk	59	171	133	95	85	48	112	36	26	-123	-21	-59	-177
Cam Davis	127	123	94	147	17	75	46	123	-110	-48	-48	-24	-230
Max Homa	164	86	39	106	41	26	33	6	-123	-60	-6	-100	-289
Rickie Fowler	137	124	121	66	77	7	21	48	-60	-117	-100	-18	-295
Justin Rose	119	157	112	97	115	17	20	26	-4	-140	-92	-71	-307