Top 10 stats of the year
Perhaps the most difficult part of coming up with a year-end list of the best stats in golf is narrowing them down to a palatable, round number.
It’s a testament to the quality of play fans enjoyed all year long in 2022 – from the scoring bonanza to open up the year in Hawaii, to Viktor Hovland’s clutch putt to seal back-to-back wins at the Hero World Challenge.
In between, history was made seemingly at every turn of this fascinating 12 months in golf.
10. Russell Henley posted the lowest 72-hole total in PGA TOUR history by a player to not win.
For most of the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii, it looked like Russell Henley was going to pick up his second Waialae win, site of his maiden title nine years prior. His opening 36-hole total of 125 (62-63) gave him a three-stroke lead entering the weekend. That advantage was two strokes with one round to play after Hideki Matsuyama’s Saturday 63.
Henley shot 65 in the final round, but he was defeated by Matsuyama in a playoff. In the history of the PGA TOUR, there have been 23 instances of a player recording a 72-hole score of 258 or lower. Henley – who finished regulation with 257 – is the only one of those players not to win.
9. Sebastián Muñoz became the first player in TOUR history with two rounds of 60 or lower in the same season.
On a TOUR with such rich history, it’s difficult to etch your name into the record books. It’s exceedingly rare to do something no player has ever done. When Sebastián Muñoz finished an opening-round 60 at the AT&T Byron Nelson, he became the only player in TOUR history to record multiple rounds of 60 or lower in the same season. Muñoz had also opened with 60 at The RSM Classic in the fall.
How rare is it to go that low? Only seven players in TOUR history have recorded multiple rounds of 60 or lower in their careers. Some of the greatest champions in TOUR history have never carded 60 or lower in an official event – among them Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods. Muñoz capped off his historic season with his first Presidents Cup appearance at Quail Hollow.