Masters Tournament 2022: Course and current form for this week's major championship in Georgia

For any wannabe tournament winner, the importance of putting well in any given week cannot be understated.

Take a look at the stats which accompany virtually every top level professional tournament nowadays, and you rarely find a winner who's had a low-key four days with 'The Putter'.

Depending on the nature of the course, it is possible to hold aloft the trophy following a mediocre set of stats with the driver or irons.

This often comes down to various factors such as fairway width, height and thickness of rough, surrounding density of vegetation, wind conditions and even length of par-four holes. Yet, in most cases, the winner has usually enjoyed a hot week with 'The Putter.'

However, at Augusta, the role of 'The Putter' takes on even greater significance.

Not only is the Augusta National putting surfaces the most treacherous - by some distance - on the PGA Tour, it is a player's performance on the greens which tends to shape their destiny more than at any other professional tournament.

There have been plenty of tales of woe regarding the Augusta greens over the decades, and probably the worst of all was that of Tom Weiskopf who three-putted 13 times in 72 holes when finishing second in 1969 - one stroke behind champion George Archer. Weiskopf was runner-up four times at Augusta, never winning the title.

PGA Tour Putting Kings Of 2021-22

So who are this season's Kings of Putting on the PGA Tour?

To try and answer this question I looked at four putting categories covering the opening seven months of the 2021-22 season.

Two of the categories were the Strokes Gained: Putting and Putting Average (GiR) tables, which are both fairly generic in nature.

I also looked at the more specific categories of putts holed Between five and 10 feet, and Greater than 25 feet. Two categories testing both long and short-to-medium length putting.

And four players in particular featured impressively across these four tables.

Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith, probably not surprisingly, have performed well with the putter this season.

Between them they have won five times on the PGA Tour since January 1st.

Smith is ranked inside the top three for three of these categories, and is ninth in the other (putts > 25 feet).

Latest odds for a top-10 finish at Augusta National

The other two golfers who have impressed on the greens are Kevin Kisner and Tyrrell Hatton.

The Englishman is particularly performing well with putter in hand, as these figures illustrate: Strokes Gained: Putting (1st); Putting Average GiR (2nd); Putts > 25 feet (3rd) and Putts Between five and 10 feet (2nd).

Kisner has enjoyed a brace of podium finishes on the PGA Tour this calendar year, and was fourth at TPC Sawgrass, while Hatton's best finish came at Bay Hill where he tied-for-second.

Stroke Averages

Lowest 15 At Augusta National (2016-21)
Average .... (Rounds)
70.06: Dustin Johnson (18)
70.30: Jon Rahm (20)
70.63: Tony Finau (16)
70.88: Xander Schauffele (16)
70.88: Jordan Spieth (24)
70.92: Corey Conners (12)
70.92: Tiger Woods (12)
70.96: Hideki Matsuyama (24)
71.05: Rory McIlroy (22)
71.09: Justin Rose (22)
71.28: Brooks Koepka (18)
71.50: Cameron Smith (20)
71.50: Justin Thomas (24)
71.59: Patrick Reed (22)
71.59: Webb Simpson (22)
Min. No. of Rounds = 10
Only those teeing-up this week are included in table

Latest odds for Each Way (10) at Augusta National

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