LPGA Vs PGA Tour Pros - How The Stats Compare

We look at the 2023 stats for the PGA Tour and LPGA and see how the best of the men's and women's game compare in everything from driving to putting

How the PGA Tour and LPGA stats compare
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The world of pro golf is littered with stats, almost every aspect of the game can now be measured in some way, and it makes interesting reading to compare the figures on the PGA and LPGA Tours.

With the upcoming golf ball rollback as reference as well, let's see what the main differences are in the stats categories for the main tours in the men's and women's games.

Driving distance

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Average yards off the tee
PGA TourAvgLPGAAvg
1. Rory McIlroy326.31. Polly Mack281.7
2. Peter Kuest321.72. Xiaowen Yin277.2
3. Brandon Matthews321.33. Bianca Pagdanganan275.7
Last: Brian Stuard271.5Last: Dottie Ardina235.9
Tour Average299.9Tour AverageRow 4 - Cell 3

Breaking news, PGA Tour players hit it further than LPGA players do - I know, not exactly new information but a few little takeaways from the stats.

LPGA big hitter Polly Mack averages 10 yards further than the last placed Brian Stuard on the PGA Tour, and is within 20 yards of the PGA Tour average off the tee.

The top 10 in the women's game all managed to outdrive Staurd, with Lexi Thompson almost identical at just over 271 yards for her average off the tee.

And as Thompson showed playing on the PGA Tour that distance is almost good enough to make a cut, as she came agonisingly close to making the weekend.

Driving accuracy

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Fairways hit
PGA TourPercentageLPGAPercentage
1. Russell Henley71.41.Lizette Salas88.9
2.Satoshi Kodaira71.22. Ayaka Furue84.8
3. Ryan Armour70.13. Allisen Corpuz84.4
Last: Kyle Westmoreland45.4Last: Yan Liu57.4
Average58.3Row 4 - Cell 2 Row 4 - Cell 3

Maybe due to slower swing speeds having more control, or more thought about placement off the tee with longer second shots, we've known for a while that finding fairways is a much bigger deal on the LPGA than the PGA Tour.

It's a criticism of the men's game at times, the 'bomb and gouge' argument that PGA Tour players just smash it as far as they can and then worry about it from there, and there certainly seems to be less emphasis on finding the short stuff.

Remarkably, the player finishing in dead last in the LPGA fairways found stats is only just below the PGA Tour average, while men's leader Russell Henley would rank exactly 100th in the women's game with his fairways found percentage.

Greens in regulation

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PGA TourGIR %LPGAGIR %
1. Scottie Scheffler74.41. Olivia Cowan76.4
2. Peter Kuest73.72. Atthaya Thitikul75.6
3. Ludvig Aberg73.33. Minjee Lee75.5
Last: Dylan Frittelli59.6Last: Yaeen Hong51.1
Tour Average66.3Row 4 - Cell 2 Row 4 - Cell 3

Not much to split them here which is interesting, with LPGA stars playing from the fairway more often but likely further away than their PGA Tour counterparts - the women's leader Olivia Cowan only just edges out Scottie Scheffler.

There's a slightly lower floor on the LPGA but all in all similar numbers, so despite differences off the tee the men and women are both finding the dancefloor at around about the same rate.

Sand Saves

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Sand save percentage
PGA TourSand save %LPGASand save %
1. Matt Kuchar681.Mi Hyang Lee63.8
2. Justin Rose65.92. Grace Kim63.5
3. Bran Harman64.43. Celine Boutier60
Last: James Hahn31.6Last: Magdalena Simmermacher27.7
Tour average49.5Row 4 - Cell 2 Row 4 - Cell 3

So who's the best at getting out of the sand? Well, Matt Kuchar is head and shoulder above everyone really, as second-placed Justin Rose isn't too far ahead of Mi Hyang Lee.

From the LPGA list 31 players would be above average on the PGA Tour, and while again the floor is lower in terms of the bottom number in the women's game, only the top three in the men's ranks have a better sand save percentage than women's leader Lee.

Putting

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Average putts per round
PGA TourPutts per roundLPGAPutts per round
1. Taylor Montgomery27.381. Yaeeun Hong28.12
2. Eric Cole27.752. Danielle Kang28.74
3. Maverick McNealy27.973. Minami Katsu28.77
Last: Jim Herman30.19Last: Weiwei Zhang31.24
Tour avg:29.02Row 4 - Cell 2 Row 4 - Cell 3

Pretty close in the overall average number of putts taken per round, but only the top five on the LPGA list duck under the PGA Tour average.

There's a similar gap between top to bottom as well interestingly, with about three shots separating the top spot and last place in each standings.

Scoring average

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PGA TourScoring AvgLPGAScoring AVG
1. Scottie Scheffler68.261. Atthaya Thitikul69.53
2. Ludvig Aberg68.322. Hyo Joo Kim69.62
3. Jon Rahm68.823. Lilia Vu69.81
Last: Brandon Matthews72.24Last: Kum-Kang Park75.11
Tour Avg:70.49Row 4 - Cell 2 Row 4 - Cell 3

Scottie Scheffler unsurprisingly leading the way after his ultra consistent season, and Ludvig Aberg showcased his ability by finishing ahead of Jon Rahm in the PGA tour standings.

There's a shot and a quarter between Scheffler and LPGA leader Atthaya Thitikul, while 24 players in the women's standings dip below the PGA Tour average. 

Overall, there are 72 players in the PGA Tour list who average under under 70 compared to seven on the LPGA.

Birdie average

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PGA TourBirdie AvgLPABirdie Avg*
1. Ludvig Aberg4.761. Atthaya Thitikul4.40
2. Patrick Cantlay4.502. Xiyu Lin4.34
3. Jon Rahm4.493. Lilia Vu4.30
Last: Miachael Gligic3.11Last: Laura Stephenson2.48
Tour Avg:3.72*Min 50 roundsRow 4 - Cell 3

We've put a 50-round minimum on the LPGA to match-up to the PGA Tour standings, and we see that there's not much at all between the leaders on their respective tours.

Ludvig Aberg again leads the way on the PGA Tour with less than half a birdie per round between him and women's leader Atthaya Thitikul.

There are 13 LPGA players who average over four birdies a round compared to 46 on the PGA Tour.

Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.