viz blog
NIGHT MODE
DAY MODE
Major Performers
The scatterplot below plots true strokes-gained performance in majors (y-axis) versus true strokes-gained in non-majors (x-axis) for 434 players since 1983. To make the comparison as informative as possible, we apply the following restrictions to the underlying data:

1) players must have played at least 10 Majors
2) only tournaments where the player was between 20 and 40 years of age are included
3) only data from years where the player participated in at least one major is included
Non-Major Strokes-Gained
Major Champ Strokes-Gained
Green diagonal highlights where non-major performance = major performance. Players above diagonal have over-performed in majors; players below have under-performed.
Major "Over-Performers"Major "Under-Performers"-0.50+0.5+1+1.5+2+2.5+3-0.50+0.5+1+1.5+2+2.5+3
2.3
2.3
Tiger Woods
Scottie Scheffler
Xander Schauffele
Tom Watson
Collin Morikawa
Rory McIlroy
Will Zalatoris
Ernie Els
Nick Faldo
Greg Norman
Phil Mickelson
Brooks Koepka
Hale Irwin
Jon Rahm
Jordan Spieth
Lanny Wadkins
Viktor Hovland
Fred Couples
Hideki Matsuyama
Dustin Johnson
Jim Furyk
Tom Lehman
Retief Goosen
Jason Day
Vijay Singh
Justin Rose
Gil Morgan
Ben Crenshaw
David Graham
Rickie Fowler
Tony Finau
Patrick Reed
Adam Scott
Sergio Garcia
Patrick Cantlay
Mike Weir
Payne Stewart
Tom Kite
Tommy Fleetwood
Seve Ballesteros
Loren Roberts
Jesper Parnevik
Tom Kim
Davis Love III
Lee Westwood
Anthony Kim
Scott Hoch
Jose Maria Olazabal
Dan Pohl
Colin Montgomerie
Craig Stadler
Louis Oosthuizen
Fuzzy Zoeller
Chris DiMarco
Henrik Stenson
Justin Leonard
Bryson DeChambeau
Justin Thomas
Peter Jacobsen
Padraig Harrington
Shane Lowry
Don Pooley
Nick Price
Min Woo Lee
Jeff Sluman
Scott Simpson
Arron Oberholser
Matt Kuchar
Steve Elkington
Hunter Mahan
Cameron Young
Stewart Cink
Cameron Smith
Matt Fitzpatrick
Webb Simpson
Curtis Strange
Bernhard Langer
Angel Cabrera
Chip Beck
Jason Dufner
Scott McCarron
Francesco Molinari
Ian Poulter
Bruce Lietzke
Johnny Miller
Geoff Ogilvy
John Cook
K.J. Choi
Larry Mize
Brandt Snedeker
Mark McCumber
Steve Stricker
Luke Donald
Charl Schwartzel
Ken Duke
Bob Estes
Frank Nobilo
Jeff Maggert
Tommy Tolles
Darren Clarke
Steve Pate
Corey Pavin
Mark Mcnulty
Roger Maltbie
Jodie Mudd
D.A. Weibring
Paul Azinger
Ian Woosnam
Boo Weekley
Ricky Barnes
Bill Haas
Mark Calcavecchia
Sahith Theegala
John Huston
Jay Haas
Kevin Chappell
Corey Conners
John Merrick
Mike Reid
Scott Dunlap
Andres Romero
Marc Leishman
Brendon De Jonge
Lee Janzen
Keegan Bradley
Graeme McDowell
Steve Flesch
Russell Henley
Mark O'Meara
Peter Hanson
Brian Harman
David Toms
Rocco Mediate
Donnie Hammond
Marc Warren
Bo Van Pelt
Y.E. Yang
Jimmy Walker
Shaun Micheel
Jim Thorpe
Zach Johnson
Greg Chalmers
David Edwards
Tim Clark
Stuart Appleby
Larry Nelson
Bubba Watson
Joaquin Niemann
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Daniel Berger
Nick Watney
Harris English
Dean Burmester
Jordan Smith
David Frost
John Mahaffey
Victor Dubuisson
Anders Forsbrand
Nolan Henke
Tyrrell Hatton
Branden Grace
Bob Tway
Abraham Ancer
Heath Slocum
David Duval
Robert MacIntyre
David Lingmerth
Jean Van De Velde
Sandy Lyle
Joey Sindelar
Robert Allenby
Tommy Nakajima
Ryan Moore
Martin Kaymer
Thomas Bjorn
Ronnie Black
Scott Verplank
Andy Bean
Aaron Wise
Sean O'Hair
Brad Faxon
Chad Campbell
Duffy Waldorf
Kenny Perry
Billy Mayfair
S.Y. Noh
Wayne Levi
Sam Burns
Hal Sutton
Robert Streb
Dave Barr
Tim Simpson
Woody Austin
Marcel Siem
Sungjae Im
Chris Perry
Michael Thompson
Gary Woodland
Byeong Hun An
Steve Jones
Carlos Franco
Denny McCarthy
Billy Horschel
Dylan Frittelli
Charles Howell III
Stephen Ames
Nick O'Hern
Harold Varner III
Matt Wallace
Paul Casey
Peter O'Malley
Jr. Gallagher
Peter Lonard
Thomas Levet
Mikko Ilonen
Trevor Immelman
Shigeki Maruyama
Briny Baird
J.B. Holmes
Sepp Straka
Kevin Na
Russell Knox
Russ Cochran
Steve Lowery
Freddie Jacobson
Soren Kjeldsen
Bob Gilder
Bobby Wadkins
Mark James
Alex Cejka
Gary Koch
Talor Gooch
Paul McGinley
Camilo Villegas
Gregory Bourdy
Sam Torrance
Chris Wood
Gene Sauers
Brendan Steele
Danny Willett
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Simon Khan
Mike Hulbert
Ryan Palmer
Lanto Griffin
Ryan Fox
Kevin Sutherland
Si Woo Kim
Costantino Rocca
Cameron Champ
Ross Fisher
Doug Tewell
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Jason Kokrak
Brandt Jobe
Chris Riley
Wayne Grady
Niclas Fasth
Haotong Li
Peter Senior
Per-Ulrik Johansson
Jonas Blixt
Chris Kirk
Robert Garrigus
Kevin Kisner
Dennis Paulson
Jeff Overton
Carl Pettersson
Len Mattiace
Max Homa
Mike Sullivan
John Senden
Kirk Triplett
Billy Andrade
Olin Browne
Richard Sterne
Hubert Green
Rod Pampling
Simon Dyson
Eduardo Romero
Andrew Magee
Joe Ogilvie
Alex Noren
Lee Rinker
Paul Goydos
Mark Brooks
Jay Don Blake
Brian Watts
Ted Purdy
Andrew Coltart
Ryuji Imada
Emiliano Grillo
Thorbjorn Olesen
David Ogrin
Rick Fehr
Greg Owen
Thomas Pieters
Erik Van Rooyen
Kurt Kitayama
Tom Byrum
Anthony Wall
J.J. Henry
Ben Curtis
Lucas Herbert
Craig Parry
Tom Purtzer
Todd Hamilton
Jeev Milkha Singh
Dan Forsman
Pierre Fulke
Billy Ray Brown
Aaron Baddeley
Andrew Putnam
Robert Karlsson
Soren Hansen
Bernd Wiesberger
Fred Funk
Skip Kendall
Jose Coceres
Joel Dahmen
Martin Laird
Gonzalo Fdez-Castano
Justin Harding
Pat Perez
Tim Herron
Bill Glasson
Michael Campbell
Blaine McCallister
Sangmoon Bae
Matt Jones
Lucas Glover
Scott Piercy
Sebastian Munoz
Joost Luiten
Dudley Hart
Edoardo Molinari
Sung Kang
Keith Mitchell
George Coetzee
Gary Hallberg
Jamie Donaldson
Shingo Katayama
Ben Crane
Mark Wiebe
Andy North
Richard Green
Tom Hoge
Thomas Aiken
Neal Lancaster
David Howell
Chez Reavie
Paul Stankowski
Mackenzie Hughes
Raphael Jacquelin
Stephen Leaney
Brendon Todd
Marcus Fraser
Andy Sullivan
Paul Broadhurst
D.A. Points
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Cameron Tringale
Fulton Allem
Michael Bradley
Wyndham Clark
Frank Lickliter II
Nicolas Colsaerts
Barry Lane
Bill Britton
Greg Kraft
Robert Rock
Phil Blackmar
Paul Lawrie
Charley Hoffman
John Rollins
Jim McGovern
Mathew Goggin
Jerry Kelly
Peter Baker
Adam Hadwin
Tim Petrovic
Jonathan Byrd
J.T. Poston
J.P. Hayes
Kevin Streelman
K.T. Kim
Stephen Gallacher
Bradley Dredge
Mike Donald
Victor Perez
Eddie Pepperell
Glen Day
Dean Wilson
Chan Kim
Joe Ozaki
Joe Durant
Luke List
Harrison Frazar
Oliver Wilson
Mark Wilson
Ignacio Garrido
Beau Hossler
Anirban Lahiri
Adrian Meronk
James Hahn
K.H. Lee
Ken Green
Tom Pernice Jr.
Danny Lee
Yuta Ikeda
Matt Gogel
Kevin Stadler
Brad Bryant
Peter Hedblom
Omar Uresti
Tommy Armour III
Ian Baker-Finch
Keith Clearwater
Nick Dougherty
Vaughn Taylor
Ryo Ishikawa
Brian Henninger
Brian Gay
Peter Uihlein
Scott Stallings
Rich Beem
Richie Ramsay
Phillip Price
Brett Quigley
Chesson Hadley
Brian Davis
Rory Sabbatini
Hidemichi Tanaka
Jonathan Kaye
Kyle Stanley
Jim Herman
Nick Taylor
Alexander Levy
Shaun Norris
Troy Merritt
John Daly
D.J. Trahan
Anders Hansen
Chris Stroud
Satoshi Kodaira
Johan Edfors
Mathias Gronberg
Jhonattan Vegas
Alvaro Quiros
Clarence Rose
Michael Allen
C.T. Pan
Steve Marino
Jason Bohn
Robert Gamez
Hideto Tanihara
WC Liang
Patton Kizzire
Brandel Chamblee
Matteo Manassero
Brian Stuard
Thongchai Jaidee
John Adams
Roberto Castro
Grant Waite
Brendan Jones
Jim Carter
Scott Gump
J.L. Lewis
Bob Lohr
Ted Tryba
Observations
It looks as though fitting a line through the data points would yield a steeper slope than the green diagonal. This means that better players are more likely to fall into the "over-performers" category, and worse players are more likely to be "under-performers". This shouldn't be that surprising as we know major championship setups/venues, on average, place an emphasis on the skills typically held by the game's elite players (mainly driving distance).
Despite his incredible Major record, Tiger didn't significantly outperform his non-major baseline in majors.
As expected, Brooks Koepka is positioned furthest above the green diagonal. His performance in majors is 1.4 strokes per round better than in non-majors. Ricky Barnes and Tommy Tolles have the next highest differences (obviously).
Max Homa, Steve Marino, Johnattan Vegas, and Ian Baker-Finch are a few notable under-performers.