2009 season in review: Notable odds and ends

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Dustin Johnson was the only PGA TOUR player to smash five drives longer than 400 yards during the 2009 season.
Feldman/Getty Images
Big-hitting Dustin Johnson was the only PGA TOUR player to smash five drives longer than 400 yards during the 2009 season.
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Nov. 20, 2009
By Dave Lancer, PGA TOUR

Dave Lancer, the Director of Information for the PGA TOUR, came up with this list of notes as he examined the numbers from the 2009 season.

Phil Mickelson is the only player to finish in the top 10 of the final FedExCup standings in its first three years.

Tim Clark hit his approach shots the closest to the hole of anyone on TOUR -- 30 feet, 5 inches.

2009 Superlatives
For a list of aces, fewest putts, lowest rounds, records set and more during the 2009 season, check out PGATOUR.COM's Superlatives section. Click here

John Senden had the longest stretch this year without a 3-putt green -- 292 holes.

Bob Heintz 3-putted the least of anyone on TOUR -- 1.6 percent of the time.

Tiger Woods won his ninth Byron Nelson Trophy for low scoring average and he also won his seventh All-Around stat title.

Joe Durant won his third Driving Accuracy crown and Luke Donald his second Sand Saves title.

No one in the top 10 in greens in regulation for the season won a tournament this year.

Players who led the field in putting won six times this season while those who led in scrambling won five times. Just two players who led the field in greens in regulation that given week won a tournament.

Dustin Johnson was the only player to lead the field in driving distance and win a tournament in 2008 and he was again the only player to do so in 2009 when he won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

The best scrambler on TOUR? Tiger Woods, who got up and down 68.18 percent of the time.

Scoring leaders
Who played the par-3 holes the best? Tiger Woods/Patrick Sheehan 9 under for the year
Who played the par-4 holes the best? Justin Leonard 22 under for the year
Who played the par-5 holes the best? John Senden 142 under for the year

A record 23 tournaments were won by former Nationwide Tour players this year, topping the old mark of 22 set in 2004.

David Toms had the most rounds in the 60s this year -- 51.

Charley Hoffman had the year's longest drive -- 467 yards on the first hole during the third round of the Valero Texas Open.

A total of 47 400-yard drives were recorded this year. Dustin Johnson had the most -- five.

Ted Purdy made 36 putts longer than 25 feet this year, the most on TOUR.

Rodney Butcher, a non-TOUR member, made the longest putt of the season -- 93 feet, 4 inches.

Toughest and easiest
TOUGHEST HOLE The 518-yard, par-4 12th at Hazeltine National (PGA Championship), which played to a stroke average of 4.502.
TOUGHEST COURSE Bethpage Black (U.S. Open), which played to a stroke average of 72.298 (+2.928).
EASIEST HOLE The 529-yard, par-5 first hole at Doral (World Golf Championships-CA Championship), which played to a stroke average of 4.196.
EASIEST COURSE PGA West-Nicklaus (Bob Hope Classic), which played to a stroke average of 66.984.

Players in their 20s won seven times this year; players in their 30s won 30 times; and players in their 40s collected nine titles.

The TOUR's ironman was Nathan Green, who played in 104 rounds. Brian Davis had the most starts -- 32.

Eight rookies finished among the top 125 on the money list -- Marc Leishman, Webb Simpson, Jeff Klauk, Scott Piercy, James Nitties, Bill Lunde, Matt Bettencourt and Ricky Barnes.

A total of 16 countries were represented among the final top 125.

International players won 12 times in 2009.

Left and right
Heath Slocum missed left off the tee the least often
of anyone on TOUR -- 8.3 percent of the time.
The TOUR average was 13.21 percent.
Tim Clark missed right off the tee the least often
of anyone on TOUR -- 8.9 percent of the time.
The TOUR average was 14.78 percent.

Bubba Watson had the top clubhead speed on TOUR -- 123.24 mph on average.

Who carries the ball the farthest off the tee on TOUR? J.B. Holmes at an average of 298.6 yards.

Who needed the fewest putts over a 72-hole tournament this year? Tim Wilkinson, who took 97 putts at the Verizon Heritage.

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