Scott Stallings in the mix at Quail Hollow … thanks to his statistician?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – At the 2019 Well Fargo Championship, Scott Stallings birdied the 18th hole to miss the cut by five shots. On the drive back to Nashville, Tennessee, with some friends, he made a decision.
“Well, boys, you’re going to have to figure out another tournament to come watch me play, I don’t know if I’ll come back,” he told his friends.
His reluctance to return to Quail Hollow Club was understandable considering he’d missed the cut in seven of his nine starts and his best finish was a tie for 53rd, but his statistician suggested he give the tournament another try.
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“This was the second course on the schedule for what he thought best suited my game. I said, ‘I don’t know how good you are at stats, but seven missed cuts in nine tries is not very good,’” he laughed.
It turns out his stats guy was on to something. Stallings survived a double bogey at the 14th hole to move into a tie for fifth place, just four strokes off the lead.
Stallings explained the difference this year has been how he’s played Quail Hollow’s scoreable holes and largely avoided trouble on the tough holes.
“I was aggressive when I should have been conservative and kind of vice versa [in the past] and not really knowing when to push it,” he said. “The eighth hole’s a perfect example. I’ve never really been one to try to force it up by the green and I’ve hit it up by the green three days in a row and I had a 12-footer for birdie, and 8–footer for birdie and I chipped in for eagle today.”