What an epic duel between Brooks Koepka and Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship. Tiger outplayed Koepka in 3 of the four main parts of the game and still lost. How?
Winning three categories and losing the trophy
It sounds impossible, but the four strokes gained categories are not equal in size. One large advantage beats three small ones every time.
Koepka's edge was concentrated where the biggest margins live, and it was enough to absorb losses everywhere else.
Magnitude beats count
This is the most commonly missed point in stats analysis. Golfers look at how many categories they won rather than by how much.
A two shot advantage off the tee outweighs three separate half shot deficits, and the scoreboard only reads the total.
Read your own numbers this way
When you review a round, rank the categories by size of gain and loss, not by whether they are positive or negative.
Your practice should attack the largest number on the page, wherever it sits.