In “Hot & Cold” we’ll be focusing each week on what specific areas of the game players excelled and disappointed in throughout the previous tournament. Last week saw Rory McIlroy shut the door on the field in impressive fashion and claim the title at TPC Sawgrass, and here’s a look at where some of the most notable players gained and lost strokes over the four days of action.

Hot

He’s been knocking on the door all year, and Rory McIlroy finally got the job done on Sunday at the Players Championship. Unlike his last win on Tour, the Ulsterman didn’t do it thanks to a blistering putting performance, and McIlroy although gaining strokes on the Bermuda greens, actually only outperformed one other player from the top-15 over the four days of action in this area.

McIlroy let his long game do the talking at TPC Sawgrass, gaining 13.3 strokes over the field tee to green. This represents Mcilroy’s sixth-best performance tee to green of his career, and his second-best total in this department since 2015. Check out what clubs McIlroy did the damage with in our WITB piece here.

Dustin Johnson was the only man in the top-15 who lost strokes on the green at the Players Championship, but as for the American’s irons, they were scorching hot. Johnson led the field for strokes gained approaching the green last week, gaining a mighty 9.6 strokes over the field in this department. That performance with his irons is the third best of Johnson’s career, and he has now gained a total of 17.5 strokes over the field for strokes gained approaching the green in his previous two events.

Hot & Cold

Tiger Woods’ Jekyll and Hyde performance last week has earned a new category. Woods could easily have ended up the cold pile after strangely struggling with his irons at TPC Sawgrass, losing four strokes to the field for strokes gained approaching the green (worst total post-2011), but the 14-time-major champ’s play off the tee gets him a spot in the new hot & cold section. Often his nemesis, armed with his TaylorMade M5, Woods gained 4.6 strokes over the field for his play off the tee last week which was the fifth-best total in the field, and his second best performance in this area post-2011.

Cold

In danger of becoming a regular in the cold section is Jordan Spieth, whose long game appears to be going from bad to worse as of late. The 25-year-old surrendered 5.1 strokes to the field off the tee last week, the worst total of his career in this department. Spieth’s final total of one-over par after his brief two day trip to the Players Championship could have been a whole lot worse were it not for his encouraging performance on the greens. Spieth gained 4.2 strokes on the Bermuda greens last week, his best performance with the flat-stick this year.

Matt Kuchar recorded a T26 finish at TPC Sawgrass, but it was a story of what could have been for the American, who suffered a miserable four days on the greens. Kuchar lost strokes each day on the greens which culminated in him giving away 6.7 strokes to the field with the flat-stick last week, the second-worst performance on the greens for the 40-year-old since 2011. A tad worrying for the American is the fact that he has now dropped strokes on the greens in his last three successive events.