Analysis·August 29, 2026

The fastest ball speeds at the TOUR Championship

TrackMan-style radar from the TOUR Championship through three rounds: the fastest ball speeds (Chris Gotterup at 180.6 mph), who launches it highest, and how drive distance and accuracy translate to the off-the-tee markets we price.

The FedExCup finale brings the 30 best players of the season to East Lake, and PropGolf captures TrackMan-style radar on every shot they hit: ball speed, launch, spin, and apex height. Here is what the tee-shot data says about the field's raw power through three rounds.

Tee-shot ball speed leaders

RankPlayerAvg ball speedPeak ball speedApex
1Chris Gotterup180.6 mph188.8104 ft
2Xander Schauffele179.5 mph188.7112 ft
3Gary Woodland179.4 mph189.7102 ft
4Cameron Young179.2 mph191.3103 ft
5Rory McIlroy178.6 mph189.8119 ft
6Sam Burns177.7 mph183.5117 ft
7Robert MacIntyre177.4 mph182.3108 ft
8Scottie Scheffler177.1 mph183.1120 ft

Chris Gotterup, one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, backs up the billing with the fastest average ball speed in the field at 180.6 mph. Rory McIlroy is the longest driver of the week at 315 yards, and the single hardest-hit drive belongs to Cameron Young at 191 mph.

Who launches it highest

Ball speed is only half the story. Apex height tells you how a player is flighting it, which matters on firm greens where a steeper landing angle holds the surface. The highest tee-shot apex in the field belongs to Alex Fitzpatrick at 125 ft, with Ludvig Aberg right behind at 124 ft. Both trade a little roll for a higher, softer-landing ball.

The bomber profile

The most efficient power pairs high ball speed with low spin. Chris Gotterup does exactly that: 180.6 mph of ball speed at roughly 3,199 rpm of driver spin, the low-spin, high-speed combination that produces maximum carry.

From ball speed to the tee markets

Raw ball speed sets the ceiling on distance, but the markets we price off the tee reward the combination of distance and accuracy. Here is where the field's longest drivers land through three rounds:

PlayerAvg driveFairway %
Rory McIlroy315 yds58%
Ryan Gerard309 yds63%
Gary Woodland307 yds78%
Sam Burns305 yds59%
Xander Schauffele305 yds58%

Length, accuracy, and the Fairway-Over market at the TOUR Championship. Each dot is a player through three rounds, colored and sized by their model Fairway-Over probability.

The field averages 297 yards off the tee at 64% fairways. Rory McIlroy is the longest driver at 315 yards, but he finds the short grass 58% of the time. The players who best fit a Fairway Over X yards market are the ones pairing length with control: Gary Woodland leads that group at 307 yards and 78% fairways. In the chart above, the greener and larger a dot, the higher the model's chance that player clears their fairway-distance line, which is why the long-and-accurate names light up and a pure bomber who sprays it stays muted even out at the right edge.

That distance-and-accuracy split is exactly what the model weighs when it prices the off-the-tee markets: drive result (Fairway Over or Under a yardage, or Rough, or Bunker), longest drive, and group fairways.

How we capture this

PropGolf records shot-level radar for every player in the field, every round, not just the featured groups you see on the broadcast. The numbers above are tee shots on par 4s and 5s through Rounds 1 to 3. The same shot data feeds the hole-by-hole model that prices live markets during play.

Want to see the shot-level detail live? See a live preview of the board, or the TOUR Championship tournament page for full hole-by-hole context.


Radar data through Round 3, from PropGolf's live capture.

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