Yearly Sand Save Leaders on the PGA Tour

These are the annual leaders in sand save percentage on the PGA Tour — those golfers who are most successful at getting up-and-down out of bunkers. The list goes back to 1980, which is the year the tour started keeping this statistic.

A few notes about the list:

• There have been very few repeat "winners" in the sand save category, but two golfers have topped the list three times each: Paul Azinger (1986, 1987, 1990) and Luke Donald (2006, 2009, 2010).

• The highest sand save percentage since 1980 is 71.01 percent, achieved by Keith Fergus in 1998.

• The lowest sand save percentage to lead the PGA Tour is 60.14, by Tom Watson in 1981.

Now, on to the list:

Sand Save Leaders on the PGA Tour By Year
2024 — Carl Yuan, 68.67 percent
2023 — Matt Kuchar, 66.37
2022 — Shane Lowry, 67.09
2021 — Brooks Koepka, 65.38
2020 — Bud Cauley, 66.99
2019 — Francesco Molinari, 65.33
2018 — Ben Crane, 66.00
2017 — Rickie Fowler, 67.69
2016 — Sean O'Hair, 62.42
2015 — Kevin Na, 63.19
2014 — Bill Haas, 62.15
2013 — K.J. Choi, 67.18
2012 — Jonas Blixt, 65.44
2011 — Brian Gay, 63.40
2010 — Luke Donald, 66.39
2009 — Luke Donald, 64.43
2008 — Dudley Hart, 63.71
2007 — Tim Clark, 68.10
2006 — Luke Donald, 63.64
2005 — Pat Perez, 62.96
2004 — Dan Forsman, 62.32
2003 — Stuart Appleby, 62.12
2002 — Jose Maria Olazabal, 64.89
2001 — Franklin Langham, 68.93
2000 — Fred Couples, 66.99
1999 — Jeff Sluman, 67.27
1998 — Keith Fergus, 71.01
1997 — Bob Estes, 70.27
1996 — Gary Rusnak, 64.03
1995 — Billy Mayfair, 68.80
1994 — Corey Pavin, 65.35
1993 — Ken Green, 64.36
1992 — Mitch Adcock, 66.94
1991 — Ben Crenshaw, 64.91
1990 — Paul Azinger, 67.22
1989 — Mike Sullivan, 66.01
1988 — Greg Powers, 63.54
1987 — Paul Azinger, 63.16
1986 — Paul Azinger, 63.76
1985 — Tom Purtzer, 60.78
1984 — Peter Oosterhuis, 64.71
1983 — Isao Aoki, 62.31
1982 — Isao Aoki, 60.19
1981 — Tom Watson, 60.14
1980 — Bob Eastwood, 65.42

The sand save percentage stat represents the percent of times a golfer gets up and down from a greenside bunker, regardless of the golfer's overall score on the hole. That means the golfer gets his ball out of the bunker and into the cup in two (or fewer, in the case of a hole-out) strokes.

Photo credit: "Sand Trap @ Turnberry Isle Golf" by Prayitno is licensed under CC BY 2.0