The next time you hear someone say winners on the PGA Tour are the guys who are the best putters, remind him or her of James Hahn’s victory at Riviera on Sunday.

“I did a little research, (on) stats, last night,” Hahn said on Sunday evening while sitting beside the trophy he was awarded for winning the 2015 Northern Trust Open. “Me and Dustin (Johnson) were the only two players inside the top, I think it was the top‑12, that had a negative strokes gained-(putting). And I was at -0.9 and I think he was at negative -0.3, so I was worse than he was.”

Strokes gained-putting is a statistic that measures how well a golfer is putting compared with the rest of the players in the field. A positive number means that the player is doing better than the field average and is gaining strokes; a negative number means that he is putting worse and losing ground to the rest of the competitors.

Ironically, Hahn’s putting stats nosedived when he shot 69 on Friday. His strokes gained-putting in the second round was -3.089, meaning that Hahn gave away more than three shots to the field on the greens.

Strokes gained-tee-to-green is similar to strokes gained-putting, but it measures how well a golfer compares to the field on non-putting shots (total strokes gained minus strokes gained-putting). On Friday, Hahn had a strokes gained-tee-to -green of 1.765.

In golf parlances, Hahn hit the ball well on Friday but made nothing. His 69 might have been the worst score he could have carded given the quality of his driving and iron game.

When Hahn talked to his wife on Saturday night about his putting woes, she was spot-on in her assessment of his game.

“She’s like, ‘Well, that just means you’re striping it,’” Hahn said. “I was like, OK, that’s pretty cool.”

Obviously, being a good putter can go a long way toward contending in golf tournaments, but Hahn’s win highlights the fact that if you are a good ballstriker, you can contend if you can just putt well enough. Even with a strokes gained-putting of 2.524 for 18 holes on Sunday, for the week Hahn finished with a negative strokes gained-putting (-.201) and ranked 50th in the category.

In contrast, Paul Casey got into the playoff with Hahn and Johnson by have a very solid week all around. His strokes gained-tee-to-green was 5.109 (19th) and his strokes gained-putting was 6.839 (5th). Johnson ranked first in strokes gained-tee-to-green with 12.579 and Hahn ranked second for the week with a 12.149.

Having a 12-stroke advantage over the field before you reach for your putter means you don’t have to putt like Loren Roberts, Brad Faxon or Jack Nicklaus to win. If you’re James Hahn, you just have to pay attention to what your wife is telling you.