Golf Barometer: A Raising Grace

Golf Barometer: A Raising Grace

This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.

The Open Championship's two-man race between Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar ended with a historic finish by Spieth as he played the final five holes of the tournament in five-under-par TO secure his third major title. His buddy Justin Thomas -- featured as a "Faller" in last week's Barometer -- was not so lucky, however, missing the cut by two strokes. The RBC Canadian Open is next on the schedule, but many of the world's top players will skip that to prepare for the upcoming WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

VALUE RISING

Rafael Cabrera-Bello

Joining fellow Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm in the top-20 of the Official World Golf Ranking, Cabrera-Bello followed up his win at the Scottish Open with a T4 at the Open Championship. He has climbed to a career-high 16th in the OWGR after his best career finish in a major by far, having never posted even a top-15 in 16 previous appearances. He will likely make his next start in the United States at either the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational or the PGA Championship.

Brooks Koepka

Koepka has entered the top-10 of the OWGR for the first time in his career thanks to a T6 at the Open Championship, which followed a month-long break after his win at the U.S. Open. The 27-year-old is proving himself on the grandest of stages, placing top-10 at six majors since 2014. He figures to be one of the favorites at the upcoming PGA Championship, but he could

The Open Championship's two-man race between Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar ended with a historic finish by Spieth as he played the final five holes of the tournament in five-under-par TO secure his third major title. His buddy Justin Thomas -- featured as a "Faller" in last week's Barometer -- was not so lucky, however, missing the cut by two strokes. The RBC Canadian Open is next on the schedule, but many of the world's top players will skip that to prepare for the upcoming WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

VALUE RISING

Rafael Cabrera-Bello

Joining fellow Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm in the top-20 of the Official World Golf Ranking, Cabrera-Bello followed up his win at the Scottish Open with a T4 at the Open Championship. He has climbed to a career-high 16th in the OWGR after his best career finish in a major by far, having never posted even a top-15 in 16 previous appearances. He will likely make his next start in the United States at either the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational or the PGA Championship.

Brooks Koepka

Koepka has entered the top-10 of the OWGR for the first time in his career thanks to a T6 at the Open Championship, which followed a month-long break after his win at the U.S. Open. The 27-year-old is proving himself on the grandest of stages, placing top-10 at six majors since 2014. He figures to be one of the favorites at the upcoming PGA Championship, but he could first make an appearance at the WGC-Bridgestone, where he finished T6 in 2015.

Chad Campbell

Three consecutive top-18s -- and five in his last seven starts -- have Campbell up to No. 63 in the FedExCup standings. He's ranked 14th on Tour in GIR percentage, 18th in driving accuracy, 27th in SG: Approach and 34th in SG: T2G. Campbell's first top-5 of the season could come this week at Glen Abbey if the putter finally heats up.

Branden Grace

Grace began his 2017 campaign at No. 17 in the OWGR, but had recently fallen to 35th before a T6 at the Open Championship, which came one week after his T15 at the Scottish Open. The South African now has five top-15s in seven events since the RBC Heritage, and he recently qualified for next week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational if he elects to play before the PGA Championship. He notched the lowest single-round score in a major of all-time last week, and is now back up to No. 30 in the rankings.

VALUE FALLING

Adam Scott

Scott has dropped 10 spots in the OWGR since the start of 2017, descending from No. 7 to his current ranking of 17th. Not only has he gone without a win this year, he has also failed to post a single top-5 in 13 starts. More is expected from someone as good as Scott, so he will look to prove himself at the upcoming WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he won in 2011.

Francesco Molinari

The 20th-ranked player in the world's 2017 major championship appearances have included finishes of T33-MC-MC, the most recent a missed cut at Royal Birkdale. Much like Scott, that's simply not living up to expectations. Molinari's statistics haven't exactly translated to success, as he is currently second on Tour in SG: Approach and fourth in SG: Tee-to-Green. Still, he hasn't won since last year's Italian Open.

INJURY UPDATE

Brandt Snedeker (ribs)

Snedeker has not played since the Travelers Championship in late June, and he was forced to withdraw again this week from the RBC Canadian Open, where he won in 2013. He is qualified for both the WGC-Bridgestone and PGA Championship, but it's unclear if he will be able to fully prepare for Quail Hollow due to the injury.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bryce Danielson
Bryce covers the PGA for RotoWire and provides input on the golf cheat sheet. He also contributes to the coverage for NFL, NBA and other sports.
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