This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
The first WGC event of the calendar year isn't until next week in Mexico, but a star-studded field will populate the grounds at Riviera Country Club as nine members of the Official World Golf Rankings' top-10 tee it up at the Genesis Invitational this week. An unlikely champion in Nick Taylor emerged by four strokes at the historic Pebble Beach Golf Links this past Sunday, while Rory McIlroy overtook Brooks Koepka's World No. 1 spot without even playing. We'll now take a look at several fantasy trends around the PGA Tour as an exciting weekend at Riviera awaits.
VALUE RISING
Watson is trending in the right direction with back-to-back top-6s at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Farmers Insurance Open as he heads to Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational, where he's collected three victories since 2014. Watson gained a combined 15.6 strokes from tee to green at TPC Scottsdale and Torrey Pines, while he's up to third in driving distance and ninth in SG: Total on Tour this season.
Ascending to 90th in the Official World Golf Ranking with three consecutive top-15s from the Farmers Insurance Open to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Homa has joined the OWGR's top-100 for the first time in his career. Homa, who won the individual NCAA Division I Championship in 2013 as a member of UC-Berkeley's squad, will tee it up in his native California again this week at Riviera CC. Homa has not lost strokes
The first WGC event of the calendar year isn't until next week in Mexico, but a star-studded field will populate the grounds at Riviera Country Club as nine members of the Official World Golf Rankings' top-10 tee it up at the Genesis Invitational this week. An unlikely champion in Nick Taylor emerged by four strokes at the historic Pebble Beach Golf Links this past Sunday, while Rory McIlroy overtook Brooks Koepka's World No. 1 spot without even playing. We'll now take a look at several fantasy trends around the PGA Tour as an exciting weekend at Riviera awaits.
VALUE RISING
Watson is trending in the right direction with back-to-back top-6s at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Farmers Insurance Open as he heads to Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational, where he's collected three victories since 2014. Watson gained a combined 15.6 strokes from tee to green at TPC Scottsdale and Torrey Pines, while he's up to third in driving distance and ninth in SG: Total on Tour this season.
Ascending to 90th in the Official World Golf Ranking with three consecutive top-15s from the Farmers Insurance Open to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Homa has joined the OWGR's top-100 for the first time in his career. Homa, who won the individual NCAA Division I Championship in 2013 as a member of UC-Berkeley's squad, will tee it up in his native California again this week at Riviera CC. Homa has not lost strokes off the tee since the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in early October.
The 28-year-old owns the second-most FedExCup points out of all the rookies behind only Scottie Scheffler throughout the early portion of the 2019-20 campaign. Higgs, who earned runner-up honors at the Bermuda Championship in early November, is currently riding a streak of three straight top-25s from the FIO through the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He's 18th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 50th in birdie average, 48th in SG: Putting and seventh in par-4 scoring average.
VALUE FALLING
Molinari's three-win 2018 campaign and Open Championship victory seem extremely distant at the moment, as the Italian missed back-to-back cuts at the FIO and the American Express to begin 2020 after failing to post a single top-20 performance from the Safeway Open to the DP World Tour Championship to close out 2019. He's lost an average of 2.4 strokes from tee to green per event over his past five measured tournaments on the PGA Tour, and he's just 166th in SG: Approach. His track record at the Genesis Invitational is brutal as well, missing the cut in three of five appearances.
Wise had missed five consecutive cuts from the Mayakoba Golf Classic to the Waste Management Phoenix Open before advancing to Sunday's final round at Pebble Beach this past weekend, but he ultimately finished outside of the top-60 as he played his last 18 holes in five-over-par. The 2018 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year is now just 141st in the FedExCup standings and ranks a horrific 209th in SG: Putting. Wise is 0-for-2 in terms of cuts made at Riviera CC, so the Genesis Invitational may not be the best spot for a bounceback effort from the former Oregon Duck.
At 874th in the OWGR, Stricker will be the weak link as he tees it up alongside Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas throughout the first two rounds of the Genesis Invitational. Stricker has missed three straight cuts to begin 2020, as the soon-to-be 53-year-old is better suited for the Champions Tour at this point in his career. He has yet to gain strokes on approach shots at an event this season.
INJURY UPDATE
Kim has made two starts since returning from a back injury that forced him to withdraw from the American Express following a first-round 87, most recently missing the cut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the WMPO. He posted a solo-third performance at the 2019 Genesis Invitational, but Kim has lost an average of 4.7 total strokes over his past five tourneys while the back issues remain a concern.
