This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
The Match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson provided an arguable level of stimulation during the PGA Tour's winter break, but this week's Hero World Challenge could be a bit more enjoyable with young guns like Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau also joining in on the action in the Bahamas. Meanwhile, the European Tour is already back in full swing with no time for relaxation in between the DP World Tour Championship and 2019 campaign. We'll take a look at several fantasy trends on both Tours as the post-Thanksgiving digestion period reaches its deadline.
VALUE RISING
Patrick Cantlay
Coming off a solo second-place result at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Cantlay will join the exclusive 18-man field at the Hero World Challenge as the 20th-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking. He's finished no worse than a T17 in three starts to begin his 2018-19 campaign, situated at seventh on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green, fourth in driving distance and ninth in par-4 scoring.
Lee Westwood
Westwood's lengthy win drought came to an end in mid-November at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, marking his first victory since the Asian Tour's 2015 Indonesian Masters. Westwood's performance in South Africa wasn't just a one-hit wonder, however, having also finished top-20 in five of his last eight starts.
Andrea Pavan
Pavan seized his maiden European Tour victory at the D+D Real Czech Masters during the latter portion of the summer to spark a run that has included nine top-25s in 11
The Match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson provided an arguable level of stimulation during the PGA Tour's winter break, but this week's Hero World Challenge could be a bit more enjoyable with young guns like Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau also joining in on the action in the Bahamas. Meanwhile, the European Tour is already back in full swing with no time for relaxation in between the DP World Tour Championship and 2019 campaign. We'll take a look at several fantasy trends on both Tours as the post-Thanksgiving digestion period reaches its deadline.
VALUE RISING
Patrick Cantlay
Coming off a solo second-place result at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Cantlay will join the exclusive 18-man field at the Hero World Challenge as the 20th-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking. He's finished no worse than a T17 in three starts to begin his 2018-19 campaign, situated at seventh on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green, fourth in driving distance and ninth in par-4 scoring.
Lee Westwood
Westwood's lengthy win drought came to an end in mid-November at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, marking his first victory since the Asian Tour's 2015 Indonesian Masters. Westwood's performance in South Africa wasn't just a one-hit wonder, however, having also finished top-20 in five of his last eight starts.
Andrea Pavan
Pavan seized his maiden European Tour victory at the D+D Real Czech Masters during the latter portion of the summer to spark a run that has included nine top-25s in 11 starts. The Italian finished 34th in the 2018 Race to Dubai and is on pace to surpass his career-best standing of 98th in the OWGR.
Anders Albertson
Four consecutive made cuts along with top-15s at both the RSM Classic and Sanderson Farms Championship have Albertson positioned as one of the top rookies on Tour through the early stages of the season. The 25-year-old is small in stature but hasn't played like it, ranking 27th in SG: Tee-to-Green, 18th in GIR percentage and 30th in total driving.
Lucas Bjerregaard
Bjerregaard's been on fire since late August when he found his game at the D+D Real Czech Masters, collecting a T9 before finishing sixth and runner-up the following two weeks at the Made in Denmark and Omega European Masters. One month later he landed in the winner's circle at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and would go on to rack up four top-20s in his next six starts. Bjerregaard has joined the OWGR's elite top-50 and could be a European name to monitor when the 2019 major championships roll around.
Jason Scrivener
Scrivener has finished outside of the top-25 on just two occasions in his last nine starts worldwide, while he most recently notched an impressive T3 at the Euro Tour's Honma Hong Kong Open. The Aussie has surged into the top-200 of the OWGR and will look to take advantage of positive momentum on home soil at this week's Australian PGA Championship.
VALUE FALLING
Andrew Landry
Landry has been extremely underwhelming since his win at the Valero Texas Open in late April, finishing top-40 twice in his past 16 appearances. Landry's first three starts of the 2018-19 campaign included results of T66-MC-T59, picking right back up where he left off in a swing of mediocrity.
Kevin Streelman
Streelman has finished no better than T51 in his last four starts, which is a span that also includes a trio of missed cuts after beginning the season with a T25 at the Safeway Open. He's posted just one top-3 performance in 106 events since the beginning of 2015, so the 40-year-old's ceiling continues to drop.
Seamus Power
Power has missed three consecutive cuts and four in his last five starts dating back to the Safeway Open, descending to 348th in the OWGR thanks in part to zero top-4 results throughout both 2017 and 2018. The Irishman ranks just 223rd in GIR percentage this season and has also struggled with his accuracy off the tee, indicating major ball striking issues.
INJURY UPDATE
Kevin Chappell
Planning to undergo microdiscectomy surgery to address what is believed to be a nagging lower back injury, Chappell will be sidelined for an extended, yet undisclosed period of time throughout the early portion of 2019. A disappointing 2018 campaign included zero top-3 finishes in 25 events as he fell from 34th to his current standing of 71st in the OWGR. His lone PGA Tour victory came not too long ago at the 2017 Valero Texas Open, so he'll look to return to such form upon a full recovery next year.
