This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
The PGA Tour's Asian swing heads north from Malaysia to South Korea this week, as the inaugural CJ Cup at Nine Bridges invites 78 entrants to a no-cut format. Pat Perez won last week's CIMB Classic by four whole strokes to ascend into the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career, and Danny Lee posted a top-10 result in his return from a back injury. Let's take a look at several trends on Tour as the season's first WGC event looms in the near future.
VALUE RISING
Xander Schauffele
The 2016-17 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year followed up his win at the TOUR Championship with a T3 at the CIMB Classic during his season debut. He began the 2017 calendar year at just 299th in the Official World Golf Ranking, but has since climbed to 29th after moving up three more spots after last week's performance in Malaysia. Last season Schauffele ranked 20th in both SG: Off-the-Tee and birdie average. He will look to continue his upward trend at this week's CJ Cup at Nine Bridges.
Tyrrell Hatton
Back-to-back wins at the Italian Open and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship have the Englishman back inside the OWGR's top 20 at No. 17. He returned to action on the European Tour following a missed cut at the PGA Championship, posting results of T3-T8-1-1 throughout his past four starts since the MC. He will be someone to keep an eye on at the upcoming
The PGA Tour's Asian swing heads north from Malaysia to South Korea this week, as the inaugural CJ Cup at Nine Bridges invites 78 entrants to a no-cut format. Pat Perez won last week's CIMB Classic by four whole strokes to ascend into the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career, and Danny Lee posted a top-10 result in his return from a back injury. Let's take a look at several trends on Tour as the season's first WGC event looms in the near future.
VALUE RISING
Xander Schauffele
The 2016-17 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year followed up his win at the TOUR Championship with a T3 at the CIMB Classic during his season debut. He began the 2017 calendar year at just 299th in the Official World Golf Ranking, but has since climbed to 29th after moving up three more spots after last week's performance in Malaysia. Last season Schauffele ranked 20th in both SG: Off-the-Tee and birdie average. He will look to continue his upward trend at this week's CJ Cup at Nine Bridges.
Tyrrell Hatton
Back-to-back wins at the Italian Open and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship have the Englishman back inside the OWGR's top 20 at No. 17. He returned to action on the European Tour following a missed cut at the PGA Championship, posting results of T3-T8-1-1 throughout his past four starts since the MC. He will be someone to keep an eye on at the upcoming WGC-HSBC Champions event thanks to his stellar recent form.
Nick Taylor
Taylor appeared to be on pace for a decent postseason run after posting three top-10s in seven events from May through early July, but he missed three of his next five cuts while posting no finish better than a T50 during that span to end his campaign at the Dell Technologies Championship. Since then, he has notched a pair of top-15s to open the 2017-18 season and he will have a chance to extend that streak in South Korea this week.
VALUE FALLING
Thomas Pieters
There isn't much long-term concern about Pieters at this point, but he has been unable to live up to his daily fantasy pricing of late due to a recent run of poor play. He has fallen from 23rd to 34th in the OWGR since a fourth-place finish at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, notching results of T44-74-66-MC-MC in his last five starts. He will have a chance to turn it around at this week's CJ Cup, though an unknown course won't do him any favors, as he generally struggles with accuracy off the tee compared to his peers.
Chad Campbell
The 43-year-old's disappointing performance in the FedExCup Playoffs included a T67 at the Northern Trust followed by a missed cut at the Dell Technologies Championship. Campbell's 2017-18 campaign hasn't been much different through two events, as he finished 68th at the Safeway Open and T58 at the 78-entrant CIMB Classic. He also ranked just 140th on Tour in terms of birdie average last season.
Jim Herman
Herman hasn't finished top-30 in a single event since the first week of June at the Memorial Tournament, descending from 78th to 122nd in the OWGR. He will turn 40 years old in a matter of weeks, and it could be tough for him to crack the top 100 in the FedExCup standings this season if this regression continues.
INJURY UPDATE
Tiger Woods
Woods was cleared to resume full golf activities earlier in the week, though he remains without a clear timetable for his potential return to competitive golf as he plans to play it much safer with his health this time around. He will turn 42 years old just before the turn of the calendar year, and at this point the jury is still out in regards to whether or not he will ever be able to contend again.
