This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
Lacking a single player in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, the Valero Texas Open was a bit of a snoozefest until the back nine Sunday, when Kevin Chappell dramatically birdied the 18th to secure his first career victory on Tour. Brooks Koepka, featured in the "Value Rising" section of the penultimate Golf Barometer, continued his escalation with a final-round 65 that resulted in a runner-up finish. Two of last week's "fallers" included Scott Stallings, who missed the cut by three strokes in San Antonio, while Carl Pettersson unpredictably broke through for his first top-20 since August of 2015. The only imaginable scenario is that he read the article and found inspiration to bounce back just days later. Looking ahead, excitement surrounds the new team format for this week's Zurich Classic, so we will now take a look at several golfers who are rising or falling in value heading into the Tour's stop in New Orleans, along with updates for a couple of ailing veterans.
VALUE RISING
Tony Finau
Finau, who ranks top-10 on Tour in both SG: off-the-tee and SG: tee-to-green, rode his superior ball striking to a T3 finish at the Valero Texas Open. His putter continues to be his Achilles' heel, but he has now made four consecutive cuts, with two top-fives and no result worse than a T34 at the Shell Houston Open, ascending to No. 24 in the FedExCup standings. It's quite obscure how putting woes have kept Finau from ever creeping
Lacking a single player in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, the Valero Texas Open was a bit of a snoozefest until the back nine Sunday, when Kevin Chappell dramatically birdied the 18th to secure his first career victory on Tour. Brooks Koepka, featured in the "Value Rising" section of the penultimate Golf Barometer, continued his escalation with a final-round 65 that resulted in a runner-up finish. Two of last week's "fallers" included Scott Stallings, who missed the cut by three strokes in San Antonio, while Carl Pettersson unpredictably broke through for his first top-20 since August of 2015. The only imaginable scenario is that he read the article and found inspiration to bounce back just days later. Looking ahead, excitement surrounds the new team format for this week's Zurich Classic, so we will now take a look at several golfers who are rising or falling in value heading into the Tour's stop in New Orleans, along with updates for a couple of ailing veterans.
VALUE RISING
Tony Finau
Finau, who ranks top-10 on Tour in both SG: off-the-tee and SG: tee-to-green, rode his superior ball striking to a T3 finish at the Valero Texas Open. His putter continues to be his Achilles' heel, but he has now made four consecutive cuts, with two top-fives and no result worse than a T34 at the Shell Houston Open, ascending to No. 24 in the FedExCup standings. It's quite obscure how putting woes have kept Finau from ever creeping into the top 60 of the OWGR, but the young bomber has the long game to contend near the top of leaderboards at most venues. Don't be concerned if Finau misses the cut at the Zurich Classic, however, given the fact that he's paired with a struggling Daniel Summerhays.
Sung Kang
A T12 finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open back in February sparked an impressive nine-event stretch in which Kang has made seven cuts while also notching five top-25s. Most recently, Kang has posted finishes of T6-T11-2 in his past three starts, with the runner-up performance coming at the Shell Houston Open in early April. In just a four-week span, he has climbed from No. 202 in the OWGR all the way up to 86th, while he's also just one spot outside of the top 25 in the FedExCup standings. Kang will be playing alongside fellow South Korean Si Woo Kim in New Orleans this week.
Bud Cauley
Cauley has bounced back in April with consecutive top-10s at the RBC Heritage and Valero Texas Open after missing two straight cuts in late March, climbing to No. 126 in the OWGR despite beginning his 2017 campaign outside of the top 300. The 27-year-old has excelled with his short irons this season, currently ranked sixth on Tour in proximity to the hole on approach shots from 150-175 yards out while also placing 15th in SG: approach-the-green. Given Cauley's recent form along with Justin Thomas' distance off the tee, the University of Alabama alums could make some noise as a pairing at the Zurich Classic.
VALUE FALLING
Harris English
English's inability to find the fairway has positioned him at 185th on Tour in SG: off-the-tee while he is currently displaying a 50.54% FIR percentage, which is ranked 199th among his peers. It's a shame his ballstriking is so disheartening since he's up to 23rd in SG: putting, but has missed three cuts in his last six events along with a pair of T60-or-worse finishes in that span. Hopefully pairing with Hudson Swafford at the Zurich Classic rejuvenates positive vibes for English, although he could fall outside the top 100 of the OWGR if he doesn't turn things around quickly.
Chris Kirk
Following a T10 at the BMW Championship to end his 2015-16 campaign, Kirk went on to post three top-10s in the first four events of his 2016-17 season as he climbed inside of the top 70 in the OWGR. He has now fallen to No. 96 due to a whopping four missed cuts in his last five events, while placing T62 at the weaker-field Puerto Rico Open in his lone made cut since early-February's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Despite hitting nearly 65% of his fairways in regulation, Kirk ranks 142nd on Tour in SG: off-the-tee, while also placing 160th in proximity to the hole on approach shots from 75-100 yards out. Kirk, who finished fifth at the Zurich Classic in 2016, will pair with Brendon Todd this week.
Kelly Kraft
Kraft impressed earlier in the season with a five-event stretch from late November to early February that included four top-30s and a runner-up finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Since the second-place performance at Pebble, the 178th-ranked golfer in the world has missed five cuts to go along with a WD and T65 throughout his last seven starts. He is down to No. 55 in the FedExCup standings, which is pretty good for someone who has never cracked the top 150 in the OWGR, but he won't last long if he continues this downward trend and keeps missing cuts. Kraft will be in the field for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans playing alongside Kevin Tway, who just finished T3 at the Valero Texas Open.
INJURY UPDATE
Tiger Woods (back)
Yet another major setback for Tiger was announced last Thursday as the 41-year-old underwent his fourth back surgery since 2014, while the procedure this time around was performed in order to alleviate ongoing back pain that has kept him sidelined since a WD at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in early February. An average timetable of a six-month recovery period for this type of surgery would project Woods' potential return for mid-autumn at the earliest, but at this point, he may elect to take the entirety of 2017 off from tournament golf moving forward. A pessimistic view includes the forecast of Tiger failing to make a cut ever again, while one more health setback may be the final straw for his competitive career either way.
Jimmy Walker (illness)
After experiencing fatigue and a lack of strength since late November, doctors were finally able to diagnose Walker with Lyme disease, which the 25th-ranked golfer in the OWGR announced prior to his T13 at the Valero Texas Open. He was also able to post a top-20 result at the Masters earlier in April despite dealing with what was thought to be mononucleosis at the time, showcasing his ability to play through illness as he expects to maintain a full schedule while he gets back to full strength. Walker pulled out of the upcoming Zurich Classic after planning to tee it up alongside Sean O'Hair, but he figures to return to action following initial treatment.
