Golf Barometer: Reed Revving Up

Five weeks have passed since Sergio Garcia's electric victory at the Masters, and not a single soul inside of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking has won during the following span of unlikely victors. A severely inconsistent Si Woo Kim came out of nowhere to win THE PLAYERS Championship, which involved the strongest field of the season to date. Up next is the AT&T Byron Nelson, where Garcia is the defending champion, and this year -- unlike years past -- four of the top six golfers in the OWGR will make an appearance.

Let's examine further several players who are rising or falling in value, and also check in on injury updates for two signature names on Tour.

VALUE RISING

Patrick Reed

After reaching a career-best seventh in the OWGR in October of 2016, Reed's 2017 campaign got off to a fast start, as he placed T6 at the SBS Tournament of Champions followed by a top-15 at the CareerBuilder Challenge. Throughout his next six events, however, the 26-year-old failed to record a single top-20 result and fell to No. 12 in the OWGR. To add to the damage, he went on to miss three consecutive cuts while posting four scores of 76 or worse in just six rounds. It's clear Reed is one of many Americans who loves the Ryder Cup, so maybe the Zurich Classic's team format provided a sense of rejuvenation, as Reed finished T14 alongside partner Patrick Cantlay. Reed would then go on to place T12 at the Wells Fargo Championship despite riding a bogey train on his back nine during the final round, which ultimately kept him from contending. He still has plenty to prove with his iron and wedge play in order to regain full trust from fantasy gamers, but a top-25 performance at the PLAYERS Championship keeps him on the upswing for now.

Kyle Stanley

After beginning his 2017 campaign outside of the top 250 in the OWGR, Stanley has ascended to No. 109 with just two missed cuts in 15 events this season. Most recently, Stanley held a share of the lead after three rounds at the coveted PLAYERS Championship before five final-round bogeys kept him four strokes short of a potential playoff opportunity. He has quietly become one of the elite ball strikers on Tour, ranking sixth in SG: off-the-tee and seventh in SG: approach-the-green, which is good enough for fourth overall in SG: tee-to-green. He continues to stay under the radar, however, thanks to a shaky putter that leaves him 163rd on Tour in SG: putting. Stanley actually found a certain level of success on the greens at TPC Sawgrass, finishing T6 in terms of putts per GIR, as he carded a tournament-best 20 birdies. If he finds any consistency with the flat stick moving forward, he would be a prime candidate to make more noise throughout the rest of the season.

Ian Poulter

Having officially secured his PGA Tour card for the remainder of the season, playing with a sense of ease helped Poulter this past week at THE PLAYERS. The fiery Englishman was in contention until the back nine during Sunday's final round, when a pair of bogeys allowed for Kim to pull away by three strokes. Poulter placed top five among the field in GIR percentage, but could not quite find his groove with the putter and finished outside of the top 50 in SG: putting. He ranks third on Tour in SG: around-the-green and 18th in SG: tee-to-green, and a T2 result at TPC Sawgrass proves he can still hang with top-level competition in the United States from time to time. His floor on a weekly basis remains low, but the opportunity to play a full schedule combined with a quality iron/wedge game has one of golf's most popular players (to hate) back on track.

VALUE FALLING

Billy Horschel

Horschel's 74.3 stroke average throughout his past six tournament rounds -- not counting the Zurich Classic team format -- has resulted in three consecutive missed cuts. His last top-25 finish came two months ago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and he has fallen outside of the top 70 in both the OWGR and FedExCup standings, mostly due to a terrible short game that puts him 193rd on Tour in SG: around-the-green.. He hasn't played at the AT&T Byron Nelson since a missed cut at the event in 2012, so turning things around this week in Dallas will be no easy task.

Patrick Rodgers

Rodgers has not appeared in a weekend round since mid-February, missing six consecutive cuts dating back to the Honda Classic. He ranks 198th out of 208 on Tour in total strokes gained, with driving distance remaining the lone bright spot in his game. Rodgers will be in the field at this week's AT&T Byron Nelson, where he tied for 46th in 2016 but missed the cut during his previous attempt.

Jim Furyk

The 47-year-old veteran ranked as high as 18th in the OWGR last summer after placing T2 at the U.S. Open, but a recent landslide has pushed Furyk all the way outside of the top 70. He has missed four consecutive cuts while posting a brutal 73.25 scoring average throughout his past eight tournament rounds. Despite hitting a fairways at 71.1% in regulation this season, Furyk is losing strokes both off-the-tee and tee-to-green and currently sits a woeful No. 144 in the FedExCup standings.

INJURY UPDATE

Rory McIlroy (back/ribs)

Experiencing a setback during THE PLAYERS Championship, McIlroy was forced to undergo an MRI earlier this week to assess the seriousness of his injuries. The results were promising, as he avoided any new issues while simply aggravating the rib injury that sidelined him earlier in the year, but to a lesser extent this time around. McIlroy still intends to play in the Euro Tour's BMW PGA Championship in late May, and then return to the U.S. for the Memorial Tournament in early June.

Brandt Snedeker (hand)

"Sneds" will be making his return from a hand injury this week in Texas after the issue forced him to sit out of THE PLAYERS Championship. He's finished top-30 in five consecutive events, but may need to shake off some rust after being sidelined for just over a month.