This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
Last week we were treated (slow-play aside) to the sights of Jason Day's return to the winner's circle and Tiger Woods' completion of a full-field PGA Tour event pain-free. Across the globe a 22-year-old Haotong Li took down superstar Rory McIlroy during a back-nine duel in Dubai. With much of America's attention now turning to the Super Bowl, golf fans in the southwest will be treated to a week-long darty of their own hosted by the Waste Management Phoenix Open and TPC Scottsdale's famous 16th-hole stadium atmosphere. Here we'll take a look at several trends on Tour and dive into any relating fantasy implications.
VALUE RISING
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy took some time off during the winter months after his 2017 campaign was hindered by injuries, but the 28-year-old has bounced back strong with a pair of top-three finishes in his first two events of 2018. He posted a T3 at the European Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in his return, and he followed that up with a runner-up result at last week's Omega Dubai Desert Classic as he lost to Haotong Li by just one stroke. The Northern Irishman is back inside the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking and it could be a big year for him as he looks to avoid the injury bug this time around. McIlroy plans to tee it up next in the United States at the Genesis Open hosted by Riviera CC in mid-February.
Alex Noren
Noren heads into his debut at TPC
Last week we were treated (slow-play aside) to the sights of Jason Day's return to the winner's circle and Tiger Woods' completion of a full-field PGA Tour event pain-free. Across the globe a 22-year-old Haotong Li took down superstar Rory McIlroy during a back-nine duel in Dubai. With much of America's attention now turning to the Super Bowl, golf fans in the southwest will be treated to a week-long darty of their own hosted by the Waste Management Phoenix Open and TPC Scottsdale's famous 16th-hole stadium atmosphere. Here we'll take a look at several trends on Tour and dive into any relating fantasy implications.
VALUE RISING
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy took some time off during the winter months after his 2017 campaign was hindered by injuries, but the 28-year-old has bounced back strong with a pair of top-three finishes in his first two events of 2018. He posted a T3 at the European Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in his return, and he followed that up with a runner-up result at last week's Omega Dubai Desert Classic as he lost to Haotong Li by just one stroke. The Northern Irishman is back inside the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking and it could be a big year for him as he looks to avoid the injury bug this time around. McIlroy plans to tee it up next in the United States at the Genesis Open hosted by Riviera CC in mid-February.
Alex Noren
Noren heads into his debut at TPC Scottsdale this week coming off his best stateside finish ever, having lost in a playoff to Jason Day at the Farmers Insurance Open for a T2 result. The Swede climbed as high as eighth in the OWGR in 2017, but fell during the latter portions of the season and currently stands at No. 16. Noren was especially solid tee-to-green at Torrey Pines last week, leading the field in GIR percentage as he ranked second in SG: Approach.
Haotong Li
Li just notched the most substantial win of his young career at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, holding off McIlroy down the stretch as he became the first Chinese player to ever reach the top-50 in the OWGR. The victory has opened many doors for the 22-year-old in terms of potential entrance into the world's biggest events, while he's now expected to participate in more WGC events and majors than he's been accustomed to in the past.
Harris English
English's 2017-18 campaign could not have started much worse as he missed five consecutive cuts before placing outside the top-60 at the Sony Open, but he's since posted results of T8-T11 at the Farmers Insurance Open and CareerBuilder Challenge. It's the perfect time for English to start rounding into form, given the fact that he's never missed a cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and owns three top-15s in six starts at the event.
VALUE FALLING
Camilo Villegas
Villegas was able to hang onto his PGA Tour card after finishing 96th in the 2016-17 FedExCup standings, but he's placed better than 75th just once in his last five starts. He remains fairly irrelevant in most fantasy formats, having failed to crack $1 million in earnings since the 2013-14 season.
Hideto Tanihara
Tanihara ascended to a career-high 47th in the OWGR during the first half of the 2017 calendar year, but he's since dropped 30 spots to No. 77. He finished 68th in his first start of 2018 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and followed that up with a missed cut at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Tanihara is set to turn 40 later this year, so it wouldn't be shocking to see a sustained regression if age and fatigue become a factor.
INJURY UPDATE
Jason Day
Day wasn't even confident that he'd be able to play at last week's Farmers Insurance Open due to his nagging back ailments -- according to Ryan Lavner of GolfChannel.com -- but the Aussie battled for four rounds plus six additional playoff holes en route to his first win since 2016. In order to have a chance at remaining in the top-10 of the OWGR throughout the next decade after turning 30 last November, Day will likely make a few swing changes at some point to reduce stress upon his back.
