This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
The summer season is officially underway as of Friday, while the Travelers Championship ensues throughout the weekend in Cromwell, Connecticut at TPC River Highlands. The 2018-19 PGA Tour campaign is flying by following the conclusion of the year's third major, with Gary Woodland becoming a major champion in heartwarming fashion at the U.S. Open hosted by Pebble Beach. We'll now turn our attention to several fantasy trends and a couple injury updates as temps begin to heat up.
VALUE RISING
A top-20 at the Masters preceded what has become three consecutive top-8 finishes for the Aussie, who has strung together results of T8-T-T7 from the PGA Championship to the U.S. Open. Scott has gained an incredible average of 10.4 strokes from tee to green over his last five tournaments, including 11.8 strokes on approach shots en route to his runner-up performance at the Memorial Tournament. He's currently 17th or better in both the FedExCup standings and Official World Golf Ranking, though his next start may not come for another couple weeks.
The Irishman dipped as low as 92nd in the OWGR following a missed cut at last summer's Open Championship, but he's since ascended to No. 31 with a brilliant stretch of T3-T8-T2 from the RBC Heritage through the RBC Canadian Open prior to a T28 at the U.S. Open. His short game has been essential as Lowry ranks 18th on Tour in both SG: Putting and sand save percentage, though he's also gained a respectable
The summer season is officially underway as of Friday, while the Travelers Championship ensues throughout the weekend in Cromwell, Connecticut at TPC River Highlands. The 2018-19 PGA Tour campaign is flying by following the conclusion of the year's third major, with Gary Woodland becoming a major champion in heartwarming fashion at the U.S. Open hosted by Pebble Beach. We'll now turn our attention to several fantasy trends and a couple injury updates as temps begin to heat up.
VALUE RISING
A top-20 at the Masters preceded what has become three consecutive top-8 finishes for the Aussie, who has strung together results of T8-T-T7 from the PGA Championship to the U.S. Open. Scott has gained an incredible average of 10.4 strokes from tee to green over his last five tournaments, including 11.8 strokes on approach shots en route to his runner-up performance at the Memorial Tournament. He's currently 17th or better in both the FedExCup standings and Official World Golf Ranking, though his next start may not come for another couple weeks.
The Irishman dipped as low as 92nd in the OWGR following a missed cut at last summer's Open Championship, but he's since ascended to No. 31 with a brilliant stretch of T3-T8-T2 from the RBC Heritage through the RBC Canadian Open prior to a T28 at the U.S. Open. His short game has been essential as Lowry ranks 18th on Tour in both SG: Putting and sand save percentage, though he's also gained a respectable average of four strokes from tee to green over his last five events. Much like the aforementioned Scott, it may be a couple weeks before Lowry's next appearance.
Joining the top-100 in the OWGR for the first time in his career after posting a T8 at the PGA Championship, van Rooyen then notched a top-20 at the RBC Canadian Open before also making the cut in his U.S. Open debut. The South African returned to action on the European Tour this week for the BMW International Open where he's five-under thru 54 holes and just inside the top-25. He gained at least 5.6 strokes tee to green during each of his last three starts in the states.
VALUE FALLING
With another MC at the Travelers Championship this week, Stallings has now missed the cut in five of six starts dating back to the Wells Fargo Championship in early May while dropping to 145th in the OWGR. The putter has been an issue all season, but the rest of his game isn't cooperating either as he's lost strokes tee to green during each of those five missed cuts as well. Stallings will look to get back on track at the upcoming Rocket Mortgage Classic against a weak field in Detroit.
Holmes racked up six bogeys and two doubles through just 36 holes at the Travelers Championship, ultimately missing the cut by six shots for his fifth straight MC since a WD at the Wells Fargo. He's still comfortably inside of the top-70 in the FedExCup standings thanks to a win earlier this season at the Genesis Open, but he's lost an average of 3.7 strokes total over his last five tourneys. Holmes will be in the field for the upcoming Rocket Mortgage Classic as well.
A victory at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth on the Euro Tour earlier in 2019 earned Fox the No. 66 slot in the OWGR, but he's since fallen to 91st with missed cuts in each of his last five starts. He failed to advance to the weekend on three occasions stateside during this brutal run, notching an MC at the PGA Championship, Memorial Tournament and U.S. Open against the game's best. Fox is ranked just 220th out of 223 in driving accuracy on the European Tour.
INJURY UPDATE
Schwartzel has officially announced that his 2018-19 campaign has come to an end due to a lingering wrist injury that will likely require more extensive treatment. The South African will turn 35 in late August and still has plenty of golf left in him, so the decision to take an extended period of time away from competition makes sense at this stage. Schwartzel has dipped to 135th in the OWGR and hasn't won anything worldwide since the 2016 Valspar Championship.
Eddie Pepperrell
A sore back has kept Pepperrell sidelined since the PGA Championship, as the Englishman was forced to withdraw from the recent U.S. Open due to the nagging issue. A timeline for his eventual return is unclear at this point, but he's usually pretty good about updating his followers on Twitter. Pepperrell missed the cut during his most recent start at Bethpage Black, but had tied for second the week prior overseas at the Betfred British Masters.
