The Reshuffle List: Fallout From the First Reshuffle

It seemingly just started yesterday but seven events have already been played in the 2014-2015 PGA Tour season, and with the conclusion of the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, we have reached our first reshuffle. Here's the look at the latest Reshuffle List following the first portion of the season:

Top Five

1. Tony Finau 287.100 FedEx Cup Points
2. Andres Gonzales 237.370
3. Hudson Swafford 206.500
4. Fabian Gomez 152.750
5. John Peterson 141.120

Bottom Five (non-medical):

44. Tyrone Van Aswegen 0.930
46. Ryan Armour 0.750
47. Bud Cauley 0.000
48. Richard Sterne 0.000
49. Zack Sucher 0.000

Note: With 438 points making it to the FedEx Cup Playoffs last season, and with one extra event for 2014-2015 (the Barbasol Championship), golfers like Finau and Gonzales are, give or take, 200 points away from clinching a PGA Tour card for the 2015-16 season.

Graduated:

Nick Taylor - Taylor became the first reshuffle player to break through in the 2014-15 season, winning the opposite-field Sanderson Farms Championship by two shots over Boo Weekley and Jason Bohn. While the win doesn't get him into the Masters (more on that in a second), it does get him a two-year exemption and a trip to the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, The Players and the PGA Championship. Now per the Masters, there's a couple ways Taylor can get in, the first being to win another event, and the other to work his way up in world ranking position. However, at 208th, he has a long way to go and will probably need a high finish or a high FedEx Cup position as the cutoff dates near in late spring. Augusta or not, however, Taylor still has what every player in this category desires: job security and stability for the next two years. And that's huge.

Notable Gainers

Fabian Gomez, +40 spots - Gomez has had a near ideal start to his 2014-15 PGA Tour season, finishing in the top 25 of all three of his starts, going T8-T14-T23 at the McGladrey, Sanderson Farms and Mayakoba. He's shot two 66s in that stretch, while conversely shooting no round higher than 72. Statistically he's 21st in strokes gained-putting, helping elevate him to an 11th-place ranking in the strokes gained-total category. Now fourth in the Reshuffle List standings, Gomez is looking at a lot of starts on the west coast swing to begin 2015, and if he keeps this play up, fantasy owners should take note.

Hudson Swafford, +32 spots - We had high hopes for Swafford entering this season, and he's lived up to them so far, jumping 32 spots in just five weeks worth of play. He played in every event he qualified for, making the cut in all but one and finishing in the top 20 in all but one where he made the weekend. His start of T8 at the Frys.com Open got his season rolling to a good start, and he's kept it going since. Intriguingly, a first glance at his stats doesn't lead to anything that really jumps out, but a deeper dive into ShotLink reveals that his second-place ranking in par-3 performance (-10 overall) and his lag putting (he's 26th in putting from 15-20 feet and third from 20-25) seem to have helped separate him from the pack. Keep this performance up and we could be talking about Swafford graduating from the Reshuffle List sometime in 2015.

Jarrod Lyle, +28 spots - Lyle wins the award for most inspirational performance of the year by far, as his well-documented return from cancer has inspired golfers from all over and made the fall slate of the wrap-around PGA Tour schedule that much more meaningful. Lyle also played well in his return, Monday qualifying into the Frys.com Open before ultimately finishing T31 and then making the cut and tying for 42nd in Las Vegas. He's made $53,795, and because he has a major medical exemption and has moved up to 23rd on the Reshuffle List (he was 52nd), his path to earn $283,825 in his 18 remaining starts and keep his PGA Tour card will get clearer and clearer if he continues to play at this level. And that will keep making people from all over have a big smile on their faces.

Kyle Reifers, +24 spots - Reifers moved up 24 spots to 10th on the list by virtue of steady play during the fall slate. None of his finishes are overly flashy, but by going T39-T56-T54-T14-T29 in the five fall events he played (all except Malaysia and China), he accumulated more than 100 FedEx Cup points and more than $152K. That works out to a solid start, putting himself in great position to give himself extra starts on the west coast and a chance to not only keep his card but get his first PGA Tour victory. He ranks 34th in birdie average, 56th in scoring average, 14th in total eagles and third in total birdies.

Oscar Fraustro, +21 spots - Fraustro, the 32-year-old rookie from Mexico, saw his big jump come mainly from his T9 at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He missed the cut in his first PGA Tour start, the McGladrey Classic, but tied for 43rd at the Sanderson Farms Championship before the high finish in Mexico. Statistically, he ranked T16 in putts per green in regulation in the last event of the fall slate.

Notable Losers

Bud Cauley, -46 spots - Cauley's season can be summed up in one picture: the Instagram announcing his torn labrum in his shoulder. He hasn't made a start and probably won't until some part in early 2015. At that point he'll be behind the 8-ball for retaining his card and is probably heading toward a medical exemption, similar to what happened to Patrick Cantlay last season.

Richard Sterne, -42 spots - Sterne, who has played around the world, missed the cut in his first three PGA Tour starts -- Frys, Las Vegas and Sea Island -- leaving him 48th on the Reshuffle List. We bring up his other playing privileges (he played in three of the four Race to Dubai Finals events on the European Tour, for example), because even if he struggles on the PGA Tour he does have options elsewhere, an alternative few of these players have.

Zack Sucher, -38 spots - Sucher missed the cut in all five of his starts in the reshuffle period, shooting just two rounds in the 60s in that stretch. Interestingly -- and proof that putting is not everything -- Sucher is 17th in strokes gained-putting, yet no better than 80th in any other major statistical category, ranking in the 100s in most. He's 203rd in driving accuracy, 217th in greens in regulation and 192nd in strokes gained-tee to green. While the PGA Tour's top players never seem to have a true offseason, this dormant stretch on the holidays is a real offseason for the Reshuffle List guys, and at 49th on the list, Sucher needs to desperately find his game and come out of the gate playing well in the few playing opportunities he'll get during the west coast swing in January.

Jason Gore, -38 spots - Gore, who made so many fans during the 2005 U.S. Open but has not found much success since, has had a rough start to his season. He missed the cut at the Frys.com Open, withdrew from Las Vegas and missed the cut again in Sea Island before finally making two cuts and finishing T61-T71 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and OHL Classic at Mayakoba, respectively. He ranks 100th or lower in all but one of the PGA Tour's core stats, including 149th in strokes gained-tee to green and 129th in strokes gained-putting, leaving him 160th overall in strokes gained-total. Gore needs to sort this out now so he can improve on his 43rd place Reshuffle List position next year.

Sam Sunders, -27 spots - Saunders, better known as Arnold Palmer's grandson, played well during the 2014 Web.com Tour season to get onto the PGA Tour full-time for the first time but struggled in the early going. He tied for 73rd at the Frys.com Open and followed that with a T33 finish in Las Vegas. But since then he missed the cut at Sea Island, withdrew in Jackson and then missed the cut again to end the year at Mayakoba. Hurting him now is poor driving (130th in driving accuracy) and poor iron play (159th in greens in regulation), leaving him 221st in birdie average. At 38th on the Reshuffle List, those are Saunders' main areas to improve this season.

The Nothing Men

Cauley, Sterne and Sucher are the only non-medical players to have not earned any FedEx Cup points in the 2014-15 PGA Tour season.

Player to Watch

We continue to be huge fans of Tony Finau, who lit it up in the start of his season with his long drives (he's averaging 307.9 yards off the tee, which puts him 12th on tour), and has impressed with his strong iron play as he's 57th in greens in regulation, and 18th in strokes gained - tee to green. With mature poise and strong finishes so far - and top-15 finishes in all but one of his five starts in the fall - Finau not only deserves to be No. 1 on the Reshuffle List but is our pick to be next to graduate. He's that good.