This article is part of our The Reshuffle List series.
As we begin 2017 it's time for an update on the PGA Tour Reshuffle List, which had its first namesake move happen at the conclusion of last fall's RSM Classic. And contrary to last season, three players have already graduated:
Graduated
Cody Gribble – Winning as a rookie is impressive. Winning in your second start of as a PGA Tour member is even more impressive. Gribble, a powerful lefty who helped Texas win a national title as a collegian, won the Sanderson Farms Championship by four shots, ensuring a place to play for basically three years and getting into many big events (albeit not the Masters) in 2017. For the week he ranked ninth in strokes gained-off the tee, first in SG-putting (nice combo) and first in birdies with 26. With an offseason to take it all in and the talent that helped win that national championship alongside Jordan Spieth, Gribble could do big things in 2017.
Rod Pampling – Of the seven winners this fall, five fall into what most would call the "unlikely" category. Pampling (along with Pat Perez) tops the list. Pampling wasn't hurt but just hadn't shown sharp form in years; his last PGA Tour win was at Bay Hill in 2006 and was coming off a 2015-16 PGA Tour season where his best finish was a 26th in Puerto Rico. He needed the Web.com Tour Finals to get his card back and then won in his third start of the wraparound season, taking the
As we begin 2017 it's time for an update on the PGA Tour Reshuffle List, which had its first namesake move happen at the conclusion of last fall's RSM Classic. And contrary to last season, three players have already graduated:
Graduated
Cody Gribble – Winning as a rookie is impressive. Winning in your second start of as a PGA Tour member is even more impressive. Gribble, a powerful lefty who helped Texas win a national title as a collegian, won the Sanderson Farms Championship by four shots, ensuring a place to play for basically three years and getting into many big events (albeit not the Masters) in 2017. For the week he ranked ninth in strokes gained-off the tee, first in SG-putting (nice combo) and first in birdies with 26. With an offseason to take it all in and the talent that helped win that national championship alongside Jordan Spieth, Gribble could do big things in 2017.
Rod Pampling – Of the seven winners this fall, five fall into what most would call the "unlikely" category. Pampling (along with Pat Perez) tops the list. Pampling wasn't hurt but just hadn't shown sharp form in years; his last PGA Tour win was at Bay Hill in 2006 and was coming off a 2015-16 PGA Tour season where his best finish was a 26th in Puerto Rico. He needed the Web.com Tour Finals to get his card back and then won in his third start of the wraparound season, taking the Shriners Open as he ranked second in SG-approach to the green, first in SG-around the green and first in SG-tee to green. Now he's back at Augusta, with the freedom to play these next couple years knowing his job his safe as he heads into the next stage of his career.
Mackenzie Hughes – Ask who the top-ranked Canadian golfer is and most probably will say Graham DeLaet, maybe David Hearn. Probably wouldn't be Hughes, right? But when he emerged from a five-man playoff to win the RSM Classic in dramatic fashion with a Monday par putt from long range that led to his first career PGA Tour win, Hughes ascended to that mark. Like Gribble, he'll probably say that the two-plus years of job security is the best perk, followed by that trip down Magnolia Lane, the Players and Maui for the Tournament of Champions. While the stat rankings were nice -- he ranked first in SG-putting and third in SG-around the green for the week -- what was truly most impressive was his resiliency during the third round when his game went sideways. He kept himself in it, and ultimately came out the champion.
Biggest Gainers
(Note: For both this and the next section, one must note the utter wildness of the movements, one of the biggest I've ever seen. This speaks to how important the fall has become and how many golfers are on completely different schedules. When you have crowded fields of both newcomers and veterans, it eliminates starts for some Reshuffle List players and enables others to get a leg up on their competition. That combination is shown with these results.)
Cameron Percy, +31 spots – Sometimes, for all we talk about consistency and needing to string together consistent starts, it's simply where you started that can determine your fate. With just two starts -- yet two solid, in the money finishes -- Percy vaulted 31 spots into 13th on the Reshuffle List heading into the 2017 portion of the season. He finished T42 at Sanderson Farms and T21 at the RSM Classic and has a (very early) 14th-place ranking in greens in regulation. That's the ticket to consistency. We'll see how this play translates in 2017 when he gets more consistent appearances on the PGA Tour.
Whee Kim, +30 spots – Kim has three top-30 finishes -- T13 at Safeway, T14 at Sanderson Farms, T27 at Sea Island -- which led to his rise to third in the Reshuffle List standings. He's ninth in SG-putting, 24th in scoring average, 26th in proximity to the hole and ninth in a proximity to the hole from rough, a key number if you want to score well when your drives go astray. His putter will be tested on difficult west coast greens, and it will be interesting to see how he makes out early in 2017.
Tim Wilkinson, +28 spots – Wilkinson's 28-spot rise is even more impressive when you consider he missed his first two cuts of the season at the Sanderson Farms Championship and OHL Classic at Mayakoba and finished a mere T21 at the RSM Classic. Why the sudden improvement? His season-long ranks of 203rd in SG-approach to the green and 100th in SG-putting improved to 23rd and 45th, respectively. Throw in a good short game and a perfect sand game and you get the solid results he had at Sea Island. Now, we will wait to see how he does after the eight-week break. Fantasy players: be skeptical until you see consistent improvement.
Ryan Blaum, +23 spots – Blaum played the maximum number of fall events available to Reshuffle List players -- five -- finishing in the money in all (huge for a reshuffle player) and picking up two top-20 finishes and four top-35s. The best was a T11 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. His strength is his short game where he's 32nd in SG-around the green and 30th in SG-putting. Keep doing that and we'll see Blaum on national television in 2017.
Brandon Hagy, +22 spots – Hagy only made three starts during the reshuffle period, going T35-T14-missed cut. The T14 in Jackson showed his potential, as he ranked second in SG-off the tee and 15th in SG-approach to the green. We will see how the rookie does against ever more difficult fields when he starts the 2017 season 14th on the Reshuffle List.
Biggest Droppers
Scott Stallings, -29 spots – Stallings' drop stems from missing the cut in the first four events he played in fall before finishing 70th at the RSM Classic, shooting just three rounds in the 60s in the process. It's ever more frustrating considering how well he played in the Web.com Tour Finals last year. The issue is, well everything. He's 170th in SG-off the tee, 161st in SG-approach to the green, 138th in SG-around the green and a whopping 205th (out of 220) in putting. Obviously, all aspects of his game need to improve if he wants a strong 2017, and starting 40th on the Reshuffle List won't help matters.
Zach Sucher, -24 spots – Sucher missed three of four fall cuts with a T42 at the Sanderson Farms Championship his only time in the money. His issue statistically is his short game. He's 100th in scrambling, 159th in sand-save percentage and 151st in SG-around the green. Fix that and we may see better play out of Sucher in 2017. What went right in the week he finished T42? T68 in SG-around the green, T37 in sand saves. He begins the year 37th on the Reshuffle List.
Julian Etulian, -24 spots – The rookie missed three cuts and made two, finishing T57 in Jackson and T71 at RSM. He struggled off the tee (155th) and around the green (204th) last fall and needs to hit more fairways in 2017 as he ranked 200th in that category last season. He's now 38th in the Reshuffle List standings and will need to take advantage of the limited starts he gets in the early part of 2017 to improve his plight.
Bryson DeChambeau, -23 spots – Quickly becoming one of the most popular, innovative and polarizing players on tour, DeChambeau was 166th in SG-putting in fall. At the Shark Shootout in December he went modified side-saddle while teaming up with Lexi Thompson and seems committed to it for 2017. The epic tinkerer who plays with irons all the same length clearly thinks it can help his game and take him to the next level as a competitor especially with the putter. But this is a no-no for fantasy player. An experimentation that needs consistent results before he can be a recommendation for starting on your team. It'll certainly be something to watch early in the season. He starts the year 26th on the Reshuffle List.
Richy Werenski, -21 spots – Werenski tied for 35th to open the season at the Safeway Open before missing the cut in two of his next four starts with a best finish of T50 at Maykoba. He's 25th on the Reshuffle List and needs to improve his approach and around the green game, where he ranked 156th and 180th in those categories, respectively. Watch early in the season to see if those two aspects of his game have improved.
Nothing Men List
Because of this volatility, we have relatively few players on the Nothing Men list after seven events. They are: Rich Lamb, Max Homa, Mark Anderson and Joel Dahmen.
