Daniel Berger

Berger was troubled by the injury bug in 2022, dealing with a persistent back injury that saw him last tee-it-up at the U.S. Open in June in which he missed the cut. When healthy, he's shown that he's one of the best players in the game due to his superb iron play. It's likely we won't see Berger until 2023, but we wouldn't be surprised to see him make his way back into the top-10 in the world, if healthy.

Entering the 2020-21 season the jury was still out on Berger. Berger earned $4 million in 2017, but soon after he lost his game. It took two years to regain his form, but he eventually found it in 2020. Last season could have gone in either direction, but he managed to keep the momentum going as he posted another $4 million season. It seems like Berger is on solid footing now and he should remain a fixture in the top 30 on the PGA Tour going forward. With that said, it's hard to tell if his ceiling is much higher than R$4 million and considering his number for this season, he's not a good salary cap option.

After only posting one top-10 result in the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in the 2018-19 season, Berger has improved immensely and emerged as one of the best players on Tour. He came into the suspension of play with three consecutive top-10s and picked up where he left off with a win, a runner-up, and two third place finishes since the re-start of play. Berger has been solid all-around, ranking in the top 15 in SG: Tee-to-green and SG: Putting in 2019-20.

Berger was playing catch up for most of the season after he was forced to miss the entire fall portion of the schedule due to a wrist injury. The Florida State product made 15-of-20 cuts last season with a runner-up and three other top-25s. After making the TOUR Championship his first three seasons on the PGA Tour, Berger will be motivated to get back to East Lake. Last season was the first season he was not ranked inside the top-25 on tour in SG: Approach, so expect him to improve greatly on No. 115 in SG: Approach and 151st in GIR percentage. He will be a solid salary cap option next season.

There aren't many players in the history of the PGA Tour that accomplished more than Daniel Berger did in his first three seasons. In his first three years on the PGA Tour, Berger won two events, finished runner-up at four other events and earned over $10 million. He came out of the gates quickly in his rookie season, when he earned over $3 million and he improved upon that number in each of the two seasons that followed. Everything was looking up heading into the 2017-2018 season and then? Well, it's unknown exactly what happened to Berger last season, but there's no denying something was off. How does a guy play that well for three seasons, then lose most of his game? Maybe it was an injury, maybe it was something personal, whatever the reason, his resume is too good to give up on him after just one subpar season.

Three years into his career on the PGA Tour and it's pretty clear that Berger is the real deal. Berger wasted no time getting accustomed to the PGA Tour three seasons ago, as he earned more than $3 million in his rookie season. Many golfers in that position regress after a rookie season like that, but Berger actually improved. He proved that his first two seasons were no fluke last season as he posted his best season to date. Berger picked-up one win and was so close to another as he lost in a playoff to Jordan Spieth on his now famous bunker hole-out. Berger appears to be a guy that's going to continue to make strides, but the bar is set pretty high this year. That said, I think he makes a slight improvement, but not big enough to warrant a salary cap selection this season.

Berger was one of the fine rookie crop from 2014 that also played well during his second season on the PGA Tour. Berger traded two runner-ups in his rookie season for a win last year at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Perhaps the most impressive accomplishment from season one to season two was his cuts percentage. In rookie season, Berger hovered in the 55% range. Last season, he upped that to nearly 90%. Berger is certainly trending upward, which makes him in interesting salary cap option this year. In draft leagues, Berger should go in the third round.

Berger didn’t get in the winner’s circle during the 2014 Web.com Tour season but certainly came close, ending the year with a second and two thirds. The two thirds came in a three-week span, impressive stuff considering a MC was the middle result. Berger’s Web.com Tour Finals was a bit spotty, as he only played three of the four events, going T19-MC-65. As a result, his Reshuffle List position is hurt, as he’ll start the 2014-2015 PGA Tour season mid-pack, in 25th. The eighth longest hitter on tour who ranked 16th in greens in regulation this past season, Berger will need to make the rookie adjustment to the PGA Tour, get enough starts, and play well in those starts to have a successful season. It’s a lot to ask, but is doable if he plays well enough.