Matt Jones

It's not often a golfer posts his best season at the age of 47, but that's exactly what Jones did in 2020-21. It helps when you win a tournament, like he did at the Honda Classic, but we obviously can't expect that to happen again this season, which makes Jones an obvious pass in salary cap leagues. HIs win will gain him entry into some bigger events this season, but considering he averaged less than $1 million in the five seasons leading up to 2020-21, he doesn't provide much value in draft leagues either.

Jones' best result last season didn't come on the PGA Tour but at the Emirates Australian Open, where he won in his home country for the second time. He did a great job of making over twice as many cuts as he missed, but he dropped outside of the top 175 in SG: Approach which leaves much to be desired. He's a safe bet to make the playoffs, but he's past his prime and unlikely to have multiple top-5 results.

Jones has been on the PGA Tour for over decade, with his best years from 2013-2015 when he easily cleared over $1.5 million each year. Since then however, Jones has struggled to retain his card, failing to crack the top-125 on the points list in three of the four most recent seasons. While he's not too far removed from his best seasons, there doesn't appear to be a lot of upside left with Jones. As such, he's an easy fade in salary cap leagues.

Now 38 years of age, Jones appears to be tapering off after his career peaked between 2013-2016. The last three seasons he's failed to notch a single top-10 finish, but has found a way to keep his PGA Tour card. Now on the downhill slope of his career, the Aussie should be avoided in most formats given his limited upside.

Jones missed just 8 of 20 cuts on the PGA Tour throughout the 2016-17 season, but failed to record a single top-10 and ultimately needed to finish top-25 at the Web.com Tour finals in order to retain his card. Jones' short game has been top-notch, ranking second in SG: Around-the-Green and 25th in sand-save percentage, but he finished the season at just 159th in GIR percentage. Jones experienced his worst campaign since 2012, having earned just $510,622 in 20 starts.

Jones has the dubious distinction of finishing 126th on both the FedEx Cup Points List and the money list, when just a couple more points or dollars would have gotten him a PGA Tour card for next season. Now after a missed cut in the last regular-season event of the year at the Wyndham Championship, the former Shell Houston Open winner has an uncertain schedule and some time to fix a game that left his strokes gained ranks of 102nd tee to green, 155th in approach to the green and 159th in putting.

Jones spent most of his first five years on the PGA Tour on the outside looking in. In fact, he ended up within two spots of that magical 125th spot three of those five years, but he seemed to figure it out in 2013 and now he appears to be on the right track. Last season he set a career-high in earnings, but there's still room to grow here. It's always risky taking a guy who's coming off a career-high in earnings, but Jones could be worth the risk this year. In draft leagues he could go as early as the 4th round.

Jones is one of those guys thought to have a lot of potential, but for the most part, he's failed to live up to it. He played some good golf at the end of last season however and that could be a sign of things to come. Jones has a lot of upside, even at this price, so he's worth a look in salary cap leagues. In draft leagues you could justify a pick in the high-40s, but considering his lack of name recognition, you could probably get him in the late-50s.

Jones is a talented golfer but didn't have equivalent results his first two years on the PGA TOUR. Last year was different, however, as he found refuge safely inside the top 125, finishing 72nd on the money list. The future looks bright for Jones, and he'll be hard to pass up at a good price. Jones is fairly long off the tee, but his accuracy is horrible. If he can improve that measure, everything should fall into place. He proved he could putt last year when he ranked 26th in putts per green on the PGA TOUR.

This will be third straight year for Jones to be a part of the PGA Tour. He was a full member in 2008 and had conditional status in 2009. Jones was able to regain full membership in 2010 via Q School. This Aussie can play and will benefit from his efforts over the last two years.