This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
If you were still mesmerized by the highlights of Tiger Woods' dignified Masters victory while the RBC Heritage wore on last week, you're not alone. We've certainly seen more than enough of Matt Kuchar already this season, so it was a bit refreshing when C.T. Pan kept his poise on the way to a life-changing win at Harbour Town. A funky two-man team format at the Zurich Classic now awaits, with two rounds of best ball and two rounds of alternate shot featured at TPC Louisiana. We'll take a look at several fantasy trends and injury updates around the PGA Tour as April draws to a close.
VALUE RISING
Cantlay, who captured a late lead at the Masters before ultimately making a couple costly bogeys down the stretch, was in the mix again this past week as he fell only two shots shy of Pan at the RBC Heritage. Cantlay is due for a breakthrough as the 18th-ranked player in the world, having gone since the 2017 Shriners Open without a win. He's gaining strokes across the board this season with no real weaknesses other than occasional driving accuracy and sand-save woes, sitting at third in scoring average, fifth in SG: Total and fifth in scrambling.
A bogey-free final round at Harbour Town led to Stuard's fifth top-25 of the season and fourth top-20 in his last six showings. He gained over 6.5 strokes on approach shots at the RBC Heritage and ranked fourth among
If you were still mesmerized by the highlights of Tiger Woods' dignified Masters victory while the RBC Heritage wore on last week, you're not alone. We've certainly seen more than enough of Matt Kuchar already this season, so it was a bit refreshing when C.T. Pan kept his poise on the way to a life-changing win at Harbour Town. A funky two-man team format at the Zurich Classic now awaits, with two rounds of best ball and two rounds of alternate shot featured at TPC Louisiana. We'll take a look at several fantasy trends and injury updates around the PGA Tour as April draws to a close.
VALUE RISING
Cantlay, who captured a late lead at the Masters before ultimately making a couple costly bogeys down the stretch, was in the mix again this past week as he fell only two shots shy of Pan at the RBC Heritage. Cantlay is due for a breakthrough as the 18th-ranked player in the world, having gone since the 2017 Shriners Open without a win. He's gaining strokes across the board this season with no real weaknesses other than occasional driving accuracy and sand-save woes, sitting at third in scoring average, fifth in SG: Total and fifth in scrambling.
A bogey-free final round at Harbour Town led to Stuard's fifth top-25 of the season and fourth top-20 in his last six showings. He gained over 6.5 strokes on approach shots at the RBC Heritage and ranked fourth among the field in SG: Tee-to-Green. His short and accurate style off the tee doesn't translate to massive success at every venue on the PGA Tour these days, but he's sixth in proximity from 50-125 yards and 21st in overall proximity.
Dahmen opened the 2018-19 season without a single missed cut in his first eight appearances before failing to qualify for the weekend from the Waste Management Phoenix Open through the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he's back on track with top-30s in four of his last five starts. He shot even-par or better in all four rounds at the RBC Heritage en route to a T16, ultimately finishing 15th in SG: Off-the-Tee and 16th in SG: Putting. Dahmen is up to 69th in the FedExCup standings heading into the Zurich Classic, where he'll likely have to carry playing partner Brandon Harkins.
VALUE FALLING
DeChambeau hasn't finished top-10 on American soil since the Sony Open in early January, but he most recently missed the cut at Harbour Town due to an awful showing with the putter. A fall from No. 5 to eighth in the OWGR since the turn of the calendar year isn't a huge deal, though a player of his caliber should have better results than MC-T29-T40-T20-T46-T56 in a six-event span. On the bright side, DeChambeau ranks second on Tour in total driving, seventh in SG: Off-the-Tee and fourth in birdie average.
Watney lost over six strokes tee to green in 36 holes at the RBC Heritage last week, marking his third MC in four starts since the PLAYERS. He's currently outside of the top-125 in the FedExCup standings and ranks just 142nd in SG: Tee-to-Green. Accuracy off the tee has been a primary issue for Watney this season, hitting less than 60 percent of the fairways in regulation.
With his second consecutive missed cut at Augusta National, Garcia has now missed the cut in six straight majors dating to the 2017 PGA Championship. That's quite a poor run on the biggest of stages for one of the game's best ball strikers. Maybe he's become somewhat content after finally collecting that maiden major victory at the Masters two years ago. Nonetheless, Garcia still ranks seventh in SG: Approach and 16th in scoring average.
Smith bogeyed the final two holes of his second round at Harbour Town to miss the cut by four shots, extending his recent slump to five straight starts without a top-50 finish. The Aussie drops to 30th in the OWGR, while he resides outside of the top-150 on Tour in both SG: Off-the-Tee and GIR percentage. Smith's short game remains well above average, but he's just 153rd in par-5 scoring.
INJURY UPDATE
A left wrist injury forced Ryder to withdraw from the RBC Heritage after just six strokes last Thursday, and he'll be sidelined this week as well after electing to withdraw his name from the Zurich Classic field. The timeline for his eventual return is still uncertain, but Ryder's next chance to tee it up could come at the Wells Fargo Championship in a best-case scenario. The 29-year-old is 71st in the FedExCup standings and 35th on Tour in SG: Putting this season.
Returning from the back injury that forced him to withdraw from the PLAYERS Championship, Champ missed the cut by five strokes at the RBC Heritage with a two-day total of five-over-par. It was the rookie's Harbour Town debut so we'll give him a pass as he shook off the rust, but Champ hasn't posted a single top-25 since the reduced-field Sentry Tournament of Champions in early January. Sungjae Im is looking like the best rookie on Tour with five top-10s and a ranking of 22nd in terms of FedExCup points.
Having avoided a torn Achilles, which would have almost certainly been a season-ender, Perez is slated to return from a Grade 2 calf strain this week at the Zurich Classic less than two months after suffering the injury. Perez began his 2019 campaign at 64th in the OWGR, but he's since fallen to No. 96 during his recent absence from competition. Prior to the lower-leg issue, Perez endured a slump from the Sony Open through the Arnold Palmer Invitational in which he missed three cuts and placed no better than T50.
