This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
Satoshi Kodaira zoomed to a career-best 27th in the Official World Golf Ranking with his maiden victory on the PGA Tour at last week's RBC Heritage in a playoff win over Si Woo Kim. Hailing from Japan, Kodaira now sits just 19 spots behind his inspiration Hideki Matsuyama in the OWGR as the former also placed top-30 in his Masters debut earlier this month. We'll now take a look at additional trends on the PGA Tour heading into the Valero Texas Open and its lousy field.
VALUE RISING
Si Woo Kim
Prior to his runner-up finish at last week's RBC Heritage, Kim advanced to the round of 16 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play before also finishing top-25 at The Masters. The playoff loss at Harbour Town was a bit deflating after how well he struck the ball all week, as the putter became a major letdown during the latter stages of the tournament. He'll be looking for revenge at the Valero Texas Open this week, where he placed T22 in 2017.
Ryan Moore
Moore has appeared in just 10 events since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, but he recently notched his fifth top-20 with a T16 at the RBC Heritage. He's finished T16-T28-T5 in his past three starts as he heads to TPC San Antonio, which has been a profitable venue for Moore as he placed T18-T8 in two career appearances. Moore ranks top-20 on Tour in both SG: Around-the-Green and scoring average.
Chesson Hadley
Hadley bumped into
Satoshi Kodaira zoomed to a career-best 27th in the Official World Golf Ranking with his maiden victory on the PGA Tour at last week's RBC Heritage in a playoff win over Si Woo Kim. Hailing from Japan, Kodaira now sits just 19 spots behind his inspiration Hideki Matsuyama in the OWGR as the former also placed top-30 in his Masters debut earlier this month. We'll now take a look at additional trends on the PGA Tour heading into the Valero Texas Open and its lousy field.
VALUE RISING
Si Woo Kim
Prior to his runner-up finish at last week's RBC Heritage, Kim advanced to the round of 16 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play before also finishing top-25 at The Masters. The playoff loss at Harbour Town was a bit deflating after how well he struck the ball all week, as the putter became a major letdown during the latter stages of the tournament. He'll be looking for revenge at the Valero Texas Open this week, where he placed T22 in 2017.
Ryan Moore
Moore has appeared in just 10 events since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, but he recently notched his fifth top-20 with a T16 at the RBC Heritage. He's finished T16-T28-T5 in his past three starts as he heads to TPC San Antonio, which has been a profitable venue for Moore as he placed T18-T8 in two career appearances. Moore ranks top-20 on Tour in both SG: Around-the-Green and scoring average.
Chesson Hadley
Hadley bumped into the top-25 of the FedExCup standings with his second consecutive top-20 finish, placing T7 at the RBC Heritage following a T18 at the Houston Open. He's broken 70 in six of his last eight tournament rounds, while he currently ranks second on Tour in SG: Approach, 12th in birdie average and 34th in SG: Putting.
Scott Piercy
Piercy's back-to-back top-25s at the RBC Heritage and Houston Open were much-needed after he placed just T60 at the opposite-field Corales Championship following a missed cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 39-year-old could have been closer to contention last week at Harbour Town if it weren't for an unsteady putting performance, as he ranked top-five in both GIR percentage and SG: Approach. He'll make an appearance at this week's Valero Texas Open before teaming with Billy Horschel at the Zurich Classic next week.
VALUE FALLING
Cameron Tringale
Tringale has missed the cut in eight of his last 10 starts dating back to the RSM Classic in mid-November, while he's currently on pace to finish outside of the top-100 in the FedExCup standings for a third straight season. The 30-year-old ranks a dismal 206th in SG: Off-the-Tee and 181st in SG: T2G, so he'll continue to be in danger of losing his PGA Tour card if he can't improve as a ball striker.
Derek Fathauer
Fathauer impressed in February with four consecutive cuts made to go along with back-to-back top-20s at the Genesis Open and Honda Classic, but he's since missed the cut in four straight starts. He posted a miserable scoring average of 78.5 at Harbour Town last week and could have trouble bouncing back at TPC San Antonio, where he's withdrawn and finished T64 in two career appearances.
INJURY UPDATE
Francesco Molinari
A shoulder injury forced Molinari to withdraw from the Valero Texas Open earlier in the week, while the severity of his issue remains unclear at this point. He's not currently listed as a participant for next week's Zurich Classic either, so he should have several weeks to recuperate before potentially returning at the Wells Fargo Championship in early May. Molinari has finished T24-T17 in the past two editions of the Wells Fargo Championship, so he'll look to add a third consecutive top-25 at the event if he's healthy enough to tee it up.
