This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
The PGA Tour's four-event Florida Swing commences this week with an underwhelming field at the Honda Classic before things ramp up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and PLAYERS Championship. The Champion Course at PGA National will certainly fail to cede the number of par-breakers that we saw at the WGC-Mexico Championship, where Dustin Johnson managed to reach 21-under-par and 38 total entrants finished in the red. We'll take a look at several fantasy trends on Tour, along with a couple injury updates as competitors strive to avoid big numbers at the dreaded Bear Trap.
VALUE RISING
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy added his fourth top-5 in as many starts last week in Mexico, where he led the field in both birdies and SG: Tee-to-Green to climb from eighth to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking. The Northern Irishman is trending in the right direction as Augusta lurks on the schedule in six weeks, while Rory looks for his first win since the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational in the meantime.
Ian Poulter
Poulter quietly racked up three consecutive top-6 finishes overseas during the Euro Tour's Desert Swing to begin 2019, but he maintained the positive momentum at the WGC-Mexico with a tie for third. He paced the field in putts per GIR and ranked third in SG: Putting, ultimately playing his last nine holes of the tourney in four-under-par.
Max Homa
On the heels of a morose stretch that included six straight missed cuts, Homa has rebounded nicely with results of
The PGA Tour's four-event Florida Swing commences this week with an underwhelming field at the Honda Classic before things ramp up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and PLAYERS Championship. The Champion Course at PGA National will certainly fail to cede the number of par-breakers that we saw at the WGC-Mexico Championship, where Dustin Johnson managed to reach 21-under-par and 38 total entrants finished in the red. We'll take a look at several fantasy trends on Tour, along with a couple injury updates as competitors strive to avoid big numbers at the dreaded Bear Trap.
VALUE RISING
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy added his fourth top-5 in as many starts last week in Mexico, where he led the field in both birdies and SG: Tee-to-Green to climb from eighth to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking. The Northern Irishman is trending in the right direction as Augusta lurks on the schedule in six weeks, while Rory looks for his first win since the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational in the meantime.
Ian Poulter
Poulter quietly racked up three consecutive top-6 finishes overseas during the Euro Tour's Desert Swing to begin 2019, but he maintained the positive momentum at the WGC-Mexico with a tie for third. He paced the field in putts per GIR and ranked third in SG: Putting, ultimately playing his last nine holes of the tourney in four-under-par.
Max Homa
On the heels of a morose stretch that included six straight missed cuts, Homa has rebounded nicely with results of T26-T10-T37 from the Waste Management through the Genesis Open. His short irons have been a valuable factor, rising to eighth on Tour in proximity from 150-175 yards. Homa will look to make his fourth cut in a row this week at the Honda Classic.
Nate Lashley
Lashley owns just two remaining starts on a medical extension, but he's on pace to qualify for full status thanks to his stability throughout the 2018-19 campaign thus far. He made the cut in all five of his starts from the Safeway Open to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and then notched his first top-10 of the season in Puerto Rico. Lashley is up to 80th in the FedExCup standings and 36th in GIR percentage.
Wyndham Clark
Clark has joined the top-300 in the OWGR with just one finish outside of the top-35 in his last four starts, collecting a top-10 this past week in Puerto Rico as well. He amassed 21 par-breakers at Coco Beach Golf & CC while ultimately finishing top-3 in both driving distance and putts per GIR. He'll be making his PGA National debut Thursday at the Honda.
VALUE FALLING
Kyle Stanley
Collapsing outside of the top-100 in the FedExCup standings, Stanley missed three consecutive cuts from the Farmers Insurance Open through the Genesis before placing just T58 out of 71 at the Club de Golf Chapultepec. He's excelled as a ball striker in years past, but currently ranks outside of the top-150 in GIR percentage and SG: Tee-to-Green. Expect the slump to continue at the Honda Classic, where he's never finished under par in six attempts at the event.
Alex Noren
The Swede has fallen out of the top-25 in the OWGR for the first time since October of 2016, placing T62-T44-MC in his last three starts on the PGA Tour. He lost nearly five strokes on his approaches at the WGC-Mexico Championship, ultimately hitting just 44 greens in regulation throughout the tourney. On a more optimistic note, Noren strolled to a solo-third at the Honda Classic in 2018 and he'll tee it up again this week at PGA National.
Harris English
The West Coast Swing wasn't too kind to English, when his best finish was marked by a T51 at the Desert Classic before missing the cut in his next three starts. He's just 154th in the FedExCup standings and 174th in birdie average due to struggles with his driving accuracy and proximity into greens.
INJURY UPDATE
Paul Lawrie
The 50-year-old has been sidelined for eight months after undergoing foot surgery while also dealing with a back injury, but he returns to the European Tour at this week's Oman Open. His form was impacted by the issues throughout six starts in 2018, culminating with a missed cut at the Trophee Hassan in April before deciding to step away. Lawrie impressively carded a one-under 71 in his return Thursday at the Oman Open, currently on track to make the cut.
Sang-Hyun Park
The 129th-ranked golfer in the world has withdrawn from his last two starts now, citing a wrist injury ahead of his fourth round at the WGC-Mexico. It's unclear at this point when Park will be able to return, especially given the Asian Tour doesn't have another event until late March's Maybank Championship following this week's New Zealand Open.
