This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
PGA Tour fanatics are being treated to a pair of events this weekend as Jackson, Mississippi plays host to the Sanderson Farms Championship while the WGC-HSBC Champions resides in Shanghai, China. Last week we saw Justin Thomas ascend to a career-high third in the Official World Golf Ranking thanks to his win at the CJ Cup, marking his fifth victory of 2017. We'll now take a look at several trends as the PGA Tour's fall series heats up.
VALUE RISING
Pat Perez
Perez entered the WGC-HSBC Champions at No. 1 in the 2017-18 FedExCup standings after following up his win at the CIMB Classic with a T5 at the CJ Cup. The 41-year-old has finished no worse than 16th throughout his past five starts, climbing to a career-high 18th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Perez is also coming off the best campaign of his career after racking up over $4 million in earnings last season.
Austin Cook
Cook, who finished 15th on the Web.com's regular season money list during the 2017 season, is making his 2017-18 debut on the PGA Tour this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. His last three starts include finishes of T8-T11-T9 from the Web.com Tour Championship through the Albertsons Boise Open, while he also ranked eighth in ball striking and 14th in total driving in 2017. After the Sanderson Farms Championship, Cook intends to tee it up at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open as well.
Chez Reavie
Reavie has been "Mr. Consistent" since the end of August, finishing 10th-17th in five of his past six starts dating back to the Northern Trust. The 35-year-old is coming off his best season since 2011 and doesn't appear to be slowing down throughout the Tour's fall series.
VALUE FALLING
Kyle Thompson
Thompson earned his PGA Tour card for the 2017-18 season thanks to a win at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on the Web.com Tour back in January, but he's made just one cut in his last seven starts. He MC'd at both the Safeway Open and this week's Sanderson Farms Championship to begin his PGA Tour campaign on the wrong foot, while there's no indication the 38-year-old will be able to improve drastically anytime soon.
Trey Mullinax
Mullinax hasn't posted a top-50 result since the John Deere Classic in mid-July, marking nine consecutive starts of below-average play. He most recently withdrew from the Sanderson Farms Championship due to an undisclosed reason, which came after a pair of missed cuts at the Safeway Open and Web.com Tour Championship.
INJURY UPDATE
Bronson Burgoon
Burgoon was forced to withdraw from the Sanderson Farms Championship during Friday's second round due to a back injury, though it remains to be seen just how severe the injury might be. He's still listed in the field for next week's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, but that could change in the coming days after assessing his injury.
J.J. Henry
Henry also withdrew from the Sanderson Farms Championship due to a bad back, failing to make it through his third round. He's not listed as a participant in next week's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, however, so he should have at least a couple of weeks to rest his back.
