This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
The exclusive field of 30 has been determined for the TOUR Championship as the 2016-17 season culminates at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, with $10M waiting for whoever comes out on top of the final FedExCup standings. Jordan Spieth will look to claim that top prize for the second time in his young career, while Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Marc Leishman and Jon Rahm can snag the title with a triumph of their own at East Lake. We'll now take a look at several trends on Tour heading into the season finale.
VALUE RISING
Jon Rahm
The 22-year-old Spaniard has finished no worse than T5 through three legs of his first career playoff stint, positioning himself to win the FedExCup if he comes out victorious at the TOUR Championship. Not only has Rahm's ball striking been stellar all season (third in SG: T2G), but he's also first among the upcoming field at East Lake in SG: Putting throughout his last 12 rounds.
Jason Day
Day, who entered 2017 as the No. 1 golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking, had fallen as low as ninth before ascending back up to sixth after his fourth-place finish at the BMW Championship. Dating back to the PGA Championship, Day's last four starts have included results of T9-T6-T25-4 as he salvaged an otherwise disappointing season by his standards. He'll look to capitalize on his 23.92 birdie-or-better percentage at the upcoming TOUR Championship.
Justin Rose
It wasn't too long ago Rose found himself in the "Value Falling" portion of the Barometer after a stretch of six stateside events in which he finished no better than T54. Since then he's placed top-10 at all three playoff events, including a runner-up finish at last week's BMW Championship for his best finish since losing to Sergio Garcia at the Masters in April. Rose is in good position to hit a plethora of greens at East Lake as he ranks third among the field in SG: T2G throughout his past 12 rounds.
VALUE FALLING
Kevin Kisner
Kisner's game has taken quite a downhill turn since his win at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational in late May, placing top-40 in just two of his last 10 starts while sliding to 18th in the FedExCup standings. Throughout his past 24 rounds Kisner ranks last among the TOUR Championship field in SG: T2G, so don't expect much magic from the 33-year-old this week in Atlanta.
Brian Harman
Things were looking up for Harman after his T2 at the U.S. Open earlier in the summer, but he's disappointed in the playoffs thus far with finishes of T40-T65-MC. Normally dominant with the putter in his hands, Harman doesn't even rank inside the top two-thirds of the TOUR Championship field in terms of SG: Putting throughout his last 12 rounds, while also ranking just 27th in SG: T2G during that span.
Jason Dufner
Dufner barely squeaked his way into the TOUR Championship as he currently ranks 30th in the standings, recording just two top-10s all season and zero since his win at the Memorial Tournament in early June. The lovable veteran's statistics don't lie either, ranking dead last among the field in SG: Total throughout his past 24 rounds.
INJURY UPDATE
Danny Lee
Lee was forced to withdraw from last week's BMW Championship prematurely due to a lower back injury, while it remains to be seen just how long the issue will keep him sidelined. The back injury may have been bothering him for quite some time given the fact he missed four consecutive cuts heading into his WD at Conway Farms. His next chance to return will be Oct. 5 at the 2017-18 season-opening Safeway Open where he placed T50 last year.
