This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
The sports gods were certainly generous Sunday, donating both free golf and football to viewers worldwide in the form of overtime excitement. Hours before the Patriots completed their historic comeback on the gridiron, Hideki Matsuyama notched his fifth win in nine events at one of his favorite venues on Tour. The fifth-ranked golfer in the world has become too obvious to include in the "Value Rising" section on a weekly basis, so we will examine several other players seeking the spotlight, along with players fading and another injury to golf's most prominent name.
VALUE RISING
Sergio Garcia
Garcia "serged" into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the European Tour's Omega Dubai Desert Classic in wire-to-wire fashion by three strokes over Henrik Stenson. The 37-year-old Spaniard now has five consecutive top-20 finishes worldwide, and with him still seeking his first victory in a major, it's a good time to get hot with the Masters looming in April. Garcia may elect to return to action in the United States next week at Riviera Country Club's Genesis Open, where he notched three top-15 finishes in his last four tries, when the tournament was sponsored by Northern Trust.
Webb Simpson
Simpson's putting woes were on display during what turned into a four-hole playoff with Hideki Matsuyama at TPC Scottsdale, as the former ultimately fell to the hottest golfer in the world. Plenty of positives can still be drawn from Simpson's week at the WMPO, however, as he played his
The sports gods were certainly generous Sunday, donating both free golf and football to viewers worldwide in the form of overtime excitement. Hours before the Patriots completed their historic comeback on the gridiron, Hideki Matsuyama notched his fifth win in nine events at one of his favorite venues on Tour. The fifth-ranked golfer in the world has become too obvious to include in the "Value Rising" section on a weekly basis, so we will examine several other players seeking the spotlight, along with players fading and another injury to golf's most prominent name.
VALUE RISING
Sergio Garcia
Garcia "serged" into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the European Tour's Omega Dubai Desert Classic in wire-to-wire fashion by three strokes over Henrik Stenson. The 37-year-old Spaniard now has five consecutive top-20 finishes worldwide, and with him still seeking his first victory in a major, it's a good time to get hot with the Masters looming in April. Garcia may elect to return to action in the United States next week at Riviera Country Club's Genesis Open, where he notched three top-15 finishes in his last four tries, when the tournament was sponsored by Northern Trust.
Webb Simpson
Simpson's putting woes were on display during what turned into a four-hole playoff with Hideki Matsuyama at TPC Scottsdale, as the former ultimately fell to the hottest golfer in the world. Plenty of positives can still be drawn from Simpson's week at the WMPO, however, as he played his final two rounds at a combined 13-under-par to get into the playoff. He posted his second top-15 result of 2017, and because of it jumped a whopping 33 spots in the OWGR to the No. 56 slot. Simpson has not appeared in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am since 2013, but he will look to keep up his recent form this week and attempt to shake off the playoff loss.
Jon Rahm
Despite a lack of sleep and reduced preparation after his first career victory at the Farmers Insurance Open, Rahm was able to rebound nicely at TPC Scottsdale, using ball-striking dominance off the tee to finish in a tie for 16th. The 22-year-old is becoming the next young gun to challenge the game's best competition, although he may need to clean things up with the putter in order to keep climbing the ranks. Still, after entering the 2017 calendar year at No. 137 in the OWGR, Rahm has ascended nearly 100 spots into the No. 42 slot, ahead of names such as Bill Haas, Martin Kaymer, and Brendan Steele. Rahm will make his Pebble Beach debut this week at the Pro-Am with plenty of momentum on his side.
Justin Rose
At this point in the 2016-17 PGA Tour season, the only player to appear in two events or less in the top 35 of the FedExCup standings is Rose, who sits at No. 17. A runner-up finish at the Sony Open in January along with a T4 at the Farmers Insurance Open two weeks later have put to rest any questions surrounding Rose's back issues, which proved to be troublesome back in December. In order to maintain his health throughout 2017, Rose has taken a week off in between each event, but he will tee it up this week at Pebble Beach after skipping out on the electricity at TPC Scottsdale last week. The Olympic gold-medalist finished tied for sixth at Pebble in 2016, so he is a good bet for another quality finish this week.
VALUE FALLING
Jimmy Walker
Missing the cut in back-to-back events was not the ideal start to 2017 for Walker, who failed to make the weekend at both the Sony Open and Farmers Insurance Open. He continues to fall in the OWGR after climbing as high as No. 15 near the end of the 2015-16 season, when he won the PGA Championship and had a respectable run in the playoffs. Walker has simply not provided much value of late, but if there is a tournament that could get him back on track, it is the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he has a stellar tournament history, including a victory in 2014.
Danny Willett
Willett struggled in his attempt to defend his title at the Dubai Desert Classic, ultimately finishing outside of the top 50 and falling to No. 15 in the OWGR, his lowest ranking since the fourth week of 2016. This disappointing performance comes just two weeks after a missed cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. It remains uncertain when he will make his return to American soil, but he will have plenty of figuring out to do if he has any hopes of defending his Masters victory. Unless things change dramatically -- and soon -- Willett will be placing a green jacket on someone else's shoulders come April.
Kevin Chappell
Out of all 75 golfers to make the cut at the WMPO, Chappell finished dead last by three strokes after playing his two weekend rounds in a combined nine-over-par. This performance was sadly his best since a T45 at the CIMB Classic back in October, as he missed the cut in his next two starts at the RSM Classic and Farmers Insurance Open. Chappell's short game and putting stroke were major drawbacks this past week at TPC Scottsdale, although he was able to hit 73.61% of his greens in regulation. He will attempt to get back on track at Pebble Beach, but he has missed the cut at the Pro-Am in two of his last four appearances.
INJURY UPDATE
Tiger Woods (back spasms)
Back issues have become the norm for Woods throughout the past couple years, so to see him withdraw from the Dubai Desert Classic despite a lengthy recovery period was disappointing, but not a major surprise. He still plans to play in next week's Genesis Open at Riviera CC, but there is nothing certain regarding his status at this point. His fantasy stock will take a hit in the short run until he returns to full health, but he was already trending in the wrong direction due to a missed cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in his last event stateside.
Pat Perez (shoulder)
Perez hung DFS players out to dry after withdrawing from the WMPO just six holes into his first round due to pain in his surgically-repaired shoulder. The 40-year-old likely elected to withdraw as a precaution, so the issue hopefully will not be a recurring problem moving forward. He plans to play in this week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but including him in any lineup this week will be a risk, as he may not be 100 percent and could potentially withdraw again even if he does give it a go and does not feel right.
