This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
Following a disappointing month-long stretch that included a pair of missed cuts and a T59, Rory McIlroy's magic was resurrected at Bay Hill as he fired an eight-under 64 during Sunday's final round to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by three strokes at 18-under. He's officially back in business and will have a legitimate chance to complete the career Grand Slam at Augusta in two weeks. Turning our attention to this week's star-studded WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, we'll take a look at several trends on Tour with the world's top talent duking it out in Texas, along with a few injury updates for some notable names.
VALUE RISING
Patrick Reed
The state of Reed's game came into question during the early months of January and February when he missed the cut in three of five starts to begin the year, but he's bounced back with results of T7-T2 in his last two events at the API and Valspar Championship. He led the field in putts per GIR and ranked second in birdies throughout the tournament at Bay Hill, so he'll be fired up with momentum on his side at this week's WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Justin Rose
Rose is rounding into form at just the right time as he'll look to avenge his runner-up finish at the Masters in two weeks. The Englishman placed top-five in his past two starts at the API and Valspar Championship, having also led the field in birdies at Bay Hill. Up to No. 5
Following a disappointing month-long stretch that included a pair of missed cuts and a T59, Rory McIlroy's magic was resurrected at Bay Hill as he fired an eight-under 64 during Sunday's final round to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by three strokes at 18-under. He's officially back in business and will have a legitimate chance to complete the career Grand Slam at Augusta in two weeks. Turning our attention to this week's star-studded WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, we'll take a look at several trends on Tour with the world's top talent duking it out in Texas, along with a few injury updates for some notable names.
VALUE RISING
Patrick Reed
The state of Reed's game came into question during the early months of January and February when he missed the cut in three of five starts to begin the year, but he's bounced back with results of T7-T2 in his last two events at the API and Valspar Championship. He led the field in putts per GIR and ranked second in birdies throughout the tournament at Bay Hill, so he'll be fired up with momentum on his side at this week's WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Justin Rose
Rose is rounding into form at just the right time as he'll look to avenge his runner-up finish at the Masters in two weeks. The Englishman placed top-five in his past two starts at the API and Valspar Championship, having also led the field in birdies at Bay Hill. Up to No. 5 in the OWGR, Rose has finished top-25 in eight consecutive appearances at Augusta National. He should be on your radar in early April once again this year.
VALUE FALLING
Brandt Snedeker
Snedeker has officially failed to qualify for the Masters for the first time since 2010, having fallen to 76th in the OWGR after missed cuts at the Honda Classic and Arnold Palmer Invitational. He ranks just 120th on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green and 153rd in birdie average, despite hitting nearly 66 percent of his fairways in regulation.
Ross Fisher
Since a runner-up finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, Fisher has finished T45 or worse in three consecutive starts and even missed the cut at the Valspar Championship. He got off to a rough start at the match play event this week as well, losing his first matchup 2 & 1 to Japan's Yuta Ikeda.
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick has only slid from 29th to 35th in the OWGR since the start of 2018, but he's missed the cut in three of his past four starts and his ball striking at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was awful in the two rounds he played at Bay Hill. It wouldn't be surprising to see him fail to advance out of pool play at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, especially with Paul Casey in his group.
INJURY UPDATE
Brooks Koepka
Disappointing news surrounding Koepka's wrist injury came to light this week, as the reigning U.S. Open champion has ruled himself out for the Masters as he doesn't want to play at anything less than 100 percent. He expects to begin chipping in the near future as he continues to progress with his recovery, but it remains to be seen if he'll be able to return at some point in April.
John Senden
Senden has taken an extended leave of absence to be with his family since last April when his son was diagnosed with a brain tumor, but his son's condition has improved and the 46-year-old is returning to action this week on the Web.com Tour for the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. He also intends to make his 2017-18 PGA Tour debut at Harbour Town just one week after the Masters. It could obviously take more than a few rounds to shake off the rust after not playing in a tournament setting for almost a year, but he'll have 13 starts to earn 310 FedExCup points in order to secure full status on Tour moving forward, according to Kevin Prise of PGATour.com.
Danny Willett
The 2016 Masters champion was forced to withdraw from last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational due to a shoulder injury, so he's either withdrawn or missed the cut in four of his past five starts worldwide. Willett clearly hasn't been the same player he was when he earned a green jacket, while his recent shoulder issue will be accompanied by additional negativity when it comes to his outlook for the Masters in two weeks.
