Golf Barometer: Steele-ing the Show

A shocking 47-year-old winner in Rod Pampling emerged at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open this past week, beating out young gun Brooks Koepka by two strokes. This was a pleasant surprise for Pampling, but he did not record a single Top-25 finish last season, so fantasy players may want to proceed with caution before jumping on his bandwagon. In this week's edition of the Golf Barometer we'll take a look at a few more realistic fantasy endeavors to explore, along with several players experiencing rocky situations during the early stages of the 2016-17 PGA Tour season.

VALUE RISING

Brendan Steele

Having appeared in three out of a possible four events so far, Steele is positioned only behind Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas in the FedExCup Standings. Steele earned his second career victory during the campaign opener at the Safeway Open in mid-October, and proceeded to finish T26 and T31 at the CIMB Classic and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, respectively, in recent weeks. Through his past 12 tournament rounds, the 33-year-old has failed to break 70 just three times while hitting over 77 percent of his greens in regulation. Finally, Steele has already surpassed the $1 million dollar mark in earnings this season, approaching his 25-event total from the 2015-16 of just over $1.5 million dollars. He'll take a break from the upcoming OHL Classic at Mayakoba before eventually returning to tournament action.

Keegan Bradley

Bradley began the 2016 calendar year as the No. 70 golfer in the world, but he struggled to even make cuts on a weekly basis until early July, forcing him outside of the top 100. He eventually found his stride, making the cut at the final seven events he appeared in, and that surge has carried over to the new campaign. In recent weeks, Bradley -- the 14th ranked player in the FedExCup Standings -- has switched into a higher gear, finishing in the top-25 in all three events he has played in during the 2016-17 season, including top-10 performances at both the CIMB Classic and Shriners Open. With a scoring average of 69.73, and hitting nearly 80 percent of greens in regulation hit throughout his past 12 rounds, Bradley could be a solid addition for the upcoming OHL Classic, where he will battle a somewhat diluted field.

Francesco Molinari

A missed cut at The Barclays in late August to end his 2015-16 season must have been all Molinari needed in terms of motivation, as he has gone on quite the tear since. In his next start at the European Tour's Italian Open, he posted impressive scores of 65-68-64-65 to edge out Danny Willett by one stroke and win the event on home soil. Molinari did not stop there, proceeding to finish tied for sixth amongst a strong field at the WGC-HSBC Champions event, and then notching a T4 at this past week's Shriners Open, where he closed with a whopping 10-under 61. Currently ranked No. 37 in the world, Molinari's play off the tee has been magnificent, although he could do even better if he is able to make improvements with the putter.

Lucas Glover

Glover may be the least likely out of this group to continue his recent ascension, but it's tough to look past his performances at the Sanderson Farms Championship and Shriners Open over the last two weeks, where he finished tied for fifth and alone in third, respectively. Level of competition aside, his scoring average in his past eight tournament rounds is a staggering 67.5, and he is also averaging over 300 yards off the tee while hitting nearly 80 percent of greens in regulation so far this season. With little success on Tour over the last five years, Glover is on pace to easily surpass the $1 million dollar mark in earnings for the first time since 2011, barring some sort of total collapse. To capture just how bad things had gotten for the soon-to-be 37-year-old, he was ranked outside of the top 350 in the OWGR entering 2016. However, he has climbed 190 spots since, and could eventually find himself inside the top-100 at this rate.

VALUE FALLING

Colt Knost

Knost appeared to be a quality sleeper candidate late last season after notching three top-fives between May and June, but he sputtered and made just two cuts in eight events after that. Even in those two tournaments -- the PGA Championship in July, and more recently, the CIMB Classic -- however, he failed to even finish inside of the top 70. Further hurting his case is the fact that he was forced to withdraw during the first round of his last event, the Shriners Open, due to a wrist injury, and it remains unclear when he will be able to return to tournament competition or what kind of form he will be in. At this point Knost's outlook for the remainder of the calendar year doesn't look promising at all, and with some of the Tour's bigger names returning to action in the coming weeks and months, it could be awhile before Knost has a clear chance to return the early-summer results he put up in 2016.

David Hearn

Hearn has yet to make a splash through his first three events of the 2016-17 season after posting an eighth-place finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship in early September. In his last eight competitive rounds he averaged a score of 73.15 and broke 70 just twice, good (or bad) enough for a T66 at the CIMB Classic and two missed cuts. A lack of distance off the tee doesn't bode well for his chances from week-to-week, as he will likely only have a shot at excelling on shorter venues at this point. Having earned over $1 million dollars in each of his past four seasons it's a little too early to completely hit the panic button, and Hearn will look to get back on track at the upcoming OHL Classic.

Daniel Summerhays

Summerhays' six top-25 finishes from March through June are a distant memory at this point, as he finished outside of the top-60 in his last seven events, including four missed cuts. He has improved in terms of earnings in each of his six seasons on the PGA Tour, but he is in danger of failing to continue that trend if he is unable to turn things around quickly. He was ranked as high as 53rd in the world just three months ago, but has fallen to No. 67 amid his descent. Summerhays has struggled mightily with his accuracy off the tee and with his ability to hit greens in recent weeks, and he has been unable to salvage any success with his short game.

INJURY UPDATE

Phil Mickelson

It was recently discovered that Mickelson underwent surgery for a sports hernia in mid-October, which figures to sideline him for 4-to-6 weeks. Fantasy owners should not worry though, as he will have plenty of time to recover given that the veteran usually takes off the months of November and December in order to rest up following the end of the main PGA Tour season. In his lone start of the 2016-17 campaign "Lefty" notched a top-10 performance at the Safeway Open, and he figures to return to his usual competitive form in January.

Lee McCoy

McCoy fractured his wrist in two spots in a minor car accident Monday and will be out 6-to-8 weeks, according to his personal Twitter account. As a result, he was forced to withdraw from the second stage of qualifying school, and his shot at earning a PGA Tour card will be put on hold. McCoy is a rising young talent best known for his All-American career at the University of Georgia and his fourth-place finish at the Valspar Championship in March as an amateur.