Golf Barometer: The Schauffele Shuffle

The season's final World Golf Championships event precedes next week's PGA Championship as the Tour's schedule ramps up with the FedExCup playoffs quickly approaching in late August. Last week, we saw Dustin Johnson bounce back from a missed cut at the Open Championship to secure his third win of 2018 at the RBC Canadian Open as he retained his No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. We'll now take a look at several fantasy trends on the PGA Tour as players begin their final pushes for positioning inside of the top-125 in the FedExCup standings.

VALUE RISING

Xander Schauffele

Schauffele was a member of the final group at the Open Championship as he held a share of the 54-hole lead in just his sixth career major appearance. The second-year cardholder ultimately failed to keep up with Molinari, but a runner-up finish at Carnoustie vaulted Schauffele to a career-best 18th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He's finished T6 or better in three of his last seven starts and ranks top-25 in the FedExCup standings.

Tiger Woods

The EIGHT-time WGC-Bridgestone Invitational champion snuck back into the top-50 of the OWGR just in time to earn a return trip to Firestone CC, having posted top-six finishes in his past two starts at the Open Championship and Quicken Loans National. Woods hasn't appeared at the Bridgestone since a withdrawal in 2014, but he currently ranks sixth on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green and 10th in scoring average.

Joel Dahmen

Dahmen is currently riding the most impressive stretch of his professional golf career, notching eight top-10s in his last 10 starts dating back to the Wells Fargo Championship in early May. He's most recently posted four consecutive top-15s, highlighted by a share of the runner-up honors at the John Deere Classic. Dahmen is up to 61st in the FedExCup standings after finishing last season well outside or the top-125, while he's also top-45 on Tour in SG: T2G, GIR percentage and scoring average.

Harold Varner III

Varner has strung together three straight top-20 results from the Greenbrier through the RBC Canadian Open, which was a much-needed development after missing the cut in six of his previous nine starts. He's 18th in terms of driving distance despite measuring just 5-foot-8.

Troy Merritt

A recent champion of the opposite-field Barbasol Championship with a four-day total of 23-under-par, Merritt has missed just two cuts in 14 starts since the beginning of February while jumping inside of the top-70 in the FedExCup standings. He's qualified for next week's PGA Championship, which will be his fifth career appearance in a major.

VALUE FALLING

Sergio Garcia

Garcia's best stroke-play finish in the U.S. since April is a 70th-place result at the PLAYERS Championship, missing the cut in seven of his last eight starts on the PGA Tour while descending to 22nd in the OWGR. The Spaniard owns just two top-10 career finishes at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational despite making 16 total appearances at Firestone CC, so he may struggle to bounce back from his recent spell of misfortune this week.

Chez Reavie

Reavie has fallen over 20 spots in the OWGR since February after reaching the top-45 earlier this year, having missed five consecutive cuts from the U.S. Open to last week's RBC Canadian Open. He's no longer a member of the top-30 club in the FedExCup standings, so eventually qualifying for the TOUR Championship at East Lake presents an even greater challenge given his disappointing recent form.

Tyrone Van Aswegen

Van Aswegen began his 2017-18 campaign as a weekly undervalued DFS option with just two missed cuts in 16 starts from October's Safeway Open through April's RBC Heritage, but the South African has made just one cut in his past seven showings. He's right on the borderline in terms of qualifying for the FedExCup standings at 125th in points, so Van Aswegen may need to make the cut at the upcoming Wyndham Championship in order to play in the Northern Trust.

INJURY UPDATE

Justin Rose

Rose, who surged to No. 2 in the OWGR after posting his fifth straight top-10 finish at the Open Championship, was forced to withdraw from this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational due to back spasms. He expects to be ready for the PGA Championship, however, which he'll enter coming off finishes of T2-T9-T10-T6-Win in his last five starts.

Adam Hadwin

Hadwin also withdrew prior to Thursday's first round at Firestone CC, citing a hip injury that has given him troubles in the past as well. He hopes to be healthy enough to play in next week's PGA Championship, but official word regarding his status for Bellerive should become available following the upcoming weekend.