This article is part of our Golf Barometer series.
An anticlimactic final four at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play was outclassed in viewing enjoyment by the opposite-field Corales Championship, where the always-entertaining Joel Dahmen secured his maiden PGA Tour win by one shot over Rafael Campos and Sam Ryder in windy conditions along the Caribbean coast.
The upcoming Valero Texas Open's strength of field is mightier than that of the recent Honda Classic, but you can almost smell the azaleas as most of the game's top players spend this week preparing for the Masters instead of migrating from Austin Country Club to TPC San Antonio.
We'll examine a handful of names that are shifting in value ahead of 2021's first major, along with several injury updates with Masters implications.
VALUE RISING
Despite falling half a point shy of forcing a playoff with Jordan Spieth to advance out of pool play at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Fitzpatrick still managed to collect his sixth consecutive top-20 result, a streak that dates back to the European Tour's Omega Dubai Desert Classic in late January. The Englishman rebounded from an opening loss to the aforementioned Spieth by convincingly defeating Corey Conners 5 & 4 before also taking care of business against Matthew Wolff on Friday. From The Genesis Invitational through THE PLAYERS Championship, Fitzpatrick finished T5-T11-T10-T9 while ascending to a career-best 16th in the Official World Golf Ranking. A red-hot flat stick produced an average of 3.98 strokes gained: putting per event over his last four measured starts, and he
