Chez Reavie

Reavie has earned a reputation as a "grinder", but that's just another way of saying he's a good player, who happens to be short off the tee. While he's managed to have plenty of highs over the past six years, his skills appear to be declining. This past season he was in danger of falling outside the top-125 until he saved his season by winning the Barracuda Championship and while it seems strange to say someone who won this past season is on the decline, his production both before and after that win tell that story. As such, he's not a good salary cap option this season.

Reavie looked like a much improved golfer this summer, following a streak of six consecutive missed cuts with only two missed cuts in his final 10 events of 2020-21 with four top-25s. Although he's one of the shortest hitters on tour, he makes up for it with supreme accuracy and solid iron play. His putting numbers have dropped in each of the last four seasons, so he'll need some improved play in that area if he wants to contend more often this season.

It's not often that someone finds their game in their mid-30s, but that's exactly what Reavie has done. Prior to this past season, Reavie had shown significant increases in earnings every season since 2016. The pandemic put an end to that, but Reavie still managed to put up some decent numbers. Reavie is an interesting choice for salary cap purposes this season as his number is pretty low, but his upside seems limited.

After a couple ups and downs to start his PGA Tour career, Reavie seems to have found his footing. Reavie finished runner-up twice in 2018 on his way to a career-high in earnings and all he did this past season was top that number by almost $1 million. It helps when you throw a win in there, like Reavie did at the Travelers Championship, his first since his rookie season of 2008. Reavie has a very steady and reliable game, but with his lack of distance, his upside is limited. He shouldn't regress this season, but he's not likely to improve much either.

Reavie was absolutely on-fire early in the season last year and he parlayed that quick start into a career best earnings number. Reavie earned top-25s in seven of his first eight starts and he finished runner-up in consecutive early in February. At that point, Reavie had all but locked-up his career best season, and although he wouldn't reach those heights again, he did sprinkle-in a couple of strong outings. As for his prospects, Reavie has been wildly inconsistent throughout his career and although he's found some consistency over the past two seasons, he's still much to risky at this price.

Reavie has had an interesting career. His first and only PGA Tour win came in 2008 and his best season was in 2011, but he hadn't played all that well since 2011…until last year. Reavie has dealt with plenty of injuries throughout his career, which account for some of his down seasons, but he's also had bad seasons that were simply the result of poor play. The bottom line is, his upside isn't all that high and his consistency is absent as well, so he's a risky pick in just about every format.

In nine years on the PGA Tour, Reavie has been all over the map. He picked-up his first and only victory on the PGA Tour in his rookie season of 2008, but backed that up with a sub-$500k season in 2009. Two years later, he cracked the $2 million mark for the first time, but again struggled the year following. He struggled for the next three seasons, until last year, where he once again got above the $1 million mark. Reavie has demonstrated that he has the upside to justify a salary cap pick, even at his current number, but he's simply too much of a wild card. In drafts, he should go in the ninth or 10th round.

Reavie has virtually an entire season to earn enough money to match the 125th player on the money last season, but whether he gets there or not really doesn't matter. He's got 24 starts this season and he's certain to provide a ton of value in salary cap leagues.

Reavie had a great mid-season stretch last year in which he made most of his Web.com money, earning a win, a runner-up and a third-place finish.

Entering last season, Chez Reavie was at a crossroads. He was coming off an injury-plagued 2010 season in which he only made six cuts, and he was running out of options. He started 2011 on a major medical extension, but he didn't play well enough early on to keep his card for the rest of the season, so he played the only card he had left - his past champions card. This was quite the risk for Reavie as he had only once chance to use this exemption. If he had burned it last year and failed, he'd have been looking at Q-school again, something a previous winner never wants to consider. That's not how it played out, however, as Reavie did more than enough to secure his card for the upcoming season by earning five Top-10s and a runner-up finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Considering this is the first time Reavie finished so high on the money list, it's probably wise to pass on him this year. In draft leagues, he should go somewhere in the fifth round.

Reavie will be playing the second year of a two year exemption for winning RBC Canadian Open in 2008. Reavie needs the exemption for 2010 after a poor performance in 2009, but we expect a bump in his earnings to jump back into the top 125 for 2010.