Alex Smalley

The elevated events have really skewed the earnings numbers from this past year. Smalley played only slightly better this past season as opposed to the previous season, yet his earnings number went from $1.6 million to $3.1 million. Smalley is still early in his career and he appears to be on a familiar arc, one that sees a young player make hay against lesser fields and hopefully graduate to playing better against the best players. Smalley could make that jump this year, but it will probably be a slower progression if it happens.

Smalley had quite an impressive rookie season this past year with over $1.6 million in earnings and nine top-25s. His best showing came at the Corales Puntacana Championship in March where he posted a runner-up. It's not uncommon for rookies to post their best finishes at opposite field events and while that can be a red flag if the player only fares well against weaker fields, Smalley managed to play well against strong fields as well. Smalley posted a top-10 at the Scottish Open, which was one of the stronger fields of the season and while he didn't fare well during the FedEx playoffs, he did manage to sneak into the top-70 at season's end. Smalley's cap number for the upcoming season is reasonable enough to consider him in salary cap leagues this year.

Smalley found success all over the place in summer as he notched three top-15s on the Forme Tour, top-50s at the John Deere Classic and Wyndham Championship and finally two top-15s during the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to earn his first PGA Tour card. The 24-year-old Duke product and former Walker Cup participant is a legitimate candidate to make some noise as a rookie.