Things haven't slowed much for Tom Kim since his win a month ago. He's coming off his third straight top 20 finish, which included a T5 two weeks ago and a T12 last week in Memphis. The iron play has continued to gain three or more strokes per event, while becoming even more accurate off the tee. What's more intriguing is the putter that averaged 0.034 strokes gained this season has risen to an average of 0.328 since the beginning of June. It's also the main area that's kept him afloat the last couple of weeks. There is a chance that Bellerive could play a little too long for the South Korean. But, as the second-ranked player on tour in par-4 scoring average this season (3.95), he probably deserves as much consideration as anyone else this week.

Through the first two rounds last week in Memphis, Viktor Hovland looked like the one player set to keep pace with Scottie Scheffler. The Norwegian fired rounds of 68-64 to reach second place, but lost pace by going +4 over the weekend. He still managed to squeak out a top-20 finish, led by his iron play, but the rest of his game still proved to be somewhat unpredictable. His work on approach will aid him well at Bellerive this week, and his often-discussed short game isn't the liability it has been in the past. However, his success this week in St. Louis will be limited if he loses strokes off the tee as he has in three of his last five starts (two coming in the last two weeks). Hovland makes more birdies than most, especially on par-4s, so the ceiling is certainly as high as anyone if he keeps the driver under control.

After a poor stretch through the middle of the year, Xander Schauffele has now recorded back-to-back top-10 finishes after his T7 in Memphis. The iron play and putting were the problem areas, but both have rebounded nicely, averaging 0.513 strokes gained putting and 0.843 on approach in his last three tournaments. If there were any lingering qualms heading to Bellerive this week for the two-time major champion, it would be in three-putt avoidance, where he ranks 108th this year. However, this week should be more heavily focused on making birdies than at TPC Southwind. Schauffele is still the caliber of player that could pop off at any tournament, which should grant him plenty of DFS viability come Thursday.

If golf tournaments ended after 54 holes, Sam Burns would be the unquestioned player-of-the-year frontrunner. His play had kept him within striking distance entering the final round last week in Memphis, but a three-over-par 73 continued an all-too-familiar trend. Even with the incredible ball striking on display, it overshadows an underlying problem that his statistics in that area have suffered immensely on Sunday compared to the first three days. The former LSU Tiger clearly has the resilience needed to become a winner. He'll have another opportunity this week at the BMW Championship, as Bellerive Country Club sets up well for his current iron play trends and affinity for making putts.