Under normal circumstances the Procore Championship would attract little attention – and would struggle to attract a decent field. It is the first event in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Fall Series and it just happens to be the last tournament before the Ryder Cup.
So these are not normal circumstances
US captain Keegan Bradley made it clear that he wanted his players in action at Napa as he runs his eye over their current form. Of course there will be no Bryson DeChambeau. As a LIV player he is not allowed to play in PGA Tour events.
Of some concern to Bradley will be the non-appearance of Xander Schauffele, who finished third on the automatic qualifying points table but only as a result of what he achieved in 2024. His form throughout this year has been extremely poor and he would surely have benefited from a competitive outing before heading to Bethpage. Other than DeChambeau, he is the only US Ryder Cup player not in action this week.
Bradley agonised for weeks over whether or not to pick himself before realising that it was going to be impossible to compete and carry out the captain’s duties to the best of his ability. In any other circumstances he would have been playing at Bethpage Black. He won the Travelers Championship and played well in the three FedEx Cup playoff tournaments.
I have a feeling that Bradley is going to be an exceptional captain.
All logic dictates that it is going to be another benefit week for Scottie Scheffler, with the world’s best golfer looking for his sixth victory of yet another remarkable year at Silverado Resort in Napa Valley.
When Bradley made it clear some weeks ago that he expected as many of his team as possible to play this week, Scheffler was the first to commit.
Since the start of 2024 he has won 14 times. It is a remarkable record.
He made a sluggish start to 2025 as he struggled to shake off the effects of a hand injury suffered at home during the Christmas holiday. It meant he had to sit out the start of the season, and when he returned there were signs of ring rust.
It didn’t last, of course, and he went on to dominate. The comparisons with Tiger Woods in his prime are inevitable. He now has 18 career wins and his form in 2025 has been quite astonishing.
In 19 starts he won five times, was second once, had 16 top 10s and never once finished outside the top 25. Oh, and those five wins came at the CJ Cup, The Memorial, The US PGA Championship, The Open and the BMW Championship.
It is not so very long ago that pundits were saying he could never win on a links course. Scheffler can win anywhere! In any conditions.
There are question marks over the form of some of Bradley’s team. A few eyebrows were raised when he gave the nod to Collin Morikawa. The two-time major champion made a terrific start to the year, narrowly missing out on the Sentry. But his defeat at the hands of Russell Henley at the Arnold Palmer Invitational had a huge impact. Since then he has had just two top-10 finishes, tied 10th at the Players and tied eighth at the Rocket Mortgage. He missed the cut at both the Scottish Open and The Open Championship. And his poor form continued in the playoffs. After opening with a 64 at the Tour Championship he then tumbled down the leaderboard and eventually finished tied 19th in a field of 30.
If anybody needs a good week it is Morikawa.
To a lesser degree, the same applies to Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay.
Burns is a five-time PGA Tour winner but he hasn’t picked up a title since the 2023 WGC Dell Technologies Matchplay. He had a worrying spell earlier in the year when he missed three successive cuts. He put himself in prime position to win the US Open but had a dreadful final round of 78. He did show some signs of life at the BMW Championship and Tour Championship, where he finished tied fourth and tied seventh respectively. There is a feeling that Bradley gave him the nod because he is Scheffler’s regular practice partner. They are close friends and are likely to form one of Bradley’s nailed-on pairings.
Cantlay divides opinion. It is fair to say that he is not on Rory McIlroy’s Christmas card list after the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone when he refused to wear a team cap. His celebrations when he holed an unlikely putt on the final green on Saturday afternoon led to McIlroy losing the plot. Cantlay has won eight times on the PGA Tour but the most recent of those successes came three years ago at the BMW Championship, and that simply isn’t good enough for a player of his ability.
In 19 starts in 2025, he has made 16 cuts. Worryingly for the USA, those three missed cuts came at the US PGA, US Open and Open Championship. He finished tied second at the Tour Championship behind England’s Tommy Fleetwood but he never really looked like winning. Like Burns and Morikawa, he is a man in need of a good performance at Napa. And don’t get me started on his pace of play.
Last year Patton Kizzire secured his first PGA Tour title since 2018 after completing an impressive five-shot victory. He mixed an eagle with three birdies and three bogeys during a two-under 70 on the final day at Silverado Country Club, seeing the American end on 20 under and comfortably ahead of closest challenger David Lipsky.
Tournament Winners:
It was won in 2016 and 2017 by Brendan Steele, in 2018 by Kevin Tway, in 2019 by Cameron Champ, in 2020 by Stewart Cink, in 2021 and 2022 by Max Homa, in 2023 by Sahith Theegala and last year by Patton Kizzire.
The Course:
Updated by Johnny Miller, the North Course at Silverado features pristine, tree-lined fairways, water crossings and deep bunkers that require accurate approaches. The par-72 layout measures 7,123 yards. Stewart Cink holds the tournament scoring record at 21 under par, achieved in 2020.
Form Guide:
I hate to sound like a stuck record but is anybody going to beat Scottie Scheffler? I don’t think so.
Prize Money:
The total prize fund is $6, with $1.08m and 500 FedEx Cup points going to the winner.
How to Watch:
Thursday, September 11, Sky Sports Golf, 9pm; Friday, September 12, Sky Sports Golf, 9pm; Saturday, September 13, Sky Sports Golf, 11pm; Sunday, September 14, Sky Sports Golf, 11pm.
To Win:
Scottie Scheffler. Going for sixth win of 2025
Each Way:
Patrick Cantlay. Has a point to prove
Each Way:
Ben Griffin. What a year he is having
Five to Follow:
Scottie Scheffler. In a class of his own
Patrick Cantlay. Divides opinion
Ben Griffin. Living the dream
Max Homa. Desperate to put slump behind him
Cameron Young. Full of confidence
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