Procore Championship: Prediction, Tips and Odds

The PGA TOUR's FedExCup Fall gets underway in California for the Procore Championship, and Mike Glasscott has eight players to follow for the week.

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Procore Championship Tips

Win: Maverick McNealy (22/1), Rico Hoey (70/1)
Top 10: Matt Kuchar (11/2), Brendon Todd (17/4), J.J. Spaun (16/5)
Top 20: Charley Hoffman (33/10), Justin Lower (7/2)
Top 40: Martin Laird (11/5)

Silverado Resort (North Course) course guide

The North Course at Silverado Resort opened for play in 1955 and was updated and redesigned in 1966 by Robert Trent Jones, Sr.

After hosting PGA TOUR events from the late 1960s through 1980, locals purchased the North Course in the first decade of the 21st century. The ownership group, headlined by Johnny Miller, brought the course up to modern standards with a 2011 renovation and began hosting the Frys.com on the PGA TOUR in 2014.

The 2023 tournament, the 10th consecutive edition at Silverado, was rerouted but remained 7,123 yards and Par-72 for the fourth straight year. Neither the par nor yardage on the card is different for 2024.

With fairways averaging just 20 yards, the North Course is one of the tightest driving tests on TOUR. The track is also one of the shortest, 7,123 yards that plays as a Par-72.

The Bluegrass/Ryegrass rough is only two-and-a-half inches deep. Two water hazards and 53 strategically placed bunkers should not slow down the field of 144 players. Wedges and lofted clubs will provide the attack at flags.

The putting surfaces are Bent/Poa annua and average 5,400 square feet. Getting up and down and saving par is one of the keys to victory. The parkland resort layout favors Par-4 scoring as only two of the ten opportunities stretch past 430 yards. The Par-5 and Par-3 holes are not pushovers.

The average winning score over the last four editions is 19-under-par.

There will not be many rounds above par from players in the top 10 at the end of the week.

The tournament course record is 61, set on both occasions in Round 2. Chesson Hadley was the first to do so in 2018.

The tournament scoring record, 21-under-par, was equaled by Sahith Theegala in 2023 as the Californian won for the first time on the PGA TOUR. Stewart Cink, also in the field this week, was the first to post 21-under in the 2020 event and is the oldest champion at 47.

Emiliano Grillo, not entered this week, won the 2015 edition in his first tournament with a PGA TOUR card.

Napa Valley is the only TOUR stop in September and kicks off the FedExCup Fall.

Procore Championship preview

Procore becomes the third sponsor in 11 tournaments in Napa Valley.

The opening event to the wrap-around season from years past transitioned into the opening event for the FedExCup Fall in 2023.

Sahith Theegala, the betting favourite, returns to defend the title at the site of his first win on the PGA TOUR.

Max Homa, the 2021 and 2022 winner, finished T7 last year as he attempted to join Steve Stricker (John Deere Classic) as the last player to win an event in three consecutive seasons.

The first 10 events produced eight unique winners and five were native Californians.

The last five winners have posted 16-under or better, and three of the previous four champions have posted the lowest winning totals.

Theegala is the only winner in the last six editions not to register in the top three in SG: Tee to Green (T6).

In his first victory in 2021, Max Homa is the only winner in the last six years to finish outside the top seven in Scrambling (T42).

Former champions in the field this week also include Cameron Champ (2019), Kevin Tway (2018), and Monday Qualifier Sangmoon Bae (2014).

The field of 144 players includes four open qualifiers and will play 36 holes before being cut to the top 65 and ties.

The winner will pocket $1.080 million of the $6 million prize pool plus 500 FedExCup points.

Top of the Board

Sahith Theegala (11/1): Only Collin Morikawa (not entered) posted a lower gross total at The TOUR Championship three weeks ago in Atlanta. Defending a title for the first time comes with extra duties, but the 2024 Presidents Cup team player will not be searching for any answers in the dirt in Wine Country. Making his fifth appearance, along with his victory, he cashed T6 and T14 in three previous starts.

Wyndham Clark (12/1): Wins in California at the 2023 U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club and the Pebble Beach Pro-Am last February, golf in the Golden State suits his eye. Cashing T14 or better in six of his last seven tournaments on TOUR suggests his game travels.

Corey Conners (16/1): Peppering Fairways and GIR, the Canadian will look to repay the trust shown to him by International Captain Mike Weir. A Captain’s pick, the Ontario native has not missed a cut on TOUR since the 2023 U.S. Open.

Maverick McNealy (22/1): The Stanford, California, native will look to follow in Theegala’s footsteps as a first-time winner on TOUR from the Golden State. Posting T3 at the 3M Open, the last tournament for the rank and file that had Bent/Poa annua greens, he just missed advancing to the BMW Championship with T12 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August. The Stanford grad posted 18-under here in 2021 finishing second by a shot to Homa.

Max Homa (22/1): In his last three visits he’s won twice and cashed T7. His previous visit to the top 10 on TOUR came at Quail Hollow, another course where he’s won. Selected to the Presidents Cup by USA Captain Jim Furyk, I couldn’t think of a better landing spot to dial in his game for Royal Montreal in two weeks.

Min Woo Lee (25/1): The Australian, a runner-up twice this season on TOUR, is still looking for his first victory on U.S. soil. The big hitter from Perth will look to overpower the 7,123-yard resort course on debut.

Luke Clanton (25/1): The amateur from Florida State University, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world, exploded onto the radar after making the cut at the U.S. Open (T41). Cashing T10 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in his TOUR debut, the following week he posted 24-under to share second at the John Deere Classic. Returning to Earth with T37 and a missed cut, his final attempt of the 2024 season resulted in solo fifth at the Wyndham Championship.

J.J. Spaun (28/1): A slow start to 2024 kept the San Diego native out of the FedExCup Playoffs but a fantastic regular season finish keeps him on my radar. The Californian did not pick up his first top 25 until T10 in Detroit began a streak of six straight. Closing with T9 at 3M and T3 at Wyndham suggests he’s not satisfied with being ranked 97th.

Players to consider for Top 10 or Top 20 action:

Matt Kuchar (55/1): In the last two regular season events he was in the fight on Sunday. Same with the last two years at Silverado.

Charley Hoffman (90/1): A victory would match Stewart Cink as the oldest champion. A top-20 finish would be his third in his last four starts on TOUR.

Brendon Todd (40/1): Another top-10 result this season would make it three consecutive years in the top 10 in Napa Valley. Possessing a driver that finds fairways, the four-time winner on TOUR also has a deft short game.

Eric Cole (40/1): Rolled in 23 birdies on debut last year and collected money for solo fourth. The Florida native has cashed in eight straight events on TOUR.

Nick Taylor (75/1): Snubbed for the Presidents Cup in his native Canada, there is plenty of motivation this week.

Justin Lower (100/1): Two years ago, he played from the lead in the final group before finishing T4.

Rico Hoey (66/1): In five of his last six events, he’s cashed T26 or better, including three inside the top 10.

Martin Laird (225/1): The TOUR veteran shines this time of year and has played well recently here and at Lake Tahoe.