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PGA Tour: Fall Swing Begins

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NAPA – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The eight-event FedEx Cup Fall slate tees off with this week’s Procore Championship at Silverado Resort in Northern California.

Formerly the Fortinet Championship, the event begins the race to secure PGA Tour cards and status for next season for the majority of the field. There is a smattering of marquee names in the field, and our golf experts preview the event while providing their favorite prop picks and best bets to win this week.

PROCORE CHAMPIONSHIP
Location: Napa, Calif., Sept. 12-15
Course: Silverado Resort, North Course (Par 72, 7,123 Yards)
Purse: $6M (Winner: $1.08M)
Defending Champion: Sahith Theegala
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday: 6-9 p.m. ET; Friday-Saturday: 6:30-9:30; Sunday: 6-9 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., 6:30-9:30 p.m. ET; Friday: 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
X: @ProcoreChamp

PROP PICKS
–Luke Clanton To Make Cut (-360 at DraftKings): The potential payout isn’t great, especially when considering Clanton is still an amateur. But he’s not your typical amateur on tour, either. Clanton has made six previous starts on tour this year, missing only one cut while posting three top-10s and making the weekend at the U.S. Open. The top-ranked amateur in the world, Clanton should fare well against a relatively soft field.

–Wyndham Clark & Corey Conners Both to Finish Top 20 (+185 at FanDuel): Both are in this week’s field in part to stay sharp for the Presidents Cup. Clark finished 38th here two years ago while Conners missed the cut. But they’re also two of the top three pre-tournament favorites and both enter the week in solid form of late.

–Min Woo Lee Top Oceania Player (-200 at DraftKings): It has been a difficult first full year on tour for Lee, who enters with two missed cuts in his past three stroke-play events. He did make the first round of the playoffs, finishing T22 at the FedEx St. Jude, and tied for second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He’s also going against modest competition in this prop pitting him against Aaron Baddeley (+360), Tim Wilkinson (+1000) and Jeffrey Guan (+1000).

2024 Prop Picks Record: 43-50-1

BEST BETS
–Theegala (+1200 at DraftKings) is defending his maiden title on tour, having won by two shots over S.H. Kim. He leads the field with 9 percent of the total bets and 13 percent of the money backing him to win.
–Wyndham Clark (+1200) has six top-15s in his past seven starts, including a T8 at the Tour Championship. He is second with 6 and 10 percent of the action, respectively.
–Corey Conners (+1400) is coming off a T22 at the BMW Championship in his most recent start and is one of the most accomplished players in the field.
–Maverick McNealy (+2000) played less than two hours away at Stanford. He missed the cut here two years ago but does have a decent track record on the West Coast and is third in the field with 8 percent of the money backing him to win his first PGA Tour event.
–Max Homa (+2200) hasn’t posted a top-10 since May, but is a two-time event champion (2021-22) and finished seventh last year. The California native has been backed by 7 percent of the money.

NOTES
–The FedEx Cup Fall schedule finalizes the top 125 players who will retain exempt status for 2025. Nos. 126-150 after the fall will retain conditional status. Players who finished Nos. 51-70 in the FedEx Cup have secured their tour cards, but are competing for spots in the first two signature events after the season-opening The Sentry.
–Theegala will defend his title, but at No. 3 in the FedEx Cup he has already secured his exempt status into all signature events in 2025.
–Top-ranked amateur Luke Clanton is in the field on a sponsor exemption. He has already posted three top-10 finishes in six PGA Tour events this year. Other sponsor exemptions include Neal Shipley, the low amateur at this year’s U.S. Open, along with Wenyi Ding, the fourth-ranked amateur in the world.

–Field Level Media

PGA TOUR Champ: Scheffler Up by Four

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ATLANTA – (PGA Tour Brunch) – World’s No. 1 Scottie Scheffler entered the second round holding a seven-shot lead and carded a 5-under (66) to take a four-shot lead at 21-under into the third round of the TOUR Championship.

Scheffler’s previous lowest 36-hole total since the FedEx Cup finale’s starting strokes format started in 2019 was 19-under by Scheffler, in 2022. The previous largest 36-hole biggest lead since the starting strokes format began in 2019 was two strokes by Scheffler, in 2022.

It’s Scheffler’s fifteenth career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR and his first since the 2024 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, earlier this season, when he led by three strokes. Scheffler is 5-for-14 to date converting the 36-hole lead/co-lead into victory.

Collin Morikawa, currently in 2nd, posted the low round of the week with an 8-under (63) to reach 17-under for the tournament. Morikawa held a share of the 36-hole lead at the 2023 TOUR Championship after setting the tournament’s 36-hole scoring record with rounds of 61-64.

Taylor Pendrith (T10) and Ludvig Åberg (T10) lead all TOUR Championship first-timers in the field through 36 holes, followed by Matthieu Pavon (T14), Shane Lowry (T14), Aaron Rai (T18), Akshay Bhatia (T21), Byeong Hun An (T25), Robert MacIntyre(T25) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (28th).

TOUR Championship | Leaderboard After 36 Holes

1 Scottie Scheffler -10 65-66 (-11) -21

2 Collin Morikawa -4 66-63 (-13) -17

3 Xander Schauffele -8 70-64 (-8) -16

T4 Three players at -12

PGA Tour ’24 Concludes at TOUR Championship

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ATLANTA – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The 2024 FedEx Cup season comes to a dramatic conclusion with this week’s Tour Championship at the redesigned East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Only the Top 30 in the standings qualified for the third and final leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but how many players have a legitimate shot of hoisting the trophy and claiming the $25 million bonus check come Sunday? World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler arrived in Atlanta as the top seed and owning a two-stroke lead for the third consecutive year, but he has yet to go on to win a FedEx Cup title.

TOUR Championship
Location: Atlanta,  Aug. 29-Sept. 1
Course: East Lake Golf Club (Par 71, 7,490 Yards)
Purse: $100M (Winner: $25M)
Defending Champion: Viktor Hovland
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: 1-6 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday: 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-7 p.m. (NBC); Sunday: Noon-1:30 p.m. (GC), 1:30-6 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 11:15 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Saturday: Noon-7 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @TOURChamp

Bradley Takes the BMW Championship

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CASTLE ROCK – Keegan Bradley, the USA’s Ryder Cup captain for 2025, rode patriotic cheers to victory at the BMW Championship as he shot even-par 72 in the final round Sunday for a 12-under-par 276 at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado.

It capped a dramatic resurgence for Bradley, who was named the US Ryder Cup captain last month and was the last man (No. 50) in the field this week.

Yet, his seventh PGA Tour win means Bradley will enter the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta next week in fourth place at 6 under based on the staggered start used at the season’s final tournament.

Bradley, who was not selected as a captain’s pick on the 2023 Ryder Cup team, heard cheers from the gallery of “Let’s go captain” and “U-S-A” everywhere he went. Bradley took a lead he would not relinquish with a par on the 537-yard, par-4 10th hole that broke a tie with Australian Adam Scott (72), who had a three-putt bogey on the hardest hole on the course.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (72) tied for 33rd at the BMW, but he enters East Lake as the top seed and will start at 10 under par. Xander Schauffele (71, tied for fifth) will be second at 8 under par and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who withdrew with a back injury from the BMW, will be third at 7 under.

Sam Burns shot a final-round-best 7-under-par 65 to finish tied for second with Scott and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (71) at 11-under 277. It’s the fourth career runner-up finish for Burns, who had eight birdies in his round and narrowly missed a bunker shot on the par-4 18th hole that would have tied the lead.

 

 

Burns’ lone bogey on the par-5 14th slowed his rally, but he bounced back with consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to enter the Tour Championship ninth in FedEx Cup points.

Australian Cam Davis (66) led the field with 24 birdies on the week and tied for fifth at 8-under 280 with Tommy Fleetwood of England (69) — who played his way into the Tour Championship as he moved from 31st to 22nd in the FedEx Cup standings — plus Schauffele and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (70).

Chris Kirk (69) played his way into East Lake as he rose from 32nd to 26th after a tie for ninth with Sweden’s Alex Noren (75).

–James Nokes, Field Level Media

PGA Tour: Castle Pines at 8,130 Yds This Week for BMW Championship

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Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.

LAST TOURNAMENT: Wyndham Championship (Aaron Rai)
THIS WEEK: BMW Championship, Castle Rock, Colo., Aug. 22-25
Course: Castle Pines Golf Club (Par 72, 8,130 Yards)
Purse: $20M (Winner: $4M)
Defending Champion: Viktor Hovland
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (NBC); Sunday: 12-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2-6 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 10:15 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

X: @BMWChamps

NOTES: The Top 50 in the standings after the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs qualified for this week’s event. The top 30 after the BMW Championship will advance to the Tour Championship. All players in this week’s field have qualified for each of the eight signature events next year along with The Players Championship. Jake Knapp, Mackenzie Hughes and Tom Kim were bumped from inside the top 50 last week. Denny McCarthy currently occupies the No. 30 spot, just two points ahead of Tommy Fleetwood and nine ahead of Chris Kirk. … The BMW returns to Colorado for the first time since 2014, and Castle Pines is playing host to a PGA Tour event for the first time since 2006. The course is 6,200 feet above sea level and is the longest course in PGA Tour history. It was also the venue for The International from 1986-2006, having since undergone a full renovation that included new bunkers, rebuilt tees and greens and renovated water features.

BEST BETS: Scottie Scheffler (+300 at DraftKings) enters the BMW Championship leading the standings for the third consecutive year. He has won four signature events, the Masters, The Players and the Olympic gold medal in 2024. … Xander Schauffele (+550) shot a closing 63 on Sunday to tie for second last week, following a win at The Open and a T9 at the Olympics. … Rory McIlroy (+1200) tied for 68th last week and missed The Open cut but is also the only three-time winner of the FedEx Cup and finished fourth here in 2023. … Collin Morikawa (+1400) has 12 consecutive top-25 finishes worldwide as he seeks his first win since last fall. … Viktor Hovland (+1800) has had an uneven season, but the defending champion is coming off a T2 last week. … Hideki Matsuyama (+1800) vaulted to third in the standings with last week’s win that came on the heels of a bronze medal.

NEXT TOURNAMENT: Tour Championship, Atlanta, Aug. 29-Sept. 1

Cantlay Shoots for BMW

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DENVER – The BMW Championship is currently the only leg of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs that rotates venues each year. Patrick Cantlay has shown he can bag BMW wins no matter which course is up for its turn.

But the 2024 edition of the tournament presents an entirely different challenge: an 8,130-yard track at Castle Pines Golf Club in the thin air of Colorado.

Cantlay, the 2021 and 2022 champion at the BMW, and the rest of the 50-player field will need to prepare for the unusual distances their shots travel at altitude, plus the other trials that come with this course layout.

“It’s a longer walk, I’ll tell you that,” Cantlay said Tuesday. “There’s going to be some tired caddies at the end of this week with the uphill and the downhill and the 8,100 yards. The ball is going farther, but we’ve got to walk all that way.”

The course is set to become the longest in PGA Tour history, the result of golfers’ driving distance combined with the unique environmental circumstances in the Rocky Mountains. The BMW hasn’t been played in Colorado since 2014.

Castle Pines is 6,200 feet above sea level.

“I think the altitude, with all the help we have with the TrackMans and the devices, it’s pretty easy to see how far it’s going,” Cantlay said. “We learn new golf courses all the time, so I don’t think it’ll be too big of a change or too difficult.”

Cantlay had a memorable playoff win at the 2021 BMW Championship over Bryson DeChambeau. They both torched the course, Caves Valley in Maryland, for a 27-under final score. Cantlay went on to win the 2021 FedEx Cup and defended his BMW title the next year at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club.

 

 

The World No. 9 said he doesn’t know why he’s found particular success winning an event that changes scenery each year. He cited his history of playing well in the warm weather of August.

“This tournament in general is played on bentgrass greens, which I tend to putt well, and I’ve had some events, some BMW events where I’ve putted well, so this week is no different,” Cantlay added.

Cantlay hasn’t won on tour since that 2022 BMW. He enters the week ranked ninth in FedEx Cup points, guaranteed to make it to the tour’s season finale, the Tour Championship, next week for a chance at a second FedEx Cup title.

“I feel good about my game,” Cantlay said. “I’d say my results have been going in the right direction the last few months. Had a poor first round last week, but other than that, I played really well the last three days. So carry some of that momentum into this week.”

–Field Level Media

Can Viktor Hovland Defend at FedEx?

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MEMPHIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Viktor Hovland can empathize with most amateur golfers in at least one easy-to-understand way.

He doesn’t enjoy being on the golf course when he’s playing poorly.

Of course, Hovland’s standards are quite different than the average Sunday duffer. The young Norwegian star was coming off winning the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus last year when he changed swing coaches.

It was part of a quest to hit a more consistent cut. But as has happened to so many elite players before him who have attempted swing changes, it backfired on Hovland.

After closing out 2023 with five consecutive top-10 finishes, Hovland opened this year with a T22 in the 59-player field at The Sentry. What’s followed has been a lone top-10 in his past 12 starts on tour — a solo third at the PGA Championship.

Hovland is coming off a T30 at the Olympics and sits in 57th place entering the first leg of the playoffs at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Only the top 50 after this week advance to the BMW Championship, but Hovland is confident that he sees the light at the end of the tunnel of a very frustrating season to date.

“It feels like it’s been a lot of peaks and valleys. I mean, it’s just not that fun to play golf when you don’t know where the ball is going,” he said on Tuesday.

“I do pride myself in trying to make the best out of it, but it gets to a point where you kind of lose that belief — you just see a shot, and that’s not good enough. I can try to grind my hardest. I can try to chip in from there. But you do that too often, too many times during the course of a round or a tournament, it’s too much to overcome.

“And I feel like it’s a waste of time for me to be playing golf if that’s where I’m at. I’d rather be off the golf course and work on it, trying to figure out why I’m doing those things.”

Hovland has withdrawn from multiple events this year — the WM Phoenix Open after a T58 at Pebble Beach and later from the RBC Heritage, a signature event, after shooting an 81 to miss the cut at the Masters. Both WDs prompted rumors that Hovland was considering a move to LIV Golf, but he has insisted that he’d rather work on his game at home than struggle in competition.

PGA Tour: Vegas Has Hot Hand

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BLAINE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas birdied six of the final eight holes for an 8-under-par 63 to surge into the lead after three rounds of the 3M Open on Saturday in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

Matt Kuchar’s eagle on No. 18 gave him 63 and a temporary share of first place before Vegas, who’s at 16-under 197, birdied the last hole.

Vegas, who hasn’t won on the PGA Tour in seven years, had three birdies in a four-hole stretch to pull into a share of the lead after No. 14 and kept the momentum going.

Kuchar, who hasn’t won in more than five years and is aiming for his 10th career victory on the tour, will be contending in the final round at TPC Twin Cities. He nearly aced the par-3 17th before his final-hole eagle came with a short chip from in front of the green, with the ball bouncing a couple of times before clanking against the pin and dropping into the cup.

Maverick McNealy also shot 63 to move to 14 under, while Patrick Fishburn (63) and Sahith Theegala (66) share fourth place at 12 under.

Canada’s Adam Svensson (66), Matt NeSmith (70) and Australia’s Cam Davis (65) are tied for sixth at 11 under. Among Svensson’s highlights was sinking a shot from a sand trap for a birdie on the par-3 eighth

Canadian Taylor Pendrith, who led after the second round by two strokes, tumbled with a 2-over 73. He had a five-hole stretch at 5 over, ending with a double-bogey 6 at No. 11, though he made it through the last seven holes at 1 under. He’s tied for ninth at 10 under.

Fishburn emerged atop the leaderboard among early finishers before others caught up.

Davis Thompson Sizzles at John Deere

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SILVIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Davis Thompson shot 7-under par 64 to run away with the John Deere Classic for his first PGA Tour victory Sunday in Illinois.

Thompson finished with a tournament-record 28-under 256 for a four-shot victory on a trio of contenders, breaking away from a two-shot lead from the beginning of the day and leading by as many as six strokes.

Luke Clanton, a Florida State golfer, shot 63 and became the first amateur to record top 10 finishes in back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour since 1958. He tied for second place with Michael Thorbjornsen (63) and Taiwan’s C.T. Pan (64).

Ben Griffin had the day’s best score with 62 to finish at 23 under and he was joined in fifth place by Carson Young 63).

Denny McCarthy (64), Andrew Novak (64), Eric Cole (69) and England’s Aaron Rai (69) ended at 21 under and tied with Hayden Springer, who opened the tournament with Thursday’s 59. Springer played the backside in 5 under Sunday for a late surge.

By midway through the round, it became clear that there would be a first-time winner on the PGA Tour. Griffin, Young, Thorbjornsen, Clanton, McCarthy, Novak and Springer were also seeking their first title on the circuit, but Thompson’s lead was too large.

Thompson, 25, is a former University of Georgia golfer who has been contending in recent weeks. He tied for second place last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and shared ninth place in last month’s U.S. Open.

Thompson recorded birdies on seven of the first 10 holes of the final round at TPC Deere Run to open a six-shot lead. He had his first bogey of the weekend on No. 12 before a birdie on No 14 stretched the margin back to four shots on Griffin.

Clanton played the back nine in 6 under Sunday. Thorbjornsen notched six consecutive birdies from Nos. 8-13, but still trailed by five shots.

Young, a 29-year-old former Clemson golfer, had his only bogey on the last hole and fell out of second place.

Griffin had an eagle on the par-5 second hole, but after reaching 10 under for the round dropped a stroke with a bogey 6 on No. 17.

Because of weather concerns, golfers were placed in threesomes and Nos. 1 and 10 were used as starting points with tee times moved up.

–Field Level Media

Thompson, Cole Lead at John Deere

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SILVIS (Illinois) – Following T9 and T2 finishes in his two most recent starts (U.S. Open and Rocket Mortgage), Davis Thompson made nine birdies en route to a bogey-free (62) to reach 21-under (192) after 54 holes.

He holds his second 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR (2023 American Express).

Thompson’s (62) matched his career-low score from round one of the 2023 American Express when he finished second.

With birdies on six of his first nine holes – including five straight on Nos. 4-8 – Jordan Spieth turned at 6-under (29) before signing for an 8-under (63). The (63) falls two strokes shy of his career-low score of (61); the first of 61s he posted in round three of the 2015 John Deere Classic en route to his win.

A week removed from his second top-10 finish of the season, a T6 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Eric Cole followed a 9-under (62) in round one with scores of 68-64 in rounds two and three to reach T2 at 19-under (194). Cole played his last three holes in R3 in 3-under par (eagle-birdie-par).

Making his first start in the John Deere Classic, Aaron Rai (T2/-19) followed a second-round 8-under (63) with a 5-under (66) and sits T-2 with Cole.

John Deere Classic | Leaderboard After 54 Holes

1 Davis Thompson 63 67 62 192 (-21)

T2 Eric Cole 62 68 64 194 (-19)

T2 Aaron Rai 65 63 66 194 (-19)

T4 Hayden Springer 59 71 66 196 (-17)

T4 C.T. Pan 65 63 68 196 (-17)