Power Rankings: Procore Championship

But wait, there’s more. Welcome back to the FedExCup Fall.

Yes, Scottie Scheffler forever is the 18th FedExCup champion as the winner of the TOUR Championship, but there still are eight tournaments remaining in the 2024 season. Each yields familiar rewards, as does position at the finish line.

The Procore Championship gets things started at Silverado Resort’s North Course in Napa, California. For a review of what’s at stake, how the course should test and more, continue reading below the ranking of those expected to contend.

Prior to 2023, September was a month during which the new wraparound season would begin. But, it’s rapidly evolved into a transitional phase connecting the FedExCup season and the FedExCup Fall. All 70 who qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs secured PGA TOUR membership next season, but only the 50 who advanced to the BMW Championship locked up exemptions into all Signature Events in 2025.

FedExCup points will continue to be distributed similarly for all eight stops during the FedExCup Fall; that is, 500 points will be awarded to the winner, 300 points to the runner-up, and so on. Golfers who finished inside the top 50 of the FedExCup will not accumulate points, while everyone else will add to his existing total. At the conclusion of The RSM Classic (Nov. 21-24), golfers ranked 51st-60th will earn exemptions into the second and third Signature Events next year – the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Jan. 30-Feb. 2) and The Genesis Invitational (Feb. 13-16) – and all inside the top 125 will be equipped with fully exempt status in 2025.

The winner of every FedExCup Fall tournament will qualify for the first Signature Event – The Sentry (Jan. 2-5). All winners this fall also will earn exemptions into the 2025 editions of THE PLAYERS Championship, the Masters and the PGA Championship, as well as membership status in the winners category through at least 2026.

This stretch of the schedule also features the Presidents Cup on Sept. 26-29. With no PGA TOUR stop next week, six golfers in the biennial competition are committed to the Procore Championship, no doubt to stay sharp. All are in the Power Rankings above, including both champions of the last three editions of the Procore – Max Homa (2021, 2022) and Sahith Theegala (2023).

The Presidents Cuppers are among 144 in the field at Silverado’s North Course this week. The size reflects a reduction of a dozen from previous years, but all who are fully exempt this season and committed at the deadline had no trouble gaining entry on merit.

This is the second straight edition of the tournament for which Silverado will be played after a rerouting that generated respective pars of 35 and 37 on the stock par 72. It also remains capable of stretching to 7,123 yards. Greens averaging 5,400 square feet and consisting primarily of Poa annua again are governed to just 11 1/2 feet on the Stimpmeter.

Narrow fairways are flanked by rough that’s trimmed to 2 1/2 inches for the second consecutive year. (Previous setups allowed for a height of three inches.) Driving accuracy perennially is among the lowest of all courses measured all season. Case in point, with clips of sub-47 percent, both editions of the tournament during the extended 2022-23 season ranked 1-2 among all non-majors. That said, because of Silverado’s overall length, targets are reachable with shorter irons and slower greens introduce the opportunity be aggressive in situations where an up-and-down for par is the worst-case scenario.

Any stock par 72 defaults into a strategy to pounce on par 5s, but they can hold their own at Silverado. In fact, the soft spot is on the par 4s in the aggregate.

Overall scoring should resemble last year’s field average of 71.157 in part because the weather will be about the same. No rain is expected while sunshine will rule. Daytime highs will climb easily into the 80s and wind is not expected to be a factor until perhaps Sunday’s final round. Morning fog may require a rising sun to burn it off.

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

MONDAY: Power Rankings
TUESDAY: Sleepers
WEDNESDAY: Golfbet Insider
SUNDAY: Points and Payouts; Medical extensions; Qualifiers; Reshuffle