Pro golfers’ visit to Napa serves as final tuneup for U.S. Ryder Cup team

The PGA Tour’s annual stop in Napa rarely makes headlines. As the start of the PGA Tour fall season — a series of events that allows fringe players an opportunity to keep or regain their full Tour status — the Safeway Open turned Fortinet Open and now Procore Championship doesn’t usually draw many of the game’s biggest names.

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But this week, with the Ryder Cup just two weeks away, that’s set to change.

After a sluggish start en route to a loss to Europe in 2023, the United States Ryder Cup team is using the four-day Procore Championship as a chance to bond and fine-tune their games ahead of this year’s matchup with a stacked European team at Bethpage Black at the end of the month.

Ten of the 12 players from the U.S. Ryder Cup team are in the field for this year’s Procore Championship, which is set to tee off Thursday on the North Course at Napa’s Silverado Resort. That includes World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who won The Masters and Open Championship this year, and J.J. Spaun, the winner of this year’s U.S. Open.

In total, 11 of the top 25 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking are set to compete this weekend in Napa, making this the strongest field in event history.

Other Ryder Cup players playing this weekend are Russell Henley (No. 4 in OWGR), Justin Thomas (No. 5), Collin Morikawa (No. 8), Harris English (No. 10), Ben Griffin (No. 17), Cameron Young (No. 20), Patrick Cantlay (No. 21) and Sam Burns (No. 22).

Maverick McNealy, ranked No. 18 in the world, is also in the field, along with two-time event winner Max Homa, 2023 champion Sahith Theegala, 2015 champion Emilliano Grillo, 2019 winner Cameron Champ and reigning champion Patton Kizzire. U.S. Ryder Cup Team captain Keegan Bradley is not playing this week but will be in attendance at the event. U.S. Ryder Cup vice captains Brant Snedeker, Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland will all be playing in the field.

Patton Kizzire blasts out of a green side bunker on the seventh hole during the fourth round of the Procore Championship PGA golf tournament at Silverado Resort North Course in Napa, on Sunday, September 15, 2024. (Darryl Bush / For The Press Democrat) Darryl Bush / For The Press Democrat

The only two U.S. Ryder Cup players not set to play this week are Xander Schauffele — whose wife recently had a baby — and Bryson DeChambeau, who plays for LIV Golf and is in ineligible to play PGA Tour events.

The U.S. has won two of the last four Ryder Cups but just three of the past eight. Europe won the last one 16½ to 11½ at Marco Simono Golf Club in Italy in 2023. The U.S. was swept in the first day of competition, falling behind 4-0 and unable to make up that ground over the remaining rounds.

Only Justin Thomas and Homa competed in Napa in 2023 as the lead-in for that year’s Ryder Cup.

This year’s field will also feature some of the top young and up-and-coming players in golf, like 23-year-old Akshay Bhatia, ranked No. 36 in the world, and 16-year-old high school star Miles Russell, two-time Junior Players champion who will be making his fourth start on the PGA Tour via sponsor exemption.

Additionally, two members of last week’s winning Walker Cup team, Jackson Koivun and Ethan Feng, will be teeing it up.

General-admission tickets start at $55 per day. Children 15 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult (up to four per adult) and daily parking is $25.

The Golf Channel will provide coverage from all four rounds.