The PGA Tour rolls on this week as it visits the North Course at Silverado Resort for the 2025 Procore Championship. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and undergoing a renovation by Johnny Miller in 2011, the North Course has hosted the tour’s best since 2014 and will play as a Par 72, 7,138 yard layout this week.
The Procore Championship kicks off the seven event FedEx Cup Fall. Following the seven tournaments in the fall, the players ranking 51-60 in the FedEx Cup Fall will gain entry into the first two Signature Events of 2026 following The Sentry, which will be the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. Players ranking inside the top 100 at the end of the Fall Series will have full-time status in 2026, while those ranking 101-125 will only have conditional status for 2026. Those who finished in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup already have full status for 2026 and access to all of the Signature Events, While many of the studs typically take the fall off, for many of those teeing it up, their careers are on the line. Leaderboards will feature plenty of intriguing storylines over the next seven tournaments, a nice blend of studs, veterans, up-and-comers, journeymen and everything in between, so enjoy the ride as we kick off the 2025 FedEx Cup Fall.
Elite iron play is arguably the most vital area for success this week, with the North Course featuring smaller than average greens by tour standards. The course isn’t super long, so both bombers and accuracy specialists have an equal chance at success this week. Making birdies in bunches is always important on tour, but even more so this week, with every winner of this event finishing at -14 or better for the week, and four of the last five winners finishing at -19 or better for the week. Taking advantage of all four Par 5’s each day will be quite important, not to mention the three Par 4’s expected to play right around or under 400 yards. When it’s all said and done, the long ball hitters typically rise to the top come Sunday, followed by the elite putters. Truly one of the few events on tour where both short and accurate hitters have as equal of a chance of winning as the long ball guys. With many of the studs using this event as a final tune up before the Ryder Cup at the end of the month, the stretch of field is stronger than usual. Will the studs reign supreme? Or will we have more mid-pack and underdog players atop the leaderboard come Sunday? A potential life-changing week is always just 72 holes away.
The Procore Championship has been a staple on tour since 2007, with this year’s field arguably being the strongest in tournament history. Among the favorites this week will be Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Ben Griffin, Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas, while rising stars like Akshay Bhatia, Max Greyserman, Jackson Koivun, Davis Thompson, Michael Thorbjornsen and Sami Välimäki, just to name a few, will also look to make their presence known.
Brendan Steele and Max Homa share the title for most wins in this event, with each of them finding victory here twice (Steele in 2016 and 2017 and Homa in 2021 and 2022).
Last year’s edition was won by Patton Kizzire, who shot a final round 70 to cruise to a five stroke victory over David Lipsky. Patrick Fishburn finished in third place, six strokes behind, while Mackenzie Hughes, Greyson Sigg and Ben Silverman finish T-4, seven strokes off the pace.
2025 has been far from successful for Trevor Cone, making the cut just eight times in 20 starts. Cone’s T-14 finish at the ISCO Championship has been his lone top 25 finish on the campaign and his game is pretty well struggling across the board, losing strokes on the green in five of his last 10 measured starts, around the green in six of his last 10 measured starts, and on approach in five of his last 10 measured starts. Season-wise, he ranks 10th on tour in Driving Distance and a surprising 57th in Greens in Regulation Percentage. However, golf is a game where you drive for show and putt for dough, which is Cone’s ultimate downfall, ranking 161st in Putting Average, 152nd in Birdie or Better Conversion Percentage, 157th in Total Birdies and 127th in Bogey Avoidance. Cone missed the cut in this event in both of his previous attempts in 2022 and 2023, and in a stacked field for this year’s edition, he will be no more than an afterthought on the way to a missed cut.
The 335th ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, Zac Blair has had a mixed bag in 2025, posting seven made cuts and eight missed cuts in 15 starts, with a T-18 finish at the Corales Puntacana Championship being his lone top 25 finish of the season. Blair has struggled with different areas of his game, losing strokes off the tee in eight of his last 10 measured starts and on the green in six of his last 10 measured starts. Incredibly, Blair has gained strokes on approach in six of his last 10 measured starts, including 0.95 strokes or more in three of those starts, and around the green in seven of his last 10 measured starts. So why would I back a guy whose game is all over the place from week to week? Well, because Zac Blair is a fucking stud in this event, at least by journeyman standards. In nine career Procore Championship starts, Blair has one top 10, four top 25’s and just two missed cuts, including three top 15 finishes in the last five editions, highlighted by a T-4 finish in 2020. By no means is Blair going to win this tournament, but with the good vibes he’s had here of late, he will no doubt make the cut and lock in his second top 25 finish of the season.
This pick will come as a surprise given the strength of the field this year, but hear me out. Patrick Fishburn showed flashes of brilliance this season, posting four top 10’s and five top 25 finishes, including top 10’s in two of his last four starts and top 20’s in three of his last five starts, but he also battled inconsistency, missing the cut 12 times in 23 starts and posting five other finishes of 40th or worse. However, the kid has potential, with Fishburn gaining strokes in five of the six major Strokes Gained categories and showing potential with course management, ranking 8th in Greens in Regulation Percentage and 25th in Bogey Avoidance. Fishburn is a bit streaky with his putting, which is why we don’t see him on leaderboards as often as he should, ranking 127th on tour in Putting Average and 128th in Birdie or Better Conversion Percentage. A random note, but Fishburn has made the longest putt on tour this season, holing a putt from 105 feet, eight inches, on the 17th hole during the final round of the Valero Texas Open. As I mentioned earlier, Fishburn’s game has been rounding into form over the past two months, and he hopes to keep it going this week in an event where he has had past success, finishing third here in his tournament debut last fall. A breakthrough win will be coming for Fishburn in the near future, but expect him to put together a quality showing this week and make some putts on the way to a second straight top 10 finish at the Procore Championship.
2025 has seen the resurgence of Justin Thomas, who ended a nearly three year winless streak by beating Andrew Novak in a playoff at the RBC Heritage, his first victory since hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy at the 2022 PGA Championship. Overall, it was a solid campaign for Thomas, with one victory, eight top 10’s and nine top 25’s to go against just two missed cuts in 20 starts on the way to a T-7 finish in the FedEx Cup Standings. Thomas’ game is solid all through the bag, gaining strokes in all six major Strokes Gained categories and ranking inside the top 35 in five of those categories, including 25th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, 17th in Strokes Gained: Putting and 6th in Strokes Gained: Total. Thomas’ strength has been on the greens this year, ranking second in Putting Average, second in Birdie or Better Conversion Percentage, third in Putts Per Round, third in Birdie Average, third in Birdie or Better Percentage, fourth in One-Putt Percentage, and 15th in Total Birdies. Fresh off a top 10 at the Tour Championship, Thomas has fared very well in the Procore Championship, posting three top 5’s and four top 10 finishes in six career starts, including four straight top 10’s and back-to-back top five finishes in his last two starts in this tournament in 2020 and 2023. In a stacked field, I’m leaning on a guy who has had so much past success in this event. I am all in on Justin Thomas, which is why I predict he will pick up his second win of the season and his first ever Procore Championshop victory!
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