Procore Championship 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

It is fair to say that Max Homa is a big fan of Silverado, having won the Fortinet Championship twice at the venue, in 2021 and 2022. 

And 12 months ago it was where Sahith Theegala enjoyed his maiden PGA Tour success. Theegala, having started the final round at Napa, California, with a two-stroke lead, picked up three shots in his first five holes as he mixed seven birdies and three bogeys in a closing 68.

South Korea's SH Kim matched that to finish two strokes back in second with Australia's Cam Davis two shots further adrift in third.

Justin Thomas, who started the day tied for second in search of a first win in a torrid year, dropped out of contention as he made four bogeys in the front nine. An eagle three on the 12th helped him claw his round back to a level par 72 as he finished six shots back in fifth place.

Homa was two shots further back after a closing 69 alongside England's Callum Tarren.

"No matter the good golf or the bad golf, they just have my back. It's a team win," Theegala said, with his mother and father by his side on the 18th green. "It's not just a win for me, it's a win for the whole family. To be able to share this moment with all of them is really special and something I'll never forget.

"Through the highs and lows this week they're cheering me on and supporting me. They've been that way since I've started my pro career. It's awesome just hearing the chants every single hole and it definitely gave me a lot of energy.

"That's been the strength of my game for so long [following bogeys with strong shot-making]. I have a pretty short memory on and off the golf course. It works out well in golf. This week I just felt so relaxed and felt like my game was in a really good place."

The tournament has a new sponsor and is now called the Procore Championship. You would be forgiven to believing it is the first event of the new season. We have, after all, just had the Tour Championship. Not so. It is the first of what they are calling The FedEx Fall, which features seven tournaments that will finalise the top 125 players who will secure their PGA Tour cards for 2025 as well as those who will have special playing opportunities. 

This makes these events important to players such as Jorge Campillo, Ryan Fox, Thorbjorn Olesen and Alexander Bjork, who all gained PGA Tour cards as a result of their play on the DP World Tour in 2023. Fox should be safe but the others need a big finish if they are to have any chance of keeping their cards. So it comes as something of a surprise that all of them have chosen to give this tournament a miss.

Twenty-year-old Luke Clanton is a superstar in the making. We have already seen one amateur winning on the PGA Tour this season in Nick Dunlap and Clanton is widely perceived as being a better player. 

He is 20 years old and is the world’s top-ranked amateur.

In 2022, he won the Azalea Invitational and the North and South Amateur at Pinehurst. He also played at Pinehurst at the 2024 US Open, where he finished in a tie for 41st.

In July 2024, Clanton became the first amateur since 1958 to finish in the top-10 in back-to-back PGA Tour events - tied 10th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and joint runner-up at the John Deere Classic. He also finished fifth at the Wyndham Championship in August and is already ranked 140th in the world.

He has just been awarded the Mark H McCormack Medal.

Clanton plays college golf at Florida State University where he has won four times. 

Joel Dahmen has become a fan favourite after his appearance on the Netflix series Full Swing. The problem is that it coincided with a loss of form and confidence. Dahmen is widely accepted as being a golfer who underachieves. Last year he vowed to knuckle down after admitting that he struggles to find the motivation to practice.

He finished the regular season in 118th place in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 125 will retain their cards. That means Dahmen should be safe, but the Fall Series means he can still be caught. His best finish in 2024 was a tied 10th at the Canadian Open. In 22 starts he missed eight cuts. That is not the sort of form he was looking for.

He is not the only who will be unhappy with his season’s work. After a relatively disappointing campaign in 2024, Homa will be hoping that he can draw on some positive memories. He will surely be counting himself fortunate to have been given a captain’s pick by Jim Furyk for the forthcoming Presidents Cup.

He missed out on the Tour Championship and is currently 46th in the FedEx Cup standings. As things stand, that will get him into all the Signature Events in 2025 but he could still fall out of the top 50 so this is an important week for him. Victory on a course he adores will sort out business for him once and for all.

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2016 and 2017 by Brendan Steele, in 2018 by Kevin Tway, in 2019 by Cameron Champ, in 2020 by Stewart Cink, in 2021 and 2022 by Max Homa and last year by Sahith Theegala.

The Course:

Updated by Johnny Miller, the North Course at Silverado features pristine, tree-lined fairways, water crossings and deep bunkers that require accurate approaches. The par-72 layout measures 7,123 yards. Stewart Cink holds the tournament scoring record at 21 under par, achieved in 2020.

Form Guide:

Max Homa may have failed to make it to the Tour Championship but he is a two-time champion here and contended again 12 months ago. It would be a huge surprise if he is not in the final shakedown.

To Win:

Max Homa. Home from home

Each Way:

Luke Clanton. World-class

Each Way:

Nick Taylor. Point to prove after Presidents Cup snub

Five to Follow:

Max Homa. Adores this course

Luke Clanton. Amateur in name only

Nick Taylor. Class act

Wyndham Clark. Looking for big finish to the year

Sahith Theegala. Great memories

Five Outsiders to Watch:

Joel Dahmen. Needs a decent week

Daniel Berger. Looking for something special

Garrick Higgo. Huge hitter

Matt Kuchar. Has shown decent recent form

Kevin Streelman. Can make birdies for fun