Napa time: U.S. players will shake rust off
Procore will offset long break before Ryder Cup; Rose steps in when Fleetwood steps off
Keegan Bradley will direct, but not insist, his U.S. guys play in Napa (Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
In the aftermath of the resounding U.S. Cup Ryder Cup loss two years ago to Europe in Rome, there was plenty of blame-gaming and second-guessing going around.
Never mind that the U.S. team got subpar performances from some of its best players, including Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, that a “boys club’’ narrative took center stage and that there was even the backdrop of a “pay-for-play” drama involving Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
The U.S. team got whipped, and excuses were on full display.
One of them? That the American team, mostly, had too large of a layoff between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup, which took place five weeks after the FedEx Cup conclusion at East Lake.
The solution? Play a fall PGA Tour event to shake of the competitive rust.
And that is what is going to happen this year.
U.S. captain Keegan Bradley told Sports Illustrated last week that players on his team will compete at the Procore Championship in Napa, California — which is conveniently two weeks following the Tour Championship and two weeks prior to the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
“No one is required to go,” said Bradley, who defends his title this week at the BMW Championship, the last automatic qualifying event to make the team. “The boys feel like this is the best course of action to be ready to play at their highest level at Bethpage.”
The Procore Championship at the Silverado Resort is Sept. 11-14. It is the first of seven tournaments that are part of the PGA Tour’s fall series and an opportunity for those who missed the FedEx Cup playoffs to either secure a spot in next year’s signature events or secure their PGA Tour card for 2026. It is also open to any other exempt members of the PGA Tour.
Bradley would not say that the events of two years ago in Rome factored into the decision, but it clearly had to have some impact. He acknowledged nobody can do anything about the schedule.
“I think the guys want to feel ready to go at Bethpage (Sept. 26-28) and they feel this is the best way to do it,” he said.
After the United States lost 16½-11½ to Europe at Marco Simone Golf Club near Rome, captain Zach Johnson faced plenty of criticism about the team’s perceived lack of readiness.
Only Max Homa, Justin Thomas and Johnson — the non-playing captain — went to the Napa event. Nine members of the team took a quick scouting trip to Marco Simone in Italy less than two weeks before the competition, with only Jordan Spieth, Schauffele and Cantlay skipping. But that was not the same prep as tournament competition.
Interestingly, U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark added to the storyline when last year he said he noticed some rustiness himself.
“Last year it was realistically four weeks (break after the Tour Championship),” Clark said at the 2024 Procore Championship, reflecting on the Ryder Cup preparation. “And then by the time you pegged it up to play, it was the fifth week, so it’s five weeks. I mean, I would never prepare for a big event where I had five weeks off between one tournament to the next.”
Clark said he noticed the rust during the event and said his partner Homa did as well.
“Through four holes I said, ‘man, I’m sorry,’” Clark said. “Because I kind of was not playing good the first four holes. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not tournament sharp right now, I’ll get into it.’ Then eventually I started getting more comfortable.
“But for sure. I felt like a lot of us weren’t prepared.”
The Europeans have a month of options they could play leading into the Ryder Cup, with the entire team teeing it up two weeks prior at the BMW PGA Championship. The Irish Open, which is the week prior to Wentworth, is also a likely landing spot for European Ryder Cup team players who want to compete after the team is decided.
The six automatic qualifiers for Europe will be determined following the British Masters, Aug. 21-24, with Luke Donald’s captain’s picks to come a week later.
The U.S. automatic six will be decided after the BMW Championship next week, with Bradley making his picks on Aug. 27 following the Tour Championship.
Bradley’s own playing status remains in question at this point. The winner of the Travelers Championship in June, he tied for 30th at the Open by missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship and tied for 44th in Memphis on Sunday.
He’s still ranked among the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking but his status among the other contenders for one of the six at-large spots is tenuous when you consider all the possibilities in play.
Tommy Fleetwood gets another consolation handshake and hug from Justin Rose (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Rose steps up as Fleetwood falters … again
Once again it looked like Tommy Fleetwood would finally exorcise his ghosts on the PGA Tour. Once again, the hard-luck Englishman stumbled while those around him stepped up.
Fleetwood’s two-shot lead with three holes to play in the FedEx St. Jude Championship evaporated as fellow Englishman Justin Rose lit up the home stretch with four straight birdies and outlasted equally torrid U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun in a taught three-hole sudden-death playoff.
The 45-year-old Rose won for the 12th time on the PGA Tour — second only to Rory McIlroy among European players — with a birdie on the third playoff hole after Spaun missed his chance to extend the playoff.
It was Fleetwood’s to lose when he made his third birdie in four holes at 15 to take a two-shot lead at TPC Southwind. While the trio of major-winning chasers — Rose, Spaun and Scottie Scheffler — all made birdie on the par-5 16th, Fleetwood had to save a par. His chances already looked shaky as memories of his similar collapse in June at the Travelers Championship cropped up.
Spaun and Rose both caught his 16-under mark with birdies on 17, while Fleetwood made a sloppy bogey with a gruesome stroke on his 7-footer to try to save par. He didn’t come close to the making the birdie he needed to catch up on 18 and settled for T3 with Scheffler — Fleetwood’s 43rd top-10 PGA Tour finish without a victory.
“I’m obviously going to be disappointed,” Fleetwood said. “I think — I said last time — there’s a lot of positives to take, as much as I don’t really … I won’t feel like that right now. I’m just going to look at what I feel like I could have done and how close it was.
“All these experiences and these close calls, like I say, there’s no point in making or allowing them to have a negative effect on what happens next. What would be the point? It was a great week. I did a ton of good stuff, and as disappointed as I am, I have to try to find the strength to make it all a positive experience and hopefully next time go again, put myself in that position again and we just go again.
“You know, we move on. There’s another week that’s next and I’ve just got to reflect on today and obviously keep pushing forward and try and put myself in that position again.”
The playoff turned into a Ryder Cup singles preview between Rose and Spaun. Both players lipped out birdie chances on the first playoff hole, and then Rose had to make a clutch birdie to answer Spaun’s cross-green bomb that was reminiscent of his clinching putt at Oakmont in June.
With the hole location moved on the third pass at 18 in the playoff, both guys stuck approaches inside 10 feet. After Rose made his, Spaun failed to answer.
“It sucks to miss a seven-footer, but tricky read and pulled it a little bit,” said Spaun, who lost a playoff to McIlroy at the Players. “But yeah, I hung in there the best I could, and he beat me to the hole first. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
Rose delivers a knockout punch to J.S. Spaun in playoff (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Rose, who also lost a playoff to McIlroy at the Masters in April, didn’t let this chance get away from him as he played incredible golf with birdies on six of his last eight holes of regulation and two more in the playoff.
“That was an amazing last 90 minutes really,” Rose said. “Seemed to be the way it got this week. When I got myself a few back, something good would happen. Never stopped believing.
“The 6-iron I hit into 14 was a clutch shot; back right pin, had to hit the perfect golf shot in there. That set up the birdie that I needed just to give myself a chance. Played unbelievable golf coming down the stretch. I had so much fun with it. (No.) 18 was playing perfectly for me today. If I pulled it, I carried it, if I held it up — I hit a couple good putts in regulation and in the first playoff hole as well. Obviously J.J. dropped a bomb on me, I topped him. It was a lot of fun today.
“That’s why I practice. That’s why I play. I’ve been saying for some time now, obviously Augusta, when I bring my best, I know I’m good enough to play and to compete, and to now win against the best players in the world. Very gratifying day for me and a lot of hard work coming to fruition.”
Five players moved into the top 50 of the FedEx Cup to advance to the second playoff event this week in the BMW Championship at Cave’s Valley and — more importantly — secured guaranteed spots in all of the $20 million signature events in 2026.
Kurt Kitayama, Bud Cauley, Rickie Fowler, Jhonattan Vegas and J.T. Poston moved up into the last four spots, respectively, at Nos. 46-50 in FedEx Cup points. On the flip side, Jordan Spieth, Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Aldrich Potgieter and Jake Knapp all fell outside the top 50.