We’re baaaaaaacckkk …. well, at least for one week. The FedEx Cup Fall begins on Thursday with the Procore Championship, but it’ll have a much different look and feel this year with 10 of the 12 U.S. Ryder Cup team members teeing it up. Will it be a simple team-bonding experience / tune-up for Bethpage, or are some of those guys in Napa to win?
A few of our experts believe it’s the latter. That the likes of Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley and Ben Griffin aren’t just at Silverado to sip on some wine and break bread. If that’s the case, we could have a very interesting Sunday leader board on our hands that might have your eyes wandering from NFL Week 2 and over to Golf Channel in primetime.
The Golf Digest betting panel is comprised of a tour coach reporting anonymously from the grounds of Silverado Resort, Pat Mayo of Underdog/Mayo Media Network, Brandon Gdula of numberFire/FanDuel, Andy Lack of the Inside Sports Network, your two authors and Keith Stewart, the CEO of Read The Line. Stewart, our newest member of the panel, is our new betting content partner as well.
Scroll down for our complete betting analysis of the 2025 Procore Championship:
Procore Championship picks 2025: Our Experts’ Outright Predictions
Anonymous Swing Coach of the Week: Russell Henley (16-1, FanDuel) — I love Russell Henley. Shot-maker and great short game. This is an interesting and quirky course to get around. Love him here.
Pat Mayo, Underdog/Fantasy National, Mayo Media Network analyst: Akshay Bhatia (35-1, FanDuel) — Akshay has started to increase his distance in favor of some accuracy which is fine at Silverado as hitting fairways is hard as is, but not penal. Even with the USA Ryder Cup squad in the field, his approach play still rates out among the best in the field long and short term, he was simply held back by his putting to close the PGA Tour season. He’s been inside the top 30 in every event since the Open despite losing strokes to the field in the greens in six of his final eight starts. This doesn’t match his long-term success with the flat stick. Even with the putting disaster the past three months he’s still gaining .025 SG/putts/per round over his past 100. Hopefully the mini break in play gave him a hard reset, and he gets back to his old ways in Napa.
Brandon Gdula, FanDuel/numberFire managing editor: Ben Griffin (25-1, FanDuel) — Ryder Cupper Ben Griffin has the potential to earn a win in the fall. He’s operated with the sixth-highest strokes gained ceiling in the field over everyone’s last 50 rounds, and he’s a putting regression candidate, too.
Keith Stewart, PGA, Read The Line: Ben Griffin (28-1, BetMGM) — Ben Griffin got a huge boost from Captain Keegan Bradley. An invite to Bethpage, and I believe Griffin’s confidence will increase in Napa. Four top-12 finishes in his last four events won’t hurt either. The Carolina kid is great with a wedge and his putter. Ben can avoid bogeys and seemingly score at will. While many of the Cup competitors will be looking ahead, Griffin might just grab one more trophy in 2025.
Stephen Hennessey, Golf Digest managing editor: Max Homa (66-1, BetRivers) — The whole Ryder Cup team is here. Homa should be motivated to get back in the conversation. We know he plays some great golf in California, and at these odds, it’s worth banking on the possibility some of his swing work has clicked over the past few weeks of off time.
Christopher Powers, Golf Digest senior writer: Maverick McNealy (28-1, BetMGM) — The man who narrowly missed out on the U.S. Ryder Cup team now has to play in a literaly U.S. Ryder Cup team bonding event. If that doesn’t light a fire inside of you, I’m not sure what does. Helps that he’s coming off a third at the BMW and has a runner-up finish in Napa to his name, too.
Andy Lack, Inside Sports Network: Patrick Cantlay (18-1, FanDuel) — Patrick Cantlay started to play some great golf to end the season, including an impressive performance at the Tour Championship. Now he travels to an easy golf course that emphasizes wedge play and putting, which is a very similar course fit model to where he has performed admirably in the past— TPC Summerlin, Pebble Beach, and Detroit Golf Club being great examples.
Past results: We now have 12 individual victories in 2025 after our tour coach’s fifth outright winner this season (Scottie Scheffler).
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Procore Championship picks 2025: Sleepers/Dark Horses Who Could Win
Tour coach: Cameron Champ (125-1, BetRivers) — Won here before. Showed some signs of resurgence last year and is trending in the right direction.
Mayo: Rico Hoey (100-1, FanDuel) — Of note, historically awful putter Rico Hoey as switched to a broom stick starting this week. It’s impossible to get worse on the greens, and we’ve seen the switch work for a slew of a terrible putters in the past (Webb, Scott, Akshay). Hoey has everything else: second in SG/tee-to-green, second in SG/off-the-tee and third in SG/approach over the past four months of all players in this field. It’s basically Scottie and Hoey. So, any improvement with the flat stick could vault him up the leaderboard quickly.
Gdula: Jackson Koivun (55-1, FanDuel) — Koivun enters with three top-12s in his last three PGA Tour starts and was a key contributor on the U.S.’s Walker Cup win. He’s been a lights-out putter and a great driver in a limited ShotLink sample.
Stewart: Patrick Fishburn (100-1, FanDuel) — Peaking in the fall once again, Patrick Fishburn is poised to improve on his third-place finish at the Procore a year ago. Fishburn’s strength is the putter and his approach play. The driver can go a little wayward, but with his length, Patrick can scale back and hit more fairways than shorter players off the tee. He used this formula in 2024, and his recent form proves he can do it again. Fishburn has two top-eight results in his last four starts.
Hennessey, Golf Digest: Sahith Theegala (125-1, FanDuel) — Another California kid at great odds trying to get back to his old ways. Sahith’s a former winner here and will know this is good of a chance as any to find the winner’s circle.
Powers, Golf Digest: Emiliano Grillo (100-1, Bet365) — Take out the opening playoff event, where Grillo uncharacteristically lost over six strokes on approach, and you’ll see that the Argentinian had a really nice stretch between early April and late July that featured six top 25s in nine starts. Now he kicks off the fall swing at a place he’s won at in the past, which should come as no surprise as Silverado prioritizes accuracy off the tee and strong iron play.
Lack: Davis Thompson (55-1, FanDuel) — Davis Thompson is coming off an 11th in his last appearance at the Wyndham Championship where he gained strokes in all four major categories, and now he returns to a golf course where he already owns a ninth and 30th in both of his appearances. Thompson is significantly improving as an iron player and is already a great driver of the ball.
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Procore Championship picks 2025: Players We’re Fading
Tour coach: Max Homa (40-1, Caesars Sportsbook) — Homa has been doing some nice work and the swing is looking better, but I think he’s overvalued here as the field to me is tougher than normal with all the U.S. Ryder Cup team members playing.
Mayo: Max Homa (40-1, Caesars Sportsbook) — No thanks.
Gdula: Patrick Cantlay (18-1, FanDuel) — Cantlay has had a higher ceiling in small fields of late, but we’re back to 144, and he takes a backseat to the other favorites in terms of high-end output. He’s also a subpar putter from within 15 feet since the start of last season and seems to be getting hot on longer putts.
Stewart: Justin Thomas (16-1, Bet365) — There is a lot of Ryder Cup pressure on Justin Thomas. Of all the United States players, JT might get caught looking ahead, and the U.S.’s emotional team leader tends to miss fairways. That’s a recipe for trouble at Silverado. Justin’s reliable approach acumen has also escaped him lately, losing strokes with his irons in his last two starts. Truthfully, I don’t blame him for looking ahead, and that’s 100 percent why I won’t tail him this week.
Hennessey, Golf Digest: Justin Thomas (16-1, Bet365) — You need some driving accuracy to succeed at Silverado. That’s not JT’s foray.
Powers, Golf Digest: Collin Morikawa (18-1, Bet365) — This course should serve as the perfect get-right spot for Morikawa, especially after some time off. But it’s tough to shake the fact that he has just one top 10 since the Players and is still priced among the elites.
Lack: Harris English (25-1, DraftKings) — As much I believe in Harris English’s ability to win any golf tournament, this is simply a terrible price for the former Torrey Pines winner. English is playing decent golf, but his approach play is still a major concern to me. I will simply not be subscribing to below 30-1 on a player in this field in such shaky approach form.
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Procore Championship picks 2025: Matchups
Tour coach: Davis Thompson (-110) over Max Homa (FanDuel) — Thompson the far better long-term player in this matchup and should probably be a much bigger favorite.
Mayo: Keith Mitchell (-105) over Michael Thorbjornsen (Coolbet) — Distance trumps overall tee-to-green consistency at Silverado.
Gdula: Davis Thompson (-110) over Max Homa (FanDuel) — Thompson has a +0.77 strokes gained per round advantage over Homa over the last six months, per datagolf, and he is by far the better tee-to-green player in that span (+1.19 strokes per round).
Stewart: Sam Burns (-120) over Collin Morikawa (Bet365) — Sam Burns is the best putter in the field and one of the best wedge players. He’s played in the Procore a couple of times, and his most recent finish was seventh. Collin Morikawa has admittedly been through a bunch of changes in 2025. Much like JT, he also has a ton of Ryder Cup pressure on him. With no top 10s since June at the Rocket, I’m sticking with Sam and a better skill set for success at Silverado.
Hennessey, Golf Digest: Patrick Cantlay (-105) over Justin Thomas (FanDuel) — I’ll go with the Cali kid over the inaccurate driver in this Ryder Cup matchup.
Powers, Golf Digest: Mark Hubbard (-110) over Matt McCarty (DraftKings) — Hubbard has finished 21st or better in Napa in four of his last six trips. As for McCarty, this is his Silverado debut. I’ll lean on the exeprience here.
Lack: Patrick Cantlay (-125) over Cameron Young (DraftKings) — This is an easy one, as I am getting my pick to win over a player I will have no exposure to in Cameron Young. I simply believe that this is a much better fit for Patrick Cantlay, who has far better experience in less than driver wedge-heavy putting contests with extremely easy scoring conditions.
Matchup Results from the Tour Championship: Tour coach: 1 for 1 (Gotterup (+100) over Bhatia); Mayo: 1 for 1 (Spaun (-110) over Matsuyama); Hennessey: 0 for 1; Powers: 0 for 1; Stewart: 0 for 1; Gdula: 0 for 1
Matchup Results from this season (Wins-Losses-Pushes): Lack: 17-14-1 (up 1.66 units); Tour coach: 15-14-2 (up 1.21 units); Hennessey: 17-16-1 (down 0.76 units); Powers: 16-17-1 (down 1.62 units); Mayo: 14-17-2 (down 2.37 units); Stewart: 14-19-1 (down 5.55 units); Gdula: 12-20-2 (down 9.48 units)
Procore Championship picks 2025: Top 10s
Tour coach: Jackson Koivun (+450, Caesars Sportsbook) — Coming off a solid and victorious Walker Cup, this kid’s as ready for big time as any. Really good field here but I like his odds and chances to get a payout in the top 10.
Mayo: Jackson Koivun (+450, Caesars Sportsbook) — Closed the year with no finish worse than T-11 in any of his final three starts. The entire game is there to contend, but to actually win? We’ll see. Getting into contention consistently is the first part of actually crossing the finish line.
Gdula: Patrick Fishburn (+650, FanDuel) — Fishburn has two top 10s and three top 20s in his last five starts and is getting there with some great putting and a lot of fairways hit. The irons can spike, and he was third here a year ago, as well.
Stewart: Jackson Koivun (+450, Caesars Sportsbook) — Just about 160 miles southwest of the Silverado Resort sits the Cypress Point Club, host of the 50th Walker Cup matches. The No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, Jackson Koivun, went 3-1 over the weekend and displayed an amazing skill set prepared for the PGA Tour. Cypress forces you to keep the ball in play and use your wedges. Combine that with a match play mindset for aggressive scoring, and what better way to get ready for the Procore. Winning is a tall task, but these young guns have proven that when they are playing well, contending is no problem.
Hennessey, Golf Digest: Maverick McNealy (+230, DraftKings) — I could get behind a Mav outright, and I could certainly get behind a top 10 from another Ryder Cup snub.
Powers, Golf Digest: Rico Hoey (+650, Caesars Sportsbook) — As Pat already mentioned, maybe only Scottie Scheffler has hit the ball better over the last several months than Hoey has in this field. But the putter has been a disaster. Let’s ride the broomstick to a slump-ending top 10 winner.
Lack: Sam Burns (+200, FanDuel) — Sam Burns has been playing some great golf of late, with recent top-10 finishes to end the season at the BMW Championship and Tour Championship. Now he travels to a golf course that heavily accentuates wedge play and putting, two major positives for Burns.
Top-10 results from the Tour Championship: Stewart: 1 for 1 (Cameron Young +160); Mayo: 1 for 1 (Tommy Fleetwood –125); Everybody else: 0 for 1
Top-10 results from this season: Gdula: 11 for 34 (up 19.3 units); Tour coach: 8 for 31 (up 13.3 units); Lack: 10 for 33 (up 13.1 units); Stewart: 12 for 34 (up 10.15 units); Hennessey: 7 for 33 (up 6.5 units); Mayo: 8 for 34 (up 10.67 units); Powers: 0 for 34 (down 34 units)
About our experts
Pat Mayo is an award-winning video host and producer of long and short-form content, and the host of The Pat Mayo Experience daily talk show. Mayo helped create the golf stats and research website Fantasy National along with the Race for the Mayo Cup One and Done contest. Mayo won the 2022 Fantasy Sports Writing Association Daily Fantasy Writer of the Year and is a finalist for three FSWA Awards in 2023 (Best Podcast, Daily Fantasy Writer of the Year, Golf Writer of the Year). His 27 FSWA nominations lead all writers this decade and are second-most all-time. Follow him on Twitter: @ThePME.
Brandon Gdula, managing editor and analyst for numberFire, a FanDuel daily-fantasy analysis company, recently won the 2018 FSWA Golf Writer of the Year. Gdula also co-hosts the DFS Heat Check podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @gdula13.
Keith Stewart is a five-time award-winning PGA professional, a betting contributor for Golf Digest and founder of Read The Line, the premier on-site live golf betting insights service covering the LPGA and PGA TOUR. Subscribe to Read The Line’s weekly newsletter here and raise your golf betting acumen. Keith’s winning content can also be found on Sports Grid, Bleacher Report and The Sporting News. Follow him on Twitter @readtheline_.
Andy Lack is a PGA Tour writer and podcaster from New York City who now resides in Los Angeles. Andy is the founder and CEO of Inside Sports Network, a website devoted to the predictive quality of advanced analytics and golf course architecture. He came to Golf Digest’s betting panel after previously writing for Run Pure Sports, RickRunGood.com, the Score and GolfWRX. In his free time, Andy can likely be found on a golf course. Follow him on Twitter: @adplacksports.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
