Inevitably, Scheffler prevails in Napa
World No. 1 golfer overcomes Sunday deficit to Ryder Cup teammate
As Scottie Scheffler walked down the 18th fairway Sunday afternoon in Napa, one event volunteer asked another, “Do you think we need to wait for the final group?”
“There’s another group?” the volunteer replied.
At the Procore Championship in Napa, it was Scottie Scheffler and everyone else.
Heading into the final round, the debate wasn’t whether Scheffler would catch Ben Griffin, who held a two-stroke lead, but when. It happened on the 10th hole, when Scheffler, the top-ranked player in the world, nearly holed out for eagle with a wedge. After a Griffin three-putt on 14, Scheffler had the solo lead. Scheffler’s blistering long iron into 15, a long par 5, led to an up-and-down birdie and two-shot lead.
The inevitable prevailed when Griffin missed a birdie putt on the 18th, giving Sheffler his 13th PGA Tour victory over two seasons in the best run of golf since Tiger Woods.
“I kind of wish Scottie wasn’t here,” joked third-place finisher Lanto Griffin to a Golf Channel reporter after his final-round 65. The sentiment was different at a youth golf clinic Tuesday, when kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Napa Valley and First Tee North Coast programs recited lines about Scheffler from “Happy Gilmore.”
The Procore Championship, which returned to Napa in 2014, in recent years has been used to establish PGA Tour status of middling players for the next season. It is usually won by a journeyman veteran and or a young masher, not the clear-cut best player on the planet. Scheffler shot 5-under 67 on Sunday, finishing 19-under before the largest crowd since at least this event’s first iteration from 1968-80, when Jack Nicklaus won, according to several longtime volunteers.
Behind Scheffler in the final group, Ben Griffin birdied his first three holes to stretch his lead to three, but had just one birdie the rest of the day. Scheffler piped irons and woods down fairways and dissected green complexes using low wedges with bite.
In a few weeks, Griffin will join Scheffler on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. But these men are peers in title only. Griffin is a top-10 player, but was mostly an afterthought as fans began crowding the 18th green Sunday. It’s unknown how long Team USA will continue to use the Procore Championship as a preparation staging for the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, bringing top-10 players to Napa as a byproduct of the calendar.
Had Ryder Cup players not been in the field, Lanto Griffin would likely be celebrating a career-altering victory. Instead, he settles for moving up the FedEx Cup rankings.
Perhaps Scheffler’s most impressive shot Sunday came on the winding 5th hole, where his 328-yard drive plopped between groves of trees into the middle of the fairway, and led to birdie. His one blemish came on a three-putt bogey at the par-3 11th.
Otherwise, a masterclass.
Scheffler’s long iron off the 14th tee never left the centerline of the fairway, fighting any breeze or doubts about professional golf being firmly in the grips of a 29-year-old Texan. Scheffler whistled a long iron into the 15th green to stretch the lead to two.
By then, a crowd three deep had formed around 18. Most of the volunteers lined the fairway. Scheffler retained a one-stroke lead with steady pars on 17 and 18, but on the par-5 18th he missed his first fairway Sunday and found a right bunker. He laid up onto the fairway, pitched and two-putted for par, leaving Ben Griffin one back.
Griffin’s second shot into 18 settled on the back of the green, leaving a lengthy eagle putt for the outright win. He came up 5-feet short, and missed that for a playoff.
Scheffler’s 19th title on the PGA Tour matches Ben Crenshaw, Ernie Els and Tom Watson. It was also Scheffler’s first PGA Tour victory in California, an oddity he “had no idea” about after Sunday’s round. “I think y’all’s job is to try to find something to write about, which is a good thing for me. I try to stay out of it.”
The golf world, on the other hand, is all-in.