Matt Cooper has two selections for the final round of the Procore Championship and expects the cream to rise to the top.
Golf betting tips: Procore Championship final round
4pts Scottie Scheffler at 6/4 (General)
2pts Sahith Theegala & Mackenzie Hughes to win their two-balls at 2.6/1 (Ladbrokes)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
It’s almost certainly a four-horse race in California’s wine valley as the PGA Tour’s Fall Series and Team USA’s final Ryder Cup warm-up nears the final sip.
The two-time winning, breakout star of 2025, Ben Griffin, leads the Procore Championship on the North Course at the Silverado Resort with a 54-hole total of 16-under 200. He’s one clear of the amateur star Jackson Koivin, two ahead of Scottie Scheffler, and three to the good of Garrick Higgo. Austin Eckroat, Emiliano Grillo, Mackenzie Hughes and Lanto Griffin share fifth on 10-under so they need to both go low and hope the leading quartet struggle in the final round.
Griffin, who has 15 top 20 finishes this season, including 10 in his last 12 starts, gave the chasers hope on the 54th hole with a bogey-6.
The 29-year-old is currently playing with the freedom of a guy who quit tour golf, got himself an office job, was gifted a second crack on tour, has taken it with both hands, and hasn’t lost perspective. “Someone asked me if I was frustrated,” he said after a third round of 70. “Definitely not. Having a one-shot lead on the PGA TOUR going into Sunday and my game feels great, so I can’t complain at all.”
He found it a straightforward exercise to rationalise and deal with that late bogey. “It was a little funky,” he explained. “I hit a pretty good third shot and I think the wind kind of switched. It got smoked and left me in a really tough spot to get up and down. It happens. I knew I was going to make a bogey at some point in my life, just so happened on 18. I’ll be just fine going into tomorrow.”
Nor is he overawed by the prospect of being chased by the World No. 1 and with good reason. “It’s not the first time it’s happened,” he said. “In the Charles Schwab Challenge he was in the group or two behind me and ultimately I won. So I know I can do it. Not too worried about what he’s going to do, I’ve just got to play better than him, and if I do that tomorrow, should be able to lift the trophy.”
Scheffler opened his account for the week with a round of 70 which for most folk would be a solid start. Alas, for a man setting absurdly high standards it was something of a bodge job – in fact, it was his first failure to break 70 in 21 rounds, a run that extends back into June. He’s made up for that since with laps of 68 and 64 to ease himself into contention.
Speaking of his response to the slow start to the week he said: “If I go out and play good consistent golf, I’m going to start moving my way up the leaderboard and that was the goal going into today.” He also repeated the words we always hear when the tour is in California and playing on poa annua grass greens: “It’s always challenging putting on afternoon poa, the ball has a tendency to move around.”
Scheffler is not the only World No. 1 on Griffin’s heels because Koivin is currently leading the World Amateur Golf Rankings and just last week he won three points from four matches in the Walker Cup including two comprehensive victories over Great Britain and Ireland’s top ranked Tyler Weaver in the singles.
The 20-year-old has played the course before and knows Nick Dunlap who was, early in 2024, the last amateur to find success on the PGA Tour. Of that performance he said, in rather convoluted fashion: “Definitely might want to go watch his rerun and see what he did.”
The South African Higgo has been a rum figure on the PGA Tour, registering just six top 10s in 103 starts but two of those were wins: his second start (the 2021 Palmetto Championship) and this year’s Corales Puntacana Championship.
After his round he admitted: “My putting has carried me most of my life, so it’s nice when I do putt well because I feel like I have less pressure going into the greens, kind of frees me up.” But he also echoed Scheffler’s point in adding: “These greens get a little bumpy and they weren’t too great on the last couple of holes.” His effort so far this week is a significant improvement on his career record on Californian poa.
Who back in the outright then? Griffin’s mindset is to be admired but SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER edges it on price. The pair are matched at 6/4 with Koivin 7/2 and Higgo 20/1. The World No. 1’s consistency will ask questions of the others. If they can better him, well played, but their prices are not attractive enough to back them to do so.
In the two-balls, we’ll kick off with SAHITH THEEGALA who’s appalling summer form has been turned round by a return to a state, and a course, that he enjoys. It’s more than that, however. He’s injury-free for the first time in months and he opened his account for the week with 68-70 before stalling with a 75. He’s finished top 20 in four of his five Silverado starts, including victory in 2023, and he’s up against Ricky Castillo. Getting evens confirms the pick.
We’ll add another consistent Silverado performer in MACKENZIE HUGHES. Generally speaking Sunday can be a tricky test here and he’s hung in well in the past. He was fourth last year and T13 on debut in 2016. He’s up against Lanto Griffin who has just once top 60 finish (T17) in five course starts. Hughes has five top 60s in seven starts. We can get 4/5 on Hughes in this final round. The double pays 2.6/1.
Posted at 1045 BST on 14/09/25
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