The biggest winner at the Procore Championship?
One could argue that it wasn’t Scottie Scheffler but rather Lanto Griffin.
For Scheffler, his victory in Napa, in what was merely a Ryder Cup tune-up, marked his sixth of the year. But for the 37-year-old Griffin, he closed in 7-under 65 Sunday to finish solo third and subsequently vault 42 spots in FedExCup points, to No. 100 on the dot.
This is significant, of course, because for the first time ever, only the top 100 finishers in points after the fall will retain full PGA Tour status. Griffin failed to keep his card last year and needed to medal at Q-School last December just to hold onto his full-time job. With six tournaments remaining – Griffin is hopeful to now qualify for the limited-field Baycurrent Classic in Japan – he has greatly improved his chances of remaining on the PGA Tour.
“Obviously, you want to win,” Griffin said, “but keeping your job – went to Q-School last year and somehow won, kind of extended the life, and this week, it all came together. Came up a little bit short. Kind of wish Scottie wasn’t here, but I know all the fans enjoyed it. Just proud of myself…
“Still got a lot of work to do this fall, but this a good little boost, a reminder that I’m still pretty good.”
Griffin had posted only one top-10 finish before Procore, a T-9 at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January. He experienced a rough spell starting in March, missing eight of nine weekends. That stretch included a withdrawal from the Corales Puntacana Championship after Griffin’s body “completely locked up,” he says; Griffin had back surgery in July 2022.
Griffin’s physical issues stemmed from lack of weight training, and swing wise, Griffin says, he was working hard on the wrong things. So, in late May, he began seeing both instructor Todd Anderson, whom he’d worked with before, and performance coach Alex Bennett, both based out of TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where Griffin lives.
It took until a few weeks after his T-23 at Wyndham for Griffin to feel comfortable with his game.
“My work ethic hasn’t changed,” Griffin said. “I kind of went down the wrong path, and it went backwards. … It’s crazy when you work on some wrong stuff, it actually feels so wrong to do it right.”
The next fall event, the Sanderson Farms Championship, isn’t until after the Ryder Cup, which begins a week from Friday.
Here’s a look at other players who, like Griffin, are around the top-100 bubble and will enter that event with some momentum:
Rico Hoey: Tied for ninth in Napa, his sixth top-12 finish of the year, to go from No. 106 to No. 91. He finished No. 86 in points last season as a rookie, and despite ranking second on Tour in strokes gained tee to green, his putter (165th) has him fighting to keep his card.
Isaiah Salinda: The rookie climbed from No. 104 to No. 97 after tying for 13th at Procore. He was No. 64 in points after his T-8 at the Zurich Classic, but he hadn’t had anything better than T-35 since until Napa.
Ricky Castillo: Another rookie, whose T-30 finish at Procore bumped him from No. 116 to No. 113; not much, but he’s now further inside that top 125, which will at least ensure conditional status.
