Much like the Hero World Challenge last December, the Procore Championship this month provided Scottie Scheffler with an ideal stage to show just how competitive the world number one truly is.
Of course, no one was surprised when Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship or The Open Championship. And those will be the kind of wins that everyone talks about when the 29-year-old’s career comes to an end.
But Scheffler winning the Procore Championship told its own story. It does not matter how prestigious the tournament is or how much prize money is on offer, the American has the motivation to win every time he tees it up.
Certainly, the victory sent out an ominous warning to the Europeans hoping to win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black next week. But the presence of the majority of Keegan Bradley‘s side also threw a spanner in the works for many PGA Tour players with their sights set on keeping their cards for 2026.
What Lanto Griffin told Scottie Scheffler’s wife after his victory at the Procore Championship
The trip to Napa marks the start of the charge to get inside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings. So while Silverado provided several Ryder Cup players with the opportunity to keep sharp before heading to New York, it also saw them eat up some valuable points for those further down the food chain.
You can certainly spare a thought for Lanto Griffin, who finished third behind Scheffler and Ben Griffin. It was enough to move the 37-year-old to 100th in the standings. But clearly, a victory would have had much larger implications for his career.
And speaking on Monday Q Info this week, Griffin shared what he told Meredith Scheffler shortly after her husband’s latest win.
“Scottie Scheffler’s set an unreal expectation of golf. What he’s doing right now is absurd. It’s insane. It’s pretty cool to watch, and he’s such a good dude,” he said.
“I told his wife, I did an interview Sunday after the round and I went over to her and I was like, ‘hey, I love Scottie and you guys are great, but I kind of wish you guys weren’t here’. And she laughed, she’s great. Great family, Scottie’s awesome. Obviously, we laughed about it, it was a joke.”
Lanto Griffin hits out at the upcoming changes to the PGA Tour
Griffin is likely to be one of the players who features in plenty of tournaments over the coming months as he looks to hold onto his full membership on the PGA Tour.
It was a controversial move to reduce the number of cards handed out. While the standard week-in, week-out may improve in time, it is hard to argue with those who feel that the PGA Tour is becoming more of a closed shop.
Unsurprisingly, Griffin confirmed that he is very much against the changes which are set to be made, and thinks some of those who have backed the proposals have lost sight of the challenges players face trying to reach the highest level.
“I completely disagree with making the tour smaller, I’ve been very outspoken, probably to a fault. It probably impacted me the last two years. This year, I got voted on the PAC, I didn’t want to go through the same frustration as I did last year, knowing the decisions are made and it’s just a formality,” he added.
“There are things with the changes that I do agree on. 156 player fields are tough. If you tee off first in Detroit at 6:45 am, you play in two hours and five minutes and then you’re waiting 15 minutes at the turn and then the whole back nine is really slow. I get that. I get some of the stuff.
“But going to a top 100 is just crazy to me. There’s so many good players and there’s so many guys that are at the top that are making some of these decisions right now that if the rules were five, six years ago, or even a couple of years ago, they’d be in trouble.”
The big problem is reducing the number of players who keep their cards while also keeping the signature events going. The majority of those outside the top 50 have a huge task on their hands to ensure that they remain on tour for the following year.
And the PGA Tour will eventually suffer, unless something changes, as it becomes more and more challenging for new stars to emerge.
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