PGA Tour golf comes back to California’s wine country in three months as Procore Corporation returns for its second year as the presenting sponsor of the Tour’s Napa stop, at the famed Silverado Resort & Spa, September 8–14.
Practice rounds and pro-am events start tournament week off, Monday through Wednesday, 8–10 September, with competition rounds beginning on Thursday the 11th.
The tournament has a long and varied history, stretching back to 2007 over three venues (Scottsdale, Arizona’s, Grayhawk Golf Club; CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, California; and the current venue – Napa’s Silverado Resort & Spa) and three previous sponsors – Fry’s Electronics, Safeway, and Fortinet.
While the tournament’s spot in the PGA Tour calendar has remained fairly constant, its place in the scheme of things has not as the Tour veered from a calendar-year schedule to a split-year schedule and back again. Before the switch to a split-year schedule in 2013, this event’s early fall placement made it a post-Tour-Championship staple for newer players and fading veterans looking to boost their bank accounts while the big names took time off before the next year’s season opener in Hawaii. Starting in 2013 the event, as the Safeway Open, became the Tour’s season opener, and the awarding of FedEx Cup points boosted its appeal to players who wanted to get a jump on the year-long chase to the Tour Championship.
Previous sponsor Fortinet, an internet security firm, took over sponsorship from Safeway in 2021 with the openly admitted goal of possessing not only a prime venue in the heart of Northern California’s wine country, but THE prime spot in the PGA Tour schedule – the season opener.
Fortinet Senior VP Jim Overbeck was ambivalent, on the surface, about the change back to the calendar-year season when asked about it at a pre-tournament press conference in 2022, but the handwriting was on the wall, and the network security firm – who I always felt saw the tournament as a combination networking event and corporate party that just happened to have a golf tournament attached – pulled out of their deal with the PGA Tour and left the event’s local organizers scrambling for a presenting sponsor.
Current sponsor Procore, a construction management software company based in Carpinteria, California, is in the second-year of the two-year commitment they signed up for last year. Who knows where the event will go from here – but for now golf fans can once again look forward to enjoying good food, good wine, and world-class golf action at a handsome venue overlooked by the golden hillsides of the Napa Valley.
General admission tickets start at $55 per day and include access to PGA TOUR competition, all fan zones, and public viewing areas. Children 15 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult (up to four per adult). Daily parking is available for $25 and can be purchased in advance online.
For a $250 daily ticket, fans looking for an upgraded experience can elevate their day at the Redwood Club, an all-new VIP shared hospitality venue behind the 18th tee. Amenities include front-row seating, a hosted daily lunch, beer and wine service, a full cash bar for spirits, and upgraded restrooms.
Ticketing information for the tournament is available online at https://procorechampionship.com/tickets/, and if an up-close, behind-the-scenes PGA Tour experience is what you are looking for, check out volunteer opportunities at https://procorechampionship.com/Volunteer/.
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