Mike Mulholland

It was only two weeks ago that Viktor Hovland won the Tour Championship/FedEx Cup title in a runaway by five strokes over Xander Schauffele. Well, now we’re back, the PGA Tour starting anew with the FedEx Cup Fall at the Fortinet Championship. Players status in the 2024 FedEx Cup points race isn’t at stake this week in Napa, California, but there is plenty on the line as Joel Beall spelled out in this primer about the next seven tour events. For the first time the autumn events serve as their own stand-alone series, with FedEx Cup points from earlier in the year carrying over. Tour pros who finished outside the top 70 on the FedEx Cup points list will use these events to make sure they stay inside the top 125 at autumn’s end and keep their PGA Tour cards for 2024. And if those pros who finish the autumn between 61st and 70th in the points earn spots into the first two “signature” events of the 2024 tour season.

He may not be playing for a card, but Max Homa is playing for something pretty rare at Silverado this week. The 32-year-old will have the chance to win his third straight Fortinet title. This would make Homa the first golfer since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (in 2009-11) to win the same PGA Tour event three years in a row after down-to-the-wire victories over both Maverick McNealy in 2021 and Danny Willett in 2022. It’s also his chance to warm up before the Ryder Cup. He’ll be joined by fellow Americans Justin Thomas, captain Zach Johnson and vice-captain Stewart Cink.

Five golfers, along with Homa, in last season’s top 50 will tee it up in Napa this week. Cam Davis, Sahith Theegala, Andrew Putnam, Brendon Todd and Eric Cole are all looking to stay sharp during what is otherwise their “off-season”.

The winner will receive 500 FedEx Cup points and a $1.512 million share of the $8.4 million purse.

Tee times
First tee
9.55am Arjun Atwal, Derek Lamely, Paul Haley II
10.06am Dylan Frittelli, Wesley Bryan, DA Points
10.17am Ryan Palmer, DJ Trahan, David Lipsky
10.28am Erik van Rooyen, Garrick Higgo, Brian Gay
10.39am JJ Spaun, Chad Ramey Luke List
10.50am Lucas Herbert, Martin Laird, Andrew Landry
11.01am Patton Kizzire, Hank Lebioda, SH Kim
11.12am Kevin Tway, Jason Dufner, Henrik Norlander
11.23am Scott Piercy, Ryan Moore, Kevin Stadler
11.34am Ben Martin, Sangmoon Bae, Derek Ernst
11.45am Matt NeSmith, Sam Stevens, Austin Smotherman
11.56am Brandon Matthews, Trevor Werbylo, Ryan Gerard
12.07pm Hayden Springer, Fred Biondi, Preston Summerhays (a)
3.05pm Taylor Pendrith, Callum Tarren, MJ Daffue
3.16pm Austin Cook, Austin Eckroat, Zecheng Dou
3.27pm Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, Geoff Ogilvy
3.38pm Akshay Bhatia, Justin Thomas, Sahith Theegala
3.49pm Nick Hardy, Mackenzie Hughes, Cam Davis
4pm Stewart Cink, Brendon Todd, Lanto Griffin
4.11pm Jimmy Walker, Doug Ghim, Dylan Wu
4.22pm Eric Cole, Taylor Montgomery, Davis Thompson
4.33pm Cameron Percy, Robby Shelton, Vince Whaley
4.44pm Adam Long, Sam Ryder, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
4.55pm James Hahn, Mark Hubbard, Justin Lower
5.06pm Michael Gligic, Augusto Núñez, Brent Grant
5.17pm Devon Bling, Blake Hathcoat, Chase Sienkiewicz
10th tee
9.55am Sean O’Hair, Beau Hossler, Carson Young
10.06am Ricky Barnes, Kevin Yu, Harrison Endycott
10.17am Kevin Chappell, Will Gordon, Tyson Alexander
10.28am Max Homa, Cameron Champ, Joel Dahmen
10.39am Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar
10.50am KH Lee, Andrew Putnam, Zach Johnson
11.01am Kelly Kraft, Doc Redman, Andrew Novak
11.12am Chris Stroud, Kyle Stanley, Scott Brown
11.23am CT Pan, Jonathan Byrd, Greyson Sigg
11.34am Ryan Armour, Cody Gribble, Charley Hoffman
11.45am Satoshi Kodaira, Alex Noren, Matti Schmid
11.56am Carl Yuan, Trevor Cone, Kevin Roy
12.07pm Peter Kuest, Henry Chung, Morgan Deneen
3.05pm William McGirt, Brian Stuard, Max McGreevy
3.16pm Tommy Gainey, Matthias Schwab, Harry Hall
3.27pm Sung Kang, Peter Malnati, Ben Taylor
3.38pm Robert Streb, JB Holmes, Troy Merritt
3.49pm Chez Reavie, Tyler Duncan, Scott Stallings
4pm Nico Echavarria, Jim Herman, Richy Werenski
4.11pm Martin Trainer, Kevin Streelman, Stephan Jaeger
4.22pm Russell Knox, Zac Blair, Kramer Hickok
4.33pm Ted Potter, Jr, Chesson Hadley, Justin Suh
4.44pm Nate Lashley, Brice Garnett, Ben Crane
4.55pm SY Noh, Nick Watney, Harry Higgs
5.06pm Scott Harrington, Tano Goya, Kyle Westmoreland
5.17pm Tom Johnson, Cyril Bouniol, Jacob Bergeron