Scheffler, Ryder Cup crew using Napa as tuneup

Field of 144 starts fall portion of PGA Tour schedule with Procore Championship.

- By Doug FERGUSON

TED SCOTT, Scottie Scheffler's caddie, shows a video to U.S. captain Keegan Bradley this week at the Procore Championship in Napa.

Scottie Scheffler was on the tee with three other Ryder Cup teammates during a practice round at the Procore Championship, a rare sight at a regular PGA Tour event in September.

His caddie, Ted Scott, was offering options on which club to hit and the best lines, along with information on the shape of the fairway and best place to miss. This happens all the time.

It can be easy to forget a tournament is at stake at Silverado Resort, now with 10 players from the U.S. Ryder Cup team, all of them within the top 25 in the world ranking, some of them having never been to the Procore Championship.

“I didn’t show up to Napa to talk about the Ryder Cup for four days,” Scheffler said Wednesday after his pro-am. “I’m here to play a golf tournament.”

But there is a reason to play, and that’s the Ryder Cup.

Xander Schauffele, who is home with a newborn son, suggested two months ago it was Scheffler who first began pushing for Ryder Cup players to avoid a mistake from two years ago when they went a month without competing before showing up outside Rome.