USA TODAY International Edition
Cantlay wins Zozo with birdie- fest
Patrick Cantlay charged up the leaderboard on Sunday at the Zozo Championship and perhaps didn’t realize he had vaulted into the lead.
Golf Channel’s on- course reporter Notah Begay was following Cantlay and his group and mentioned a couple of times there’s a stretch on the back nine where there is not a scoreboard.
Cantlay had nine birdies in his final round, including three in a row on Nos. 13- 15. His 2 on the par- 3 15th was almost a 1, as his tee shot was dead- on the flagstick. His ball almost went into the hole on the second bounce. He then drained a left- to- right 10- footer to get to 24 under.
His lead went to three after a bogey by third- round leader Justin Thomas on the 15th hole.
Cantlay bogeyed the 16th but parred 17 and 18 to post a finalround 65 and then he had to wait.
Thomas couldn’t keep pace. He parred all three par- 5s on the back nine and bogeyed the par- 3 15th after he plugged his ball in deep grass on the rocky face short of the green.
Jon Rahm, playing in the final group with Thomas, also made a run, taking the outright lead with a birdie at 11, but he then gave two back with bogeys on 12 and 13. He later made birdie on 16 to get to 22 under to get within a shot of Cantlay.
Rahm needed a birdie on 18 to force a playoff in the PGA Tour tournament, but his 19- footer on the last was wide right. Thomas then made a birdie to forge a T- 2 finish with Rahm at 22 under.