THE RISE OF A STAR
Before Sunday, golf fans knew who Patrick Cantlay was. Now, they know him. There’s a difference. Names and faces blend and disappear. Identity grows from a characteristic, a snapshot, a moment.
For Cantlay, pick any one of the putts at the BMW Championship that, if missed, would have left him behind Bryson DeChambeau. Instead, he made them all with the same expressionless panache that has taken him up and down and back up again.
Thanks to 24 holes of golf played at Caves Valley near Baltimore but really on Everest, Cantlay is no longer a solid, Top 10-ish player with vague promise. His victory over DeChambeau — the fifth of his career and his PGA Tourleading third of the season — changed all that. In one long day, he went from vanilla to Patty Ice.
A golf-starved, well-lubricated crowd spent Sunday hassling DeChambeau and falling in with Cantlay, whose visible emotions run the gamut from A to B. When Cantlay drilled yet another healthy birdie putt, on playoff hole No. 6, he shook his fist faintly.
DeChambeau missed his 11-footer. He and Cantlay exchanged an instant handshake, and Cantlay mouthed, “Thank you,” at his new fan club, even gesturing for volume.
As duels go, this might have triggered the most chatter since Tiger Woods held off Bob May at the 200 PGA Championship. Amy Alcott, the LPGA Hall of Famer, told Jamie Mulligan, Cantlay’s coach, that she couldn’t remember a better day of golf.
“It’s the most fans they’ve let into a tournament since COVID-19,” Mulligan said, “and the cool thing was, none of them left.”
For Patrick’s dad Steve, it
brought back memories of the 2011 U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills, when his 19-year-old son, Servite High graduate and UCLA alum played a grinder with Russell Henley. Henley was up by two with two holes to go when Cantlay chipped in on 17. On the first playoff hole, Cantlay drilled an eagle putt, then had to smile when Henley did, too. The two fist-bumped, and Cantlay won on the next hole.
Cantlay is now ranked a career-high fourth in the world and clinched a spot on the Ryder Cup team. He carded 31 birdies in 72 holes. He ran home 20 putts of 10 feet or more, the most since the PGA Tour adopted Shotlink in 1999, and he also had the best strokes-gained-putting number (14.577) since it became an official stat in 2004.
He even squeezed out a bogey when his tee shot got wet on the 17th hole, as DeChambeau stubbed a chip in Media Day fashion and wound up with a bogey, too.
Had Cantlay missed that
15-footer he would have trailed DeChambeau by two shots with one hole left. On the way to the 18th green DeChambeau removed his cap and acknowledged the cheers, like a winner. But Cantlay rolled in a 21-footer and DeChambeau missed from 12.
Cantlay kept doing things like that, shrugging off DeChambeau’s 30-yard driving superiority, even using an iron on a driveable par-4 and making the same birdie DeChambeau did.
“Jamie has always told Patrick to get into his own thing,” said Steve Cantlay, who was taking younger son Jack on a recruiting trip to San Diego State on Sunday before Patrick began launching torpedoes.
“He’s always prided himself on not succumbing to pressure. When you get into the car, when you walk onto the tee, you’re only concerned with what you’re doing. And it was exemplified because Bryson is definitely different from everybody else.”
DeChambeau’s frustration erupted on his final walk to the clubhouse when a fan, according to ESPN.com, yelled something about Brooks Koepka, DeChambeau’s willing antagonist.
DeChambeau turned to rush the fan, yelling vulgarities, and was held back.
The 2020 U.S. Open champion needs to figure out an algorithm for emotional control. He snapped at Cantlay on the 14th hole for walking too close while DeChambeau was addressing the ball. He has taken on club manufacturers, rules officials and sound technicians. He also has fired his caddie and is now boycotting the media.
He had a 60 at Caves Valley on Friday and became the first pro to shoot 261 for 72 holes and fail to win, on a course that he might as well have designed himself.
“Patrick and I were texting earlier and he said this was the best bombers’ course he’d ever seen,” Steve Cantlay said. “You couldn’t get into trouble driving the ball. That really doesn’t favor him. But the greens were bent grass, which he loves.”
“He’s 27th in strokes-gainedputting on tour,” Mulligan said, “and we think it can be better.”
Golf fans aren’t strung out on stats. They’re into moments. This was Cantlay’s audition to land the part of “Patty Ice” and he stuck it. Then again, he’s well-rehearsed.