Cantlay triumphs at Shriners for first TOUR win

OVERVIEW
Potential New Year’s resolutions for Patrick Cantlay: Find a way to beat Bryson DeChambeau, and find a way to make it to the 2019 Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Australia, where Cantlay would play for the U.S. in a major international team competition for the first time as a pro.

The only surprise is that it hasn’t happened yet. His 60 at the 2011 Travelers Championship promised stardom, his career was nearly derailed by a back injury, and now he’s returned to the upper echelon in style. Cantlay finished a sporty runner-up to DeChambeau in his first PGA TOUR title defense at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November.

If the faces looked familiar in Las Vegas, they should have. Five months earlier, Cantlay led going into the back nine of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide  but suffered a late bogey to finish fourth. DeChambeau won in a playoff over Byeong Hun An and Kyle Stanley.

When you list the top 20-somethings on TOUR, it’s easy to forget about the quiet Cantlay, 26. DeChambeau is quirkier and has more wins than Cantlay, as do Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele. But Cantlay belongs in the conversation. He made 21 cuts in 23 starts last season, reached the TOUR Championship for the second straight year, and was 20th in the FedExCup.

After playing a reduced schedule in 2017, Cantlay is a regular threat to win and a relatively new resident of North Palm Beach, Florida, where during off-weeks you can find him at The Bear’s Club playing with peers like Thomas -- good company to keep. – By Cameron Morfit

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jon Rahm is victorious in a playoff at CareerBuilder

Image
OVERVIEW One of the goals for Jon Rahm, who turned 24 last month, will be to make this season less like last season and more like 2017. At least with respect to putting. Two seasons ago Rahm was one of the hottest players in golf as he was 48th in Strokes Gained: Putting and 2nd in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. He won the Farmers Insurance Open and pushed Dustin Johnson to the brink in the championship match of the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play. Rahm looked like a complete player. Last season that wasn’t the case, as he dropped all the way to 135th in SG: Putting while dropping just one spot to 3rd in SG: Off-the-Tee. As a result, Rahm went long stretches without popping up on any leaderboards. He finished fourth at the Masters but missed the cut at the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. Then he was back with a T4 at the PGA Championship. When the putter is hot or at least warm, Rahm remains dangerous. Although his performances were uneven in 2018, he p...
Read more

Henry 'Skip' Monge from Reno-Tahoe Tournament honored as 2018 PGA TOUR Volunteer of the Year

Image
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – Longtime Reno-Tahoe Tournament volunteer Henry “Skip” Monge was honored by the PGA TOUR at the TOUR’s Tournament Meetings on December 6 as the 2018 PGA TOUR Volunteer of the Year. Monge began volunteering at the Reno-Tahoe Tournament in 2004 as a marshal before moving into the position of hole captain. After a stint as both the front- and back-nine hole manager, he became the Marshal Chair, a post he has held since 2012. Since he took over as Marshal Chair, Monge increased the number of marshals from 80 to 185, personally recruiting and training new volunteers. While Monge lives in Arizona, he stays connected with his captains year-round. In addition to his role at the Reno-Tahoe Tournament, Monge has lent his time and talents to other PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, LPGA Tour and USGA events. “In the past 16 years, Skip has volunteered more than 6,500 hours for the PGA TOUR, and that's just ‘on-course’ hours,” said Chris Hoff, Tournament Director o...
Read more

Casey wins Valspar title

Image
OVERVIEW It took nearly nine years between PGA TOUR wins for Paul Casey, a drought he doesn’t intend to replicate. The 41-year-old veteran buried some demons on U.S. soil at the Valspar Championship last season, a feat more incredible given Tiger Woods was on of the closest pursuers. The raucous crowd was willing Woods home but they could not deter the Englishman, who posted a final-round 65 and watched as Woods and Patrick Reed failed to match him. It has now been four straight seasons with a TOUR Championship berth for Casey, where he has notched up 29 top-10s. But he knows he should have more wins. He led the Travelers Championship by four through 54 holes last season and dropped to a runner-up finish. As he gets closer to the end than the beginning of his career, he knows he must make more chances count. His fall series once again showed his consistency as he posted three top-25 finishes from as many starts to turn into the new year at 42nd in the FedExCup. As has been t...
Read more