Patrick Cantlay tips his cap to the crowd after winning the Tour Championship golf tournament and the FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, in Atlanta.The Associated Press
Patrick Cantlay delivered the goods again, this time with a 6-iron instead of a putter.
“Patty Ice” was just as clutch with a US$15-million shot that allowed him to hold off Jon Rahm and win the FedEx Cup on Sunday.
In a tense duel with the world’s No. 1 player, Cantlay had a one-shot lead going to the par-five 18th hole at the Tour Championship when he hit 6-iron from 218 yards to just inside 12 feet that secured the biggest victory of his career.
“Felt like a huge win, and it was,” Cantlay said.
Rahm’s shot was equally special, landing next to the hole on its second bounce but rolling to the light rough beyond the green.
With Cantlay in close, the Spaniard had to hole the chip to have any chance of a playoff. He narrowly missed, and Cantlay safely two-putted for birdie and one-under 69.
The victory was worth US$15-million for Cantlay, a 29-year-old Californian whose rise in golf was slowed by a back injury that kept him out for three years and nearly ended his career.
Now he has stamped himself among the elite in golf, boosted by the FedEx Cup post-season.
Cantlay showed remarkable grit in surviving a six-hole playoff to beat Bryson DeChambeau in the BMW Championship last week to take the No. 1 seed and a two-shot lead to start the Tour Championship. He never flinched over four days at East Lake.
Rahm, who started the tournament four shots behind and went into the final day two back, never caught Cantlay. He never let him breathe easy, either.
Cantlay took a two-shot lead with an approach to six feet for birdie on the 17th hole, and then nearly lost it all. He drove to the right on the 17th, clipping a tree and dropping down into deep rough, and then hit a flyer over the green and the gallery. His pitch back to the green came up short and into more deep rough, and he had to make a six-footer to save bogey and stay ahead.
With Rahm well down the 18th fairway, Cantlay hit his best drive of the day, rolling out 361 yards that set up a 6-iron he felt he needed to hit close.
Rahm was bogey-free over the final 28 holes, but he only cashed in on two birdies. He closed with a 68 and tied with Kevin Na for the 72-hole score of the tournament at 14-under 266. They will split points toward the world ranking.
Cantlay started at 10-under par and finished at 21 under.
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., shot a 69 to finish at three under, in a tie for 22nd.
Rahm earned the US$5-million consolation prize for finishing second in the FedEx Cup, while Na (67) picked up US$4-million. Justin Thomas (70) birdied the last hole to finish fourth, which was worth US$4-million.
This was more than about money for Cantlay.
He won for the fourth time this season – one of those at the Memorial, when Rahm had to withdraw after building a six-shot lead after 54 holes because of a positive COVID-19 test result – and no one else won more than twice.
That figures to make him a front-runner for PGA Tour player of the year, with Rahm (U.S. Open title, No. 1 ranking) and Collin Morikawa (British Open, World Golf Championship title), also likely to be on the ballot.
Reid and Maguire give Europe 9-7 lead at Solheim Cup
TOLEDO, Ohio – Leona Maguire and Mel Reid arrived at Inverness last week as strangers. They’ll leave as good friends. Maybe with the Solheim Cup. The European duo helped the visitors take a 9-7 lead over the United States into Monday’s singles, combining to topple top-ranked Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing in alternate-shot play Sunday morning, then scrambling to tie Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette Salas in four-ball in the afternoon. Reid and Maguire crushed the struggling Korda and Ewing 5 and 4 – the biggest blowout of any of the opening 16 matches – then halved with Kupcho and Salas when Reid knocked it to three feet on the par-four 18th to pull even. Reid’s heroics came minutes after Kupcho chipped in from the fringe on the 17th to put the Americans in front. Reid, dealing with shooting pain in her right shoulder that required medical attention earlier in the round, responded by dropping a rainbow from the 18th fairway that bounced on the collar of a front greenside bunker before rolling to practically tap-in range. Europe is trying to win on U.S. soil for just the second time in the 31-year history of the event. This is the ninth time Europe has led going into the singles matches. The Europeans have won just four of the previous eight times they were in front after two days, the last in 2013 when they scored their lone road victory at Colorado Golf Club.