Patrick Cantlay Steals The BMW Championship From Bryson DeChambeau With The Greatest Putting Performance In PGA Tour History
What an incredible tournament. Caves Valley may have been scoreable (nobody finished over par), but you cannot deny the way it provided fireworks in the form of a 2-man battle between two of the world's Top 10 players.
This was Bryson DeChambeau's tournament, through and through. Cantlay was already down 1 when he rinsed his tee shot on the 71st hole. Bryson had a relatively routine up and down for par to put the pressure on Cantlay and extend the lead, and he duffed the chip to open the window for Cantlay. A huge bogey save by Cantlay and a BDC miss later, the 1-shot deficit remained.
From there Cantlay needed to make something happen. He did that in a MASSIVE way by burying a 21 footer on 18 for birdie.
Bryson had a look for birdie and the win himself, but he missed way below the hole and we were off to a playoff. Again, Cantlay made magic. The up and down to save par on the 1st playoff hole is one of those shots that you can't really explain to a non-golfer just how good that shot is. Having spent a good amount of time around that hole this week, I can tell you just how steep that green comes off that left side. Such thievery.
The way these two continued to trade punches was exhilarating. Both of them were nails off the tee on 18. The club twirl by Bryson was electric. Somehow, the subsequent miss was too. Bryson finally showed a chink in the armor off the tee on 18 on the 4th extra hole, and made par anyway. The darts they threw on 17 on the 5th playoff hole were awesome too. It was tremendous theater, and I'm thrilled we got to see it here in the Baltimore area.
The way Cantlay putted in the clutch was just a microcosm of how he putted all week. The guy couldn't miss. All things considered, he was pretty ordinary everywhere else. That's the kind of stones you want to see a few weeks before a Ryder Cup. Just knowing a guy can bury a putt from anywhere puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the opposition in match play golf. Cantlay was always going to make this Ryder Cup team, but he solidified his position today as a guy that's gonna be out there for every session.
Hopefully the PGA Tour looks at this tournament and the way Baltimore showed out this week. I had a fantastic time out there and I think the crowd brought a ton of energy on Sunday. Would love to see an event come to Caves every few years. Even if the scoring was incredibly low, it's tough to argue that this wasn't a home run of an event.
Congrats to Patrick Cantlay on his 5th PGA Tour win. Guy is gonna win a lot more before he's done. Should be set up for an awesome finish to the FedEx Cup next week at East Lake. Can't wait.