With a word from The Bear, Cantlay seals the deal

By Rahul Banerji

A well-bred stayer likes a controlled race. Running over two miles and more, it is important to be a good judge of pace. And a good stayer is there at the end, not necessarily winning but in and around the frame at the finish.

In some ways, Patrick Cantlay’s season has followed that script. A series of eight top 10 finishes had made him the most consistent finisher behind Rory McIlroy, and the 27-year-old from Long Beach finally put it all together to hit the tape ahead of everyone else at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday.

A few sage words of advice on how to pace the home run came from 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus who has long followed Cantlay’s career.

“I was having lunch after the early morning round on Friday, and he grabbed me aside and said, you need to go out there, have a good time,” Canltay said of his chat with Nicklaus.

“Look around when you’re out there. Look at all the people having a great time. And you need to have a great time and realise that that’s why you’re there and relax and go have fun and go win the golf tournament,” Cantlay added on Nicklaus’ advice.

Taking the hint

Clearly a good part of that suggestion percolated as the talented Californian reeled off a bogey-free round of 8-under 64 to reel in the leaders having started four shots off the lead. It lines things up very nicely for the US Open that gets under way on June 13 at Pebble Beach.

“It feels like a win has been coming,” said Cantlay, who is one of only three players to finish in the top 10 in the year’s first two majors other than Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson.

“This win validates my confidence that I can beat the best players in the world on a golf course that is set up like a major championship,” Cantlay said after his round that goes into the books as the best round by a winner at Memorial.

“It does a lot for my confidence. I definitely feel like I’ve had a lot of close calls since my last win. I’m a little surprised it’s taken me this long.

“I’ve played a lot of really good golf, a lot of really solid golf. And so I think I was closer than it seems. So maybe this one will do it,” he pointed out.

‘Take it easy’

Added the Bear, who has kept an eye on Cantlay since the Californian won the Nicklaus Award for collegiate golf back in 2011, “All I was trying to pass on to Patrick was to try to get a little more of a relaxed attitude in his head so that when he got himself in that position, it wasn’t like all the pressure was on top of him.

“It may have resonated with him, it may not have.”

“Patrick reminded me a lot of me at being serious and I get so wrapped up in what I’m doing I forget about everything else that’s going on around me,” Nicklaus said.

“And I learned years ago that when I got close to finishing a tournament, maybe two or three holes or four holes left, I would stop, look around me — just exactly what he was saying earlier. Stop, look around me, say — take a nice big breath. It would relax me.

“I’d look around, these people are here, they’re having fun. I need to have fun. I need to enjoy winning this golf tournament, not torment me trying to finish the golf tournament.”

Cantlay (68, 69, 68, 64; 18-under 269) finished two shots ahead of Australia’s Adam Scott. Day three leader Martin Kaymer was third on 15-under 273.

Woods gears it up

Not too far behind was Tiger Woods, whose 5-under 67 on Sunday gave him a share of ninth place, and more importantly, a boost ahead of the US Open.

“Going into today, I was never going to win the tournament, but I was hoping I could get something positive going into the Open,” said the world number five who was 7 under on his round and 11 under on the week.

“I was able to accomplish that, which is great, and get some nice positive momentum going into a nice practice week. Overall, it was a great day. I hit the ball really well and made some nice putts. Each day I got a little more crisp.

“I didn’t keep the card as clean as I’d like. drove it great this week, hit the tee shots I wanted to. I hit a couple of loose iron shots. And my fairway bunker game wasn’t very good, caught a couple of lips coming out of there,” said Tiger.

“But 14 is a perfect example, two wedges the last couple of days, and I walked away with two bogeys. Those are loose things that you can’t afford to have happen at the Open. I just need to clean up the rounds and make sure I don’t drop two shots, and made a couple of doubles this week, and those hurt.”

Meanwhile, after a disappointing Memorial, there will be no Indian representation the Open. Accordingly, Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma will be in action in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, in the qualifiers being played across the US, Canada and England on Tuesday.

Follow the action here Brookside Golf & Country Club and Scioto Country Club

At the international sectional qualifier in Walton Heath, England, it will be Gaganjeet Bhullar, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Shiv Kapur bidding to book their Pebble Beach tickets.

Follow the action here Walton Heath Golf Club

Also read: Lahiri makes a statement of intent at Memorial with 5-under round