Finally, a Par at 18 Wins for Cantlay; Hoge Rallies for T7 ($211,933)

November 6, 2017 | 6 min.


LAS VEGAS -- It took Patrick Cantlay three tries to make a par on the 456-yard, par-4 18th hole at TPC Summerlin on Sunday, but that did the trick. The 25-year-old former No. 1-ranked amateur in the world hit a spectacular 4-iron shot under a tree and around a water hazard, then two-putted from the fringe behind the green for a par at 18, on the second hole of a playoff, and that earned him his first PGA Tour victory in the Shriners Hospitals Open.

It's been a long and winding road for Cantlay, from being the top college golfer in the country as a freshman at UCLA to being the top-ranked amateur on the planet for a then-record 54 weeks, to a debilitating back injury that kept him off the course (and the practice range), to his comeback year in 2017 -- and, finally, to his triumph on Sunday. 

Like Cantlay's saga, Sunday's final round had quite a few twists and turns. He started the day four strokes behind and was two ahead with four holes to go, thanks mainly to a four-hole birdie run from the 11th to the 14th. But he bogeyed the 185-yard, par-3 17th and the 18th to conclude his round with a 4-under 67 and finished 72 holes in a tie with Alex Cejka and Whee Kim at 275 (9 under). Cejka, who finished two hours ahead of the leaders, benefitted from an absence of wind while he was on the course, and he capped off his closing 63 by making a 15-foot birdie putt at the 18th. Kim, who was playing with Cantlay, matched Cantlay's bogey on the 18th at the end of regulation, after the 18th had been transformed into a monster by the gusting wind. (There were 14 birdies at the 18th on Sunday, but none in the last hour and a half of regulation play.)

The player who suffered the most from the rising wind was J.J. Spraun, the 54-hole leader. He was 10 under with two holes remaining, and as it turned out, he would have won with a par-par finish. Instead, he went double-double and ended up in a six-way tie for 10th at 278. The difference between first place and that tie for 10th was $1,073,267.   

Chesson Hadley could have gotten into the playoff with a par at the 18th. He made a bogey, shot 68 and tied for fourth at 276, along with Patton Kizzire (64) and J.T. Poston (66).

Because of his bad back, Cantlay was missing in action from golf from the latter part ot 2013 to nearly the end of 2016. But he returned to the PGA Tour for the 2016-17 season, and although he played in only 12 events, he made all 12 cuts and more than $2 million, and went all the way to the Tour Championship in the FedEx Playoffs. He ended the year at No. 29 on the FedEx points list. 

In the playoff on Sunday, Cantlay and Whee hit nearly perfect drives on 18 the first time they played it. Cejka's drive was nearrly as good, but his ball didn't quite clear the rough, and he missed the green with his second shot from 190 yards. Kim then missed the green from 177 yards, like Cejka, to the right. Cantlay made it 3 for 3, missing right and landing in a bunker. Eventually, Cantlay had to make a 6-foot putt for his bogey, just to stay in the playoff.

Cejka had the only decent chance for a par. He missed his par putt from about 18 feet. 

So Cantlay, Kim and Cejka went back to the 18th tee for the second playoff hole. Kim didn't clear the desert with his tee shot this time, and went on to make a double bogey. Cantlay teed off second and hit his shot into the trees to the right of the fairway. He was just a few feet behind a small tree, and it appeared he might have to chip out onto the fairway and try to save par by getting up and down from 150 yards.

While he debated his options and Kim took a drop (and a penalty stroke) from an unplayable lie under a bush in the desert, Cejka hit his second shot from 205 yards. He came up 20 yards short and right. 

Cantlay followed with a virtuoso trouble shot from 185 yards. It didn't hold the green, but ended up 15 feet behind the green, and he was able to putt from there. The putt from about 50 feet nearly went in, and he was left with a 2-footer for his par. Cejka hit what he thought was a very nice pitch shot, but the ball checked quickly -- a lot more quickly than he expected -- and he missed a putt from roughly the same place where he had made the birdie putt at the end of regulation -- three hours earlier.

That left Cantlay with his short putt for $1,224,000, and he didn't miss. 

The player who had the strongest finish in the wind on Sunday was probably Tom Hoge, the former TCU All-American from Fargo who won the Minnesota State Amateur Championship in 2009 and successfully defended his title with a record-setting  performance (11-under-par 205 at Dacotah Ridge) a year later.

In October, Hoge was in danger of losing his PGA Tour Card with one round of the Web.com Finals remaining. He preserved his playing privileges on the Big Tour by playing the last 12 holes in 7 under par (7 birdies, no bogeys). His 69 on Sunday had a similarly impressive stretch. After making a double bogey at the 12th hole, he ran off four consecutive  birdies from the 13th through the 16th and then, despite the difficulty of dealing with the strengthening wind, he managed to par the 17th and 18th holes.

That put him at 277, which was good for a tie for seventh place -- and $211,933. As a result, he moved up from No. 138 on the PGA Tour money list to No. 45. He has made $239,213 in three events so far in the 2017-18 season. 

Troy Meritt, the former PGA Tour winner (he won the 2015 Quicken Loans National) who played high school golf at Spring Lake Park, started the day one behind Hoge. But he went in the wrong direction. Merritt shot 76, which dropped him into a tie for 51st at 285 and meant a check of $16,003 -- a good week's pay for most people, but not for a PGA Tour player. Although he moved up on the money list, it wasn't very far, from No. 163 to 150, with $28,403 in three events.         


MEN'S PROFESSIONAL GOLF

Shriners Hospitals Open

At TPC Summerlin

Par 71, 7,255 yards

Las Vegas

Final results 


1. Patrick Cantlay            $1,224,000    67-71-70-67--275 (won playoff on second extra hole -- bogey-par)

T2. Alex Cejka                  $598,400      66-7472-63--275

T2. Whee Kim                  $598,400      65-72-72-66--275

T4. Patton Kizzire            $281,067      70-66-76-64--276

T4. J.T. Poston                $281,067      69-71-70-66--276

T4. Chesson Hadley       $281,067      74-65-69-68--276

T7. Tom Hoge                 $211,933       68-73-67-69--277

T7. Bryson DeChambeau  $211,933    67-72-71-67--277

T7. Beau Hossler            $211,933      69-69-66-73--277

T51. Troy Merritt             $16,003      70-69-70-76--285

     

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