After Justin Rose successfully defended his title in Turkey Sunday morning, Patrick Cantlay nearly matched him at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Cantlay notched his maiden PGA Tour victory at TPC Summerlin last year, and he started the final round two shots off the lead. But he erased that deficit thanks to four straight front-nine birdies, then took a one-shot lead when he rolled in a downhill birdie putt on the 16th hole.
That lead proved to be short-lived, however, as Cantlay’s tee shot on the par-3 17th found the greenside bunker and his subsequent splash barely got his ball out of the sand. It led to a bogey, and Cantlay finished one shot behind Bryson DeChambeau despite adding another birdie on the final hole for a 65.
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“It was a tricky one,” Cantlay told reporters about the sand shot on 17. “Obviously a bunch of slope, and I couldn’t really tell exactly how much sand was under the ball. It was just a poor shot at the wrong time.”
Cantlay’s consistent play has netted Tour Championship berths each of the last two seasons, and his weekend rally in Las Vegas that included a third-round 63 earned him his first top-3 finish since leaving TPC Summerlin with the trophy a year ago.
“I really got off to a slow start Friday, or Thursday and Friday, and that was too much to overcome,” Cantlay said. “Played really well this weekend, and I’m proud of that.”
Source: Internet
