AUGUSTA - There is the big three atop the golf pyramid as the Masters awaits the start of play – driver-wielding titans Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.
As the world’s fourth-ranked golfer, Patrick Cantlay isn’t quite a third wheel or a faceless grinder on the PGA Tour. But he starts the Masters, set to begin play Thursday morning, as the best of the rest in a sport in which the aforementioned triumvirate have separated themselves from the pack. Cantlay is scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. tee time Thursday with Adam Scott and Kurt Kitayama. He won’t bring a chip on his shoulder to the first tee, at least one he won’t publicly acknowledege.
“Those three have played exceptionally well the last couple years and they have won a lot of big tournaments,” Cantlay said Tuesday at a pre-tournament news conference. “So I think it’s rightfully so and understandable that people refer to them that way.”
It follows the persona that Cantlay presents to the public, offering measured and guarded statements to media. He was asked 18 questions Tuesday and began six answers with “I’m not sure,” including one about how he thought people should perceive him.
“I’m not sure it’s my place to decide what people perceive me as,” he said. “I try to be as genuinely myself as possible. I think those that know me – I keep a pretty tight circle – and in general, the people that are closest to me are the people that I trust and then I kind of let my guard down.”
There is plenty of substance beneath the veneer. He is considered highly intelligent and well-read. He has been willing to offer unpopular opinions when he has felt the need. He has lived a life with more difficulty than most might suspect of a golfer whose career winnings exceed $35 million.
After a standout amateur career (playing at UCLA, he was low amateur at the Masters in 2012 and was the top-ranked amateur in the world for a record 54 consecutive weeks), Cantlay suffered a back injury in 2013 that threatened his career and drastically limited his play for the next four years. In 2016, his best friend and caddie was killed in a hit-and-run accident as the two were crossing the street while on a night out in Newport Beach, California.
The chapter of his life has given him maturity and perspective that perhaps not all of his tour colleagues possess. His play since returning from the injury has been similarly apart from the pack.
He has eight PGA Tour wins to his credit, including four in the 2020-21 season when he won the Tour Championship at East Lake and the FedEx Cup and was named the tour player of the year. He followed it up with another top-10 finish in the FedEx Cup standings in the 2021-22 season. This season, he has played in eight tour events and finished in has four top-10 finishes.
In five starts at Augusta as a professional, his best finish was a tie for ninth in 2019, when he was 2-over par after the second round but then finished 64-68. It was the lowest weekend total of any player in the field that year.
“The more good experiences you can have out here, I think benefits you going forward,” Cantlay said. “And so I definitely try and draw on experiences like that and know that I can do it. So it’s also a golf course that I really like so if I can stack up a bunch of good shots over the years, that should only help in the future.”
Various sportsbooks have the 31-year-old Cantlay, who grew up in southern California but now resides in Jupiter, Florida, as the fourth or fifth favorite to claim the Masters title.
Cantlay has at least a couple connections to Atlanta. One, he won the Tour Championship at East Lake in 2021. It was there that a nickname that had been cast upon him by fans as he pushed to a playoff win the previous week – “Patty Ice,” recognizing his stoic demeanor and a play on the moniker of former Falcons quarterback Matt “Matty Ice” Ryan – took off.
During that week, he was presented with a Falcons jersey with Ryan’s No. 2 with his new nickname on the nameplate.
In March, Cantlay entered into a multi-year partnership with Delta Air Lines. Cantlay wears the airline’s logo on the left chest of his shirt.
“(Delta CEO) Ed Bastian is a friend of mine,” Cantlay said at pre-tournament news conference at the Players Championship. “It’s been really great getting to know him and I’m excited to start that partnership with Delta.”
To win his first major this weekend would be a pinnacle moment in a life that has known profound disappointment and heartache but also soaring accomplishments.
Even Cantlay could be sure of that.
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