For Patrick Cantlay, sky is the limit
Patrick Cantlay is to amateur golf what Rory McIlroy is to the professional sport. The analogy could not have been better.
Well, at least he was, until he tied at the 41st place at the US Open this season. The tie brought with it a revelation any amateur golfer is out looking for when he is at the pinnacle of his category, which is, when to break professional.
For the UCLA graduate, this season’s US Open was his big break. He has announced he is going professional.
“I have a tremendous passion and respect for the game of golf and can’t wait for the challenge of taking my game to the next level,” said Cantlay in a prepared press-briefing. “I realized for the first time that if I played really well, I could compete on
any stage”.
Cantlay said he has signed with Mark Steinberg’s Excel Sports Management Group, following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods, who had also signed up with Steinberg’s Group when he was first starting out.
The world number one amateur’s decision in 2012 meant his professional debut was played at the 2012 Travelers Championship instead of the 2012 Open Championship.
He missed the cut at the Travelers, but he seems to be improving steadily, jumping from his first professional standing on the Official World Golf Ranking’s list at 415th.
At AT&T National’s, he tied at the 66th, a week later at Greenbrier Classic, 38th. His professional career’s first paycheck was earned at AT&T National, on a memorable Fourth of July weekend.
Cantlay was born in Long Beach and attended University of California, Los Angeles where his amateur feats won him the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year, awarded by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) in the first division.
Subsequent years saw him rise to the very top of the competition. After the Jack Nicklaus, he won the Phil Mickelson Award.
He was the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA)’s nominated Freshman of the Year for golf.
By the end of 2011, and with the Mark H. McCormack Medal pocketed, he was the world’s highest-ranked amateur golfer.
His performance at the Mark H. McCormack Medal tournament saw to it that he got an invitation to participate in 2012’s Open Championship, which he accepted.
However, he had to forfeit it because he turned professional just before the Championship was due to tee off.
As the World Amateur Golf Ranking’s no. 1 for a record 55 weeks straight, he seems rightly poised to carve a name for himself in the coming future. We may be witnessing the rise of another American golfing great.
"He's been creating the shots he sees in his mind from a very early age." Read Golf Digest.
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