Patrick Cantlay paired with Tiger Woods for first time at the Frys.com Open – Golf news
Patrick Cantlay, an amateur on the PGA Tour who is going places, will be tee-ing off with Tiger Woods for the first time in his life. He is pitched in the same group as Woods along with former Open Championship winner, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.
Cantlay, a sophomore at University of California, Los Angeles, has a distinct advantage over Woods, for the fact that the young golfer has played on the course and knows his way around the greens and fairways better than the former World Number One, who
has never stepped on the course at CordeValle.
Cantlay said, “We played a college event out here last year. UCLA hosted it. And I played well. I was fortunate enough to win. I really like the golf course. I think it suits my game and it’s a really good place.”
He has posted some exceptional performances so far on the tour, pulling in four consecutive top-25 finishes, playing as a low amateur. His amazing streak started from the US Open at Congressional, where he finished for a joint 21st. He posted
a back nine of 30, which turned out to be the best in the tournament. He went over to post a joint ninth at the RBC Canadian Open at
Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club, which was coined as one of the toughest courses on the tour for the year.
He shot to fame at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, where he broke the course record with his 60 and moved over to post another joint 20th at the AT&T National. For a young amateur like Cantlay, his resume
speaks volumes of a future professional golfer who is all set to win accolades in his career.
The young Californian kept a close eye on Woods as both practiced at CordeValle on Tuesday. Cantlay thinks that the former World Number One is in exceptional form at the moment.
He added, “[Woods' game] looked good to me. He chipped and putted real well, hit it solid and played well out there. So obviously I’m sure he’s different in practice rounds than he is in a regular tournament, just like anybody else. But he looked good to
me.”
On a question of whether the strange grouping is going to affect his play, Cantlay dismissed any such notions and said that he will be concentrating on his own play rather than watching the leaderboard. He asserted that he would constantly throw himself
in contention with the rest of his team-mates. The event is set to begin on Thursday, October 6, and is already a sell-out in terms of ticket sales.
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