PATRICK Cantlay made a litany of must-have putts, culminating in a 17 1/2-foot birdie on the sixth playoff hole that carried him to a victory over Bryson DeChambeau at the BMW Championship outside Baltimore.
The astonishing victory at Caves Valley Golf Club gave Patrick Cantlay 2,000 FedEx Cup points, enough to move into first place entering next week’s Tour Championship.
Mr. DeChambeau, who came up just shy of a round of 59 two days earlier, missed four putts to win the tournament — the 72nd hole and each of the first three playoff holes at Owings Mills, MD.
Mr. Cantlay drained his slightly left-to-right, midrange putt at the par-4 18th hole, and Mr. DeChambeau missed a 9-footer that would have extended the playoff.
Trailing by a stroke late in his round, Mr. Cantlay’s hopes looked all but dashed when his tee shot at No. 17 landed short and dribbled into the water. But Mr. DeChambeau flubbed his second shot, a chip out of the rough. Mr. Cantlay saved bogey from 8 feet and Mr. DeChambeau missed his par putt.
It set Mr. Cantlay up to drill a nearly 22-foot birdie putt at his 72nd hole to get to 27-under 261. Mr. DeChambeau’s first would-be winning putt of the afternoon, a 15-footer for birdie, missed left, leading to the playoff. Both players carded rounds of 6-under 66.
Among Mr. Cantlay’s other highlights were a 21 1/2-foot birdie at No. 14 and an important 9-foot par saved at No. 16.
The duo opened the playoff by playing No. 18 twice. On the first play-through, Mr. Cantlay’s approach sailed over the green, but his chip out of the rough hit the hole, which slowed the ball to about 5 1/2 feet. Mr. DeChambeau barely missed his birdie putt, and Mr. Cantlay saved his par.
On their second go-round, Mr. DeChambeau dialed in a laser of an approach shot that landed right next to the cup and spun back to 6 feet. After Mr. Cantlay two-putted for par, Mr. DeChambeau’s would-be winner lipped out. It was almost identical to the distance that he had at No. 18 on Friday to make birdie for a 59 — a putt he also missed.
The golfers played the par-3 17th for their third playoff hole, and after Mr. Cantlay missed a birdie, Mr. DeChambeau again hit the cup to blow another chance to win.
Back at the par-4 18th, Mr. DeChambeau’s tee shot sailed into a creek. He took a penalty stroke and recovered by hitting a wedge into the green, leaving himself a 4-foot par putt that he’d go on to make. This time, it was Mr. Cantlay who couldn’t convert a birdie putt to win.
They played hole No. 17 one more time and dropped their tee shots inside 5 feet of the cup to lead to matching birdies. — Reuters