It may surprise some to learn that Patrick Cantlay has not won a single tournament on the PGA Tour since the BMW Championship back in 2022.
Patrick Cantlay made many of the headlines at the 2023 Ryder Cup while enjoying one of the better weeks had by an American player in Rome. Meanwhile, it was his putt which decided the incredible match between himself and Xander Schauffele, and Si-woo Kim and Tom Kim at the Presidents Cup this year.
Nevertheless, Cantlay has not been able to turn that success in team events into victories on the PGA Tour over the last couple of years.
He was the next man in line at the US Open at Pinehurst as Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau engaged in that incredible duel on Sunday in North Carolina. Had Cantlay converted a couple of the birdie chances that he had on that final day, he could easily have been in the mix.
Patrick Cantlay backed for ‘big year’ in 2025
With that, the 32-year-old has been backed to get across the line in the coming year. Speaking on The First Cut Podcast on CBS, Patrick McDonald suggested that Cantlay is his pick for the bounce back player in 2025.
“Someone who I think is going to have a big year and did not win this past season, and did not win the season before is Patrick Cantlay,” he said.
“He obviously had a solid end to his year, he made The Tour Championship, he contended at the US Open. But someone like Patrick Cantlay, I expect to win a couple of times a year perhaps. He’s so well-rounded throughout his game. You see the way he competes at these team events, the killer that he is down the stretch, oh my goodness, how do you not do this more often on the biggest stage?
“I’m hoping that the US Open really helped him, the Presidents Cup experience really helped him, and that all the crud going off the course he is very much intertwined with gets pushed in the background a little bit and he can focus on his game and focus on becoming a major champion in 2025.”
The tag Cantlay has arguably taken off his good friend Xander Schauffele
Jim Furyk was able to call upon six major champions during the Presidents Cup, with three of the four majors in 2024 won by his top two players. Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa has won two in his career, and Wyndham Clark, Keegan Bradley and Brian Harman also have major titles to their name.
Of course, Xander Schauffele only became a major champion in 2024 – winning both the PGA Championship and The Open. The victory at Valhalla was particularly significant as Schauffele had shown time and time again that he had the talent to win one of the game’s biggest prizes.
Schauffele was arguably the best player to not win a major before this year. And with that, Cantlay has potentially taken that tag off his good friend.
But perhaps he may be passing that on himself within the next 12 months.
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