The ‘huge’ number which shows why Patrick Cantlay had by far the worst season of his career in 2024

Add as preferred source on Google

Perhaps it would be fair to say that the defining moment during the 2024 Presidents Cup came on Saturday evening when Patrick Cantlay holed a stunning putt in darkness on the 18th to win his match against Si-woo Kim and Tom Kim.

Patrick Cantlay, once again, stepped up with a huge putt on the final hole in team competition. It was a moment which appeared to allow Jim Furyk to put one hand on the trophy ahead of the singles. But it was also the moment which prompted a familiar debate when it comes to Cantlay.

The 32-year-old is most definitely in the conversation when it comes to the best player in the current game who is yet to win a major. Cantlay has finished third at both the PGA Championship and the US Open. But he is yet to win one of the sport’s biggest prizes.

How Patrick Cantlay had the worst season of his PGA Tour career

In fact, he did not win a great deal in 2024. He would not finish in the top 10 on the PGA Tour after June. And as revealed by Rick Gehman on his YouTube channel RickRunGood, Cantlay averages just 0.81 strokes gained per round this season. That is down from 1.81 shots in 2023. And with that, he admitted that he is not optimistic for his 2025 season.

“I think this is the lowest that I’ve been on him in quite some time. We’ll just start with the fact that the 2024 campaign was, by far, the worst year that he has had as a professional. Basically, half the strokes gained of any other year that he had. He did not crack the one stroke per round mark, he didn’t even really sniff it when he was routinely a 1.2, a 1.5, a 1.8 strokes gained per round or better golfer,” he said.

“A one stroke per round drop off in a year is a huge number. The other thing that has me a little bit concerned, or at least questioning, is how little he played in 2024, especially the last half of the year after the US Open, he just didn’t really tee it up. There was just not a lot of golf played. He played good, not great, in the events that he did end up playing, but it never really felt like he was in significant contention. Maybe he was preoccupied with the potential deal with PIF and everything that comes along with being on the PAC. But the game on the golf course, he clearly struggled, there’s no doubting that.

“It was the worst year of his career. Still very good, a lot of guys would trade for, this is not the profile of a top 10 player which is where Patrick Cantlay has been firmly supplanted in the last couple of years, but I’ve got to be a little bit pessimistic and back off of that for 2025.”

How Cantlay’s strokes gained numbers declined in 2024

It may surprise some to know that Cantlay has actually not won on the PGA Tour since the BMW Championship in 2022. Clearly, he has the quality to perform considerably better.

But it is almost bizarre that his record in the majors is not better. He showed in the 2023 Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup, the following year that he is often the man for the big occasion. Three of his eight wins have also come during the FedEx Cup play-offs.

He will almost certainly be involved at Bethpage, and it would be no surprise to see Patty Ice emerge when Keegan Bradley needs him. But it would appear that he has a real point to prove heading into 2025.