AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Nineteen months since he put the golf world on notice with a near-record third-round performance, American Patrick Cantlay is ready to make his presence felt at Augusta.
Languishing near the back of the pack at two-over par through two rounds at last year’s Masters, Cantlay rocketed up the leaderboard to finish tied for ninth after carding a sensational eight-under par 64 in the third round – one stroke shy of the course record.
“My takeaway (from last year) would be that I can play this place really well and if I’m in a better spot going to the weekend, it’s a totally different story,” said Cantlay, who missed the cut in 2018 and finish tied for 47th in 2017.
“The more confident you are about this golf course when you come here, the better you’re going to do,” he told reporters on Monday.
“I see that from guys that play consistently year in and year out here really well… I feel like I’m starting to become one of those guys.”
He picked up two more PGA titles since his last trip down Magnolia Lane, defeating Australia’s Adam Scott by two strokes to win Memorial in 2019 and fending off Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas to clinch the Zozo Championship last month.
“My last two wins have been against really good fields, and especially at Memorial, that’s almost as close to a major championship venue as you can get,” he said. “So I feel like when I’m playing well, I can beat anybody.
“Taking that mind set into majors I think is really important and not treating it different than any other week.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
