At his favourite course, The Riviera Country Club, Patrick Cantlay got one step closer to winning in front of his home crowd. At the end of Saturday in The Genesis Invitational, he simply made the wrong move.
Cantlay closed the gap on good friend Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris by two shots with an up-and-down finish to finish at 1-under 70.
Cantlay, a UCLA graduate who grew up at Virginia Country Club 30 miles down the coast, led by four strokes for the whole of the back nine. On the 13th, he bravely approached a back left pin to achieve 15-under par.
However, Schauffele (65) and Zalatoris (65) closed well, and he took a soft bogey on the 17th par-5, making the final round much tighter than it was.
Cantlay, who is at 14-under 199, will compete alongside his best friend on the PGA TOUR, Schauffele, in the last group.
Together with their spouses, they go on vacation and frequently stay in the same mobile home. They have played together in almost 100 practice rounds, 11 Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches, and 12 rounds at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where they won the team tournament in 2022.
The $4 million first-place prize pool, which is increased because the event is player-hosted, is up for grabs for the victor of the Signature Event. Tiger Woods is the host, albeit he may not be present to give out the trophy. Woods announced on X that his Friday withdrawal was due to illness.
“We compete with one another when we play on Mondays and Tuesdays. I believe that our strongest support comes from each other during team competitions. I’m cheering more for myself than for anyone else, and the same is true for him. Naturally, I would like to see him succeed, but it’s rather clear what our goals are when we’re in the same final group.” Schauffelle said.
Cantlay was solid on a cloudy afternoon at Riviera, missing only one putt inside 10 feet, that one for par on the third hole. He scored birdies at the 11th and 13th holes, and salvaged a difficult par on the 10th when his shot drifted off the green.
“I had a strong round of golf today. I didn’t putt very far or anything. I didn’t really give myself many opportunities, but overall it was a fantastic day, and I’m in a good place for tomorrow.” Cantlay said.
However, he did lose some of his cushion, especially on the 17th par-5 hole, which is the second easiest at Riviera and only had two bogeys among the 51 players who made it to the weekend.
Right off the tee, Cantlay encountered a fairway bunker to the right. He then played to a front pin, which left the green. Weakly, he chipped to fifteen feet, missing the par putt.
After making a 15-foot eagle putt on the opening par-5, Schauffele was quiet for the most part until he birdied the short 10th par-4 and the 16th par-3, where he had to tee shot to 7 feet.
Zalatoris, who spent the most of 2018 recovering from back surgery, has already had one memorable moment this week: on Friday the 14th, he and his caddie won a car thanks to a hole-in-one. After scoring 65 with five birdies in his ten holes, he surged into contention.
Going into the final round, Luke List (68) was three strokes down, Harris English (65) and Jason Day (69) another shot behind.
There were no others within the score of 5.
Cantlay is attempting to become one of the players from the greater Los Angeles area who are competing in what is essentially a hometown event, along with Max Homa (2021) and John Merrick (2013). When the competition was relocated to California due to the pandemic, Cantlay emerged victorious in Sherwood in Thousand Oaks, approximately 35 miles north of where it was originally held.
Riviera, though, is unique.
Cantlay stated, “It’s one of the tournaments on the list that I’d like to win the most because I’m from Southern California.”
