MONTREAL — Deep into the dark of Saturday night, with scoreboard lights illuminating the 18th green, the two-time major winner stared at him with disbelief. Xander Schauffele has seen it up close more than anybody. He’s seen it in three continents over five cups. Still, his eyes bulged as the two embraced, tilting his head back in bewilderment, as if to ask: Who is this guy?
If you asked his four-ball teammate Sam Burns, he’d say, “The guy is an absolute just assassin.”
Captain Jim Furyk said he’s the player anyone would want to hit a big putt.
And in that moment Saturday night, as the birdie putt fell to win the most emotional match of the week, Schauffele remained amazed at what Patrick Cantlay can do with everything on the line.
“It’s probably the most fired up I’ve been maybe in my career,” Schauffele said.
The U.S. won the Presidents Cup on Sunday. Again. In what was at one point a hotly contested, back-and-forth team match play event, Cantlay’s clutch play pulled the Americans well ahead before they ran away in Sunday singles for an 18 1/2–11 1/2 win, the largest away victory in Presidents Cup history. They won because they’re better, more star-studded and possibly better managed. It was all quite simple.
But something else became abundantly clear this weekend, which we now can hold as gospel from here on out.
Patrick Cantlay — the polarizing, confounding, seemingly emotionless 32-year-old known as “Patty Ice” — has become one of the all-time team golf legends. He is a true crunch-time killer, a stoic, business-minded savage who has the rare, renowned ability to go toe-to-toe with the best players in the world and steal their hopes and dreams in the final moments. He’s sparked hat-waving mobs in Italy before caddie-player scuffles broke out after his 43-foot birdie putt. He’s gone undefeated at the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. Even as a team cup rookie at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Melbourne, he took down Joaquin Niemann in Sunday singles to be the official point that put the U.S. ahead. And after a 4-1 week in Montreal where he shared the total points lead, Cantlay can boast a 15-6-1 record in five team cups.
PATTY ICE. CLUTCH!! 🇺🇸🥶
Patrick Cantlay sinks it for birdie to seal a 1UP win and the 11th U.S. point!
📺 NBC and Peacock | #PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/4CDvRcoQ9W
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 28, 2024
His contemporaries talk about him with a chuckle because he really is just different. He’s articulate and thoughtful but also robotic and dry. He’s taken on a larger role in PGA Tour politics — with some saying he’s a primary voice steering the player advisory board — and is criticized for his slow play on the course. He is more infamous than popular yet beloved at the same time. And as an individual player 11 months out of the year, he’s compiled a somewhat disappointing resume as a perennial top-10 player without any major success.
With each level the legend of Cantlay in these moments grows, the questions only become more and more valid about why Cantlay the individual isn’t a multi-time major winner. Or why he’s hardly been in the mix at all.
That frustrating element shouldn’t negate what we’re watching. What we’re watching just makes us want even more.
Cantlay was not the main character this week in Montreal. But he’s the story right now because of the ways he silenced the main characters. That’s the real superpower Cantlay has. There was a 24-hour stretch early in the week when some wondered whether Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im were the most dominant team at the event, because the duo dominated Cantlay and Schauffele in Friday foursomes by a 7 and 6 margin to tie the biggest Presidents Cup blowout ever. But those close to Cantlay say he constantly wants to face the best, so captain Jim Furyk sent him out there again Saturday morning to face Matsuyama and Im in four-ball.
And Im was playing like a superstar down the stretch in a tight match. It was incredible to watch. Yet every time Im thought he would win a hole, Cantlay wouldn’t give him an inch.
When Im birdied 12, Cantlay chipped in for eagle. When Im put it to 6 feet for birdie on 14, Cantlay put it to 3 feet. When Im hit it to 6 feet again for birdie on 15, Cantlay made a 23-foot birdie of his own. And when Im hit a perfect shot to 5 feet on 16, Cantlay made a 17-foot birdie to seal the win. Im went from a hero of the day to an afterthought, because Cantlay snatched his soul.
Then came the Kims, Tom and Si Woo. They were the actual main characters of Montreal. They were dominant and boisterous and rubbed the Americans the wrong way. They celebrated with violent fist pumps and shouted to rile up the crowd. And they were winning. Until they matched up with Cantlay and Schauffele in afternoon foursomes.
Cantlay hit brutally challenging saves from impossible situations in the rough. He played the Kims’ own game, making them putt short putts instead of giving it to them. And in the clutch, in the near pitch black with the match on the line in a tight Presidents Cup, Cantlay made the 17-foot birdie putt to win.
Patrick Cantlay, left, and Xander Schauffele closed out their match Saturday night in thrilling fashion. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
“I think it’s pretty fitting, it being all dark and all,” Schauffele said. “I could barely see him out there. Reading the putt with him was pretty entertaining, using some light from the board. He’s just — I can tell you one thing, I’m never going to play him in the dark or at night. I’ll just wait for the morning.”
Cantlay has been one of the three or four most consistent golfers in the world over these six seasons, racking up 76 top-20s. But in major championships, he has not contended. He went three years without a top 10. He’s improved recently with six top-15s in his last 10 majors, but even amid those he never really felt like he was in the mix to win it.
GO DEEPER
What to know from the United States’ Presidents Cup win
So what is the disconnect?
It’s all speculation, but there’s something about Cantlay when it’s him vs. another person. Speaking before the Presidents Cup this week, he gave a rare insight into that difference, saying:
“My favorite thing about these weeks is the competitive nature of it and what it brings out in me. I don’t notice it until I’m out there doing it. The moments that match play creates and playing for a team and playing for the United States makes — it just brings out the best in me.”
He doesn’t even notice it until it happens.
“I just notice that I’m fired up way more than usual,” he continued, “and I think it’s because playing on a team makes you care more about the outcome.”
But it’s what he said next that is so interesting. Cantlay — fairly or not — is known as something as a corporate individual. He fights for more money for players on the board. He used to be sponsored by Goldman Sachs and now has the private equity firm Apollo on his cap. Much of the pandemonium in Rome stemmed from a report of Cantlay refusing to wear a Ryder Cup hat because he wanted to be paid (something Cantlay and Team USA denied). And as a professional golfer, his greatest strength is this unexciting reliability that racks up top finishes and plenty of money but doesn’t necessarily result in prestige.
In team events, though, people depend on you.
“I think having that team pulling for you and knowing that the other guys are watching and they have an interest in the match that you’re playing just elevates the pressure when you’re out there,” Cantlay said. “And so knowing that Xander or Collin (Morikawa) or Scottie (Scheffler) are watching the match and they’re all there and they’re living and dying with every shot, every putt, that just adds to the excitement, and I love it.”
Patrick Cantlay, left, seems to feed off of being a part of a team. (Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images)
Maybe it’s something about that weight. Maybe it’s about it being so absolute. Professional golf is not win or lose. It’s win, or win a little less, or win a little less than that. Seventh place might still win you $500,000. It’s frustrating, but it’s also an incredible week. Some players are wired in a way that seventh place boils their blood. Others are built to view the world in aggregates and big pictures and understand it’s a good week. Cantlay tends to fall into the latter.
“It doesn’t feel as heavy,” Cantlay said of “losing” in a tour event. “Don’t get me wrong: winning and losing always feels great or feels horrible, but when you have a team and it could mean the difference between the team winning and the team losing, I think it’s heightened a little bit.”
Cantlay is 32. His golf is still good. Even in a relatively down year, he stands No. 11 in the world on DataGolf. But windows don’t last forever. Some can thrive into their 40s. Some start fading in their mid-30s. Of course, Cantlay wants to win majors and prove he’s one of the best of his era, which he is. But it’s not inconceivable that he never wins a major championship.
What will not change, though, is what Cantlay already is. He is a killer. He is a force. He is a 15-6-1 match-play golfer who can humble the cockiest, fiercest players in the game. When the stage gets tougher for everyone else, he feels most comfortable. Enjoy it, even if the rest remains so confusing.
(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)