Patrick Cantlay Makes Cut at The Masters Following 2nd Round Delay
The lone Bruin at Augusta National is sticking around for the rest of the weekend.
UCLA men's golf alumnus Patrick Cantlay made the cut at The Masters, hitting the midway point of the tournament tied for 21st at 2-under. The second round was suspended Friday due to weather – extreme winds knocked down trees on the course before a thunderstorm came through – meaning Cantlay's fate wouldn't be decided until Saturday morning.
Cantlay had just teed off on 11 when the air horn sounded, sitting at 1-over on the round and even par for the tournament. A double bogey on 7 had spoiled his day to that point, even if he remained two strokes above the projected cut line.
Instead of further flirting with that 2-over threshold, the 2021 FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year erased all doubt when play resumed in the heavy rain Saturday morning.
Cantlay birdied 11, needing just a chip and a putt to knock a stroke off his score. After scoring a bogey on 14, Cantlay bounced back with back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16.
That put Cantlay on the fringe of the top 20, and he nearly chipped in for birdie again on 17. Cantlay found himself in the green-side bunker on 18 – the hardest hole on the course – but a clean out set him up for a par putt.
Cantlay finished the second round with a 1-under 71, which was the same score he put up in the first round.
Brooks Koepka – Cantlay's 2021 Ryder Cup teammate – is the leader in the clubhouse at 12-under, with Jon Rahm sitting in second at 10-under. Rory McIlory, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Gracia and Bubba Watson were among the notable stars to miss the cut, while Tiger Woods narrowly snuck in at 3-over.
Cantlay entered the weekend ranked No. 4 in the world, riding somewhat of a hot streak despite no wins on the season. After missing the cut at the WM Phoenix Open in February, Cantlay finished third at the Genesis Invitational, tied for fourth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, tied for 19th at THE PLAYERS Championships and tied for ninth at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
The former Pac-10 Player of the Year opened up his first round at Augusta with a birdie on the second hole, only for a bogey on five to erase his progress. Playing alongside Adam Scott and Kurt Kitayama, Cantlay was 1-under through the front nine.
Bogeys on 12 and 14 set Cantlay back again, even if they sandwiched a birdie on 13. Cantlay needed a birdie on 18 to finish under par for the day, and that's exactly what he did thanks to a clutch 16-foot putt that went down.
Cantlay finished the first round tied for 26th with Patrick Reed, Hideki Matsuyama, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Max Homa and five others at 1-under.
A day-and-a-half later, Cantlay finds himself in a similar position tied for 20th at 2-under. Cantlay has 36 holes left to play, but his first green jacket appears to be well out of reach.
Cantlay made the cut as a low amateur in 2012, finishing tied for 47th. When he returned as a professional in 2018, Cantlay missed the cut.
One of the highest-grossing golfers ever to come out of UCLA made real pushes the next two years – finishing tied for ninth in 2019 and tied for 17th in 2020. Cantlay missed the cut in 2021, though, and disastrous second and third rounds in 2022 knocked him into a tie for 39th.
The third round will get underway Saturday, although it remains to be seen how much will fit in due to timing and continued weather concerns.
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