Patrick Cantlay Finishes First Round of US Open in Middle of the Pack
The top Bruin in the field is still technically in contention to win his first US Open, but a lack of birdies has him sitting squarely in the middle of the pack.
Former UCLA men's golf standout Patrick Cantlay finished the opening round of the US Open tied for 42nd. Cantlay shot a 2-over 72 on Thursday and is five strokes back of the four current leaders at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts – the oldest country club in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most historic venues on the tour.
Since leaving UCLA in 2012 as the top amateur in the world, Cantlay has picked up seven wins on the PGA Tour, but has yet to win a major. His best finish at a US Open was when he tied for 15th in 2021, just a few months before he won the FedEx Cup, PGA Tour Player of the Year and Ryder Cup to round out the season.
Cantlay opened 2022 with four-straight top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at the WM Phoenix Open. That's when the former Bruin hit a bit of a rough patch, tying for 33rd at the Genesis, missing the cut at the Players and botching a top-10 start at the Masters to finish tied for 39th.
It only took a week for Cantlay to get back on track, though, finishing second at the RBC Heritage and winning the Zurich Classic at 29-under. Even when he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, Cantlay bounced back to tie for third at the Memorial. As a result, Cantlay entered the US Open ranked No. 4 in the world – exactly where he was at the end of last year.
Cantlay was paired with Daniel Berger and Billy Horschel in Thursday's opening round, setting up a trio of top-25 players that got going at 7:40 a.m. local time.
The first hole was considered one of the toughest on the course heading into the weekend, and Cantlay was able to stay safe and secure the par. The next two holes – which were causing most of the field less trouble than one – were instead the ones that set Cantlay back early.
Back-to-back bogeys quickly bumped Cantlay down towards the bottom of the leaderboards, and his performance was starting to look like the one he strung together at the PGA Championship. The hiccups didn't faze Cantlay this time around, though, as he immediately returned to form with a par on four then a birdie on five following a 317-yard drive.
Cantlay's birdie putt on six came just eight inches from going down, but he birdied eight and scored par on seven and nine to wrap up the first half of his round even par.
Sitting in a 20-way tie for 10th as he hit the turn, Cantlay parred 10 and 11 to stay afloat. Cantlay's streak of eight-straight holes without a bogey came to an end on 12 after a botched bunker shot, however, as it took him two tries to get out and onto the green.
Cantlay recovered with a par on 13, and he maintained the 13th-best odds to make the cut at 75.2%.
On the par-five 14th, Cantlay's tee shot went right, and he had to lay up on his second to give himself a simpler approach. That approach wound up stuck in the right greenside bunker, meaning Cantlay had to convert on a sand save after failing to do so two holes earlier. Cantlay's shot out of the bunker rolled within four feet of the hole, and he cleaned up for par to limit the damage.
Cantlay's tee shot on 15 went into the second cut rough on the ride side again, and his second shot wound up left of the green – still in the rough. Needing to sink a 14-foot putt to save par, Cantlay did just that.
Amid all the danger, Cantlay's putter was saving him from slipping out of contention entirely. Cantlay didn't miss a putt inside 16 feet, and he narrowly missed his fifth-straight one-putt when his birdie putt on 16 came within 2 feet of the cup.
Cantlay missed a fourth-straight fairway to the right on 17, this time ultimately unable to save par. His 27-foot par putt was just 2 feet off, and he left the penultimate green with his fourth bogey of the round.
Finally landing one in the middle of the fairway on 18, Cantlay hit a green in regulation and gave himself an 18-foot birdie putt to wipe out his recent bogey and enter the clubhouse at 1-over. Cantlay's long putt wound up just an inch or two short of the hole, though, and he finished the back nine without a birdie.
According to the USGA, Cantlay has a 62.9% chance of making the cut – lower than it was at any point throughout the rest of his opening round. Cantlay still has an 11.3% chance to finish inside the top 10 for the first time in his US Open career, but that figure got as high as 20.9% earlier in the day.
Another former UCLA product and collegiate player of the year, Kevin Chappell, teed off at 12:30 p.m. to open up the afternoon wave. Chappell has not participated in a major since 2018, but he posted back-to-back top-10 finishes at his first two US Opens in 2010 and 2011.
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