Patrick Cantlay in Top 10 After Opening Round at The Masters, UCLA Alum Pursuing 1st Major
Still looking to win his first major title, Patrick Cantlay is staying in the running to don the classic green jacket by week's end.
The former UCLA men's golf product and reigning FedEx Cup champion teed off with group 13 at Augusta National on Thursday morning, as Cantlay started off his day at The Masters Tournament alongside Jon Rahm and Will Zalatoris. Despite the recent run of success last season, Cantlay actually boasts the least success of the three at the course, only once finishing in the top 10 in five tries while Rahm has finished as high as fourth and Zalatoris was runner-up in 2021.
Cantlay outplayed both in the first round Thursday, though, shooting a 2-under 70 that tied him for seventh-place on the leaderboards through day one. Last year's PGA Tour Player of the Year is three strokes back from the leader, South Korea's Sungjae Im.
Getting his day started just before 10:30 a.m. local time, Cantlay played a clean first third. Cantlay got pars on each of his first six holes, but the No. 5 player in the world failed to take advantage early on.
Cantlay had birdie putts come just inches from the cup on the first three holes, and even his long putt on four and five were just over a foot away from going down. Cantlay's putter recovered for a moment on six, as he hit one from 10 feet out after a chip that sailed long, and he found himself even through the first six holes.
The putting problems returned with a vengeance on seven, though. Cantlay's long uphill birdie putt came up several feet short, and his shot for par lipped out. Cantlay put up his first bogey of the day, and it wouldn't be his last either.
Cantlay scored a par on eight, then closed out the front nine with a birdie thanks to an approach that he plunked on the green and used backspin to bring it only a few feet away from the cup.
The back nine started with a mixed bag for Cantlay, who hit yet another green in regulation and set himself up with a 5-foot par putt. The attempt lipped out yet again, though, and he had to settle for a bogey.
Through 10 holes, Cantlay was sitting 1-over par.
Cantlay settled back in with back-to-back pars on 11 and 12, then he really turned things up on the final third of the historic course.
A 50-foot putt for eagle on 13 drifted just a few inches too far to the right, but Cantlay still cleaned up for birdie. Cantlay came up just shy of the water on his second shot on the par five 15th hole, then he lofted one over the hazard to set up an easy tap-in for birdie. In a three-hole span, Cantlay had birdied two par fives and gotten under par for the first time all day.
Cantlay took things one step further on 16, hitting a 12-foot birdie putt to get to 2-under.
A shaky first shot on 17 nearly turned into another birdie for Cantlay, as his tee shot went sailing right but managed to bounce back into the lighter rough near the fairway. Cantlay made it onto the green in two, and his birdie putt was only an inch away from going down before it tailed off to the right.
Cantlay missed the fairway to the right again on 18, and his second shot ended up in the sand instead of on the green this time. His out was clean, though, and he only needed to tap in a 1-footer to escape with a par.
Im is alone in first place at 5-under, with Australia's Cameron Smith sitting in second at 4-under. Four men are tied for third, including Americans Scottie Scheffler and Dustin Johnson, and Cantlay is one of three golfers in seventh.
Tiger Woods and Tony Finau are among those at 1-under, with the former looking for his sixth green jacket and the latter seeking his first. Finau and Cantlay are regarded as some of the best active golfers without a major victory, with Xander Schauffele also in that club, but currently sitting in 43rd place at 2-over through one round.
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