Patrick Cantley is a thief. With John Reham and Justin Thomas entering the final round of the heavyweight JoJo Championship on Sunday, Cantley scored 65 runs from some groups and stole the event that day where none of them could go properly.
Cantle was awesome in every aspect throughout the week at the Sherwood Country Club, but on Sunday his patter made him nine birdies, three of which came from 15 feet (!) Or more. After coming out at 32 in the front nine, Cantle birdied four of the first six on the back nine to take possession of Lehman and Thomas was thrown away. Kentley stumbled a little from the final three, making a bad number in the middle of the safari, number 16 and two pars late, but that was enough to clip Raheem and Thomas through the strokes.
Sunday’s story was about him as much as Cantley’s. Rehm played the back nine roles in the level par and made a terrific bogey on the par-5 13th from a distance of 225 yards after his drive. JT played his last 12 holes across the level, and it was a small miracle that he made it good by seeing how he hit it. Despite shooting a combined 7 under, they won’t be happy with how it turned out.
Cantley, on the other hand, will be. With just a top 10 from the Memorial Tournament in mid-July, he has had a very common tool in the last few months. This week, however, he was the best putter of a handful of ball-strikers on the field (Cantley finished third from tee to green) and needed 24 tournament-lows (for him) on Sunday to win.
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Zozo is a win – perhaps surprisingly – just a third of his career, running with Shriners Hospitals and Memorial Victory for an open win a few years ago. Interestingly, Rahm is a fair comparison for Cantley when it comes to winning the PGA Tour. The two have made less than three starts in their careers, and both are tough when it comes to the Masters next month.
Rahman has a top 10 pairing there during his youth career, and Kentley feared a lead on Sunday last year before Title Woods closed out the 15th major championship of his career. While winning the Zozo is a big deal for Cantley – the field was fairly loaded, and he shot 65 when he counted – it would also give him a nice incentive to go to another big event later that year. Grade: A +
Justin Thomas (T2): He was nine back bonkers for the jetty he finally saved the bogey and the bogey from some truly ridiculous places before committing suicide at the 71st hole. On Sunday he was very intrusive from the team as per his need, and seeing how well he gave it should probably be his win. Still, it’s always a very late show. Knowing he needed to take a hole in the final hole to win, he reached 4 feet and reacted as if he was trying to make it (which he undoubtedly did). Grade: A-
Bubba Watson (T4): For Watson, he is a back-to-back top-10 finisher, with an event that he usually plays very well on the deck. Watson was fifth from tee to green, and my one-on-one guy Russell Henley as well as Scotty Schaffler didn’t put the ball right. He’s the ultimate festival-or-drought player, but he’s worth keeping an eye on the 2020 Masters.
Rory McLeroy (T17): He was never a factor in this week’s event, but his work in the last two rounds has been interesting. He got eight strokes from tee to green and hit his errors and at the same time he started again. It was meaningless in the case of Zozo, but it could be very meaningful to have the final major of the year in a few weeks. He also made a career-high 29 birdies over the weekend. I guess if he does that at Augusta National, he can stop the green jacket Over his hoodie. Grade: b
