Patrick Cantlay is the big winner of the Presidents Cup week

MONTREAL — Deep in the darkness of Saturday night, as the scoreboard lights illuminated the 18th green, the two-time major winner stared in disbelief. Xander Schauffele has seen it up close like no other. He’s seen it on three continents over five cups. Still, his eyes bulged as the two embraced, his head tilted back in bewilderment, as if to ask: Who is this man?

If you asked his teammate Sam Burns, he’d say, “This guy is an absolutely righteous killer.”

Captain Jim Furyk said he is the player everyone 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 was left amazed at what Patrick Cantlay can do with everything on the line.

“It’s probably the most excited I’ve been in my career,” Schauffele said.

The US 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’s singles for an 18 1/2–11 1/2 victory, the largest victory of Cantlay. away win in Presidents Cup history. They won because they are better, have more stars and possibly better managed. It was all very simple.

But this weekend something else became abundantly clear, which we can now take as gospel.

Patrick Cantlay – the polarizing, confusing, seemingly emotionless 32-year-old known as “Patty Ice” – has become one of team golf’s all-time legends. He’s a true crunch-time killer, a stoic, business-minded savage who has the rare, famous ability to take on the best players in the world and steal their hopes and dreams in the final moments. He has already stirred up waving mobs in Italy before fights broke out between caddy players after his 45-foot birdie putt. He remains undefeated in the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. Even as a team cup rookie at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Melbourne, he defeated Joaquin Niemann in singles on Sunday, which was the official point that put the US ahead. And after a 4-1 week in Montreal, where he shared the lead in total points, Cantlay boasts a 15-6-1 record in five team Cups.

PATTY ICE CREAM. CLUTCH!! 🇺🇸🥶

Patrick Cantlay scores a birdie to seal a 1UP victory and the 11th American point!

📺 NBC and Pauw | #PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/4CDvRcoQ9W

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 28, 2024

His contemporaries talk about him with a chuckle, because he is actually just different. He is articulate and thoughtful, but also robotic and dry. He has taken on a larger role in PGA Tour politics — some say he is the main voice governing the player advisory board — and has been criticized for his slow play on the course. He is more infamous than popular and loved at the same time. And as an individual player, he has put together a somewhat disappointing resume as a regular top-10 player for 11 months out of the year, without any major success.

With each level, Cantlay’s legend grows in these moments, the questions only become more and more valid as to why Cantlay as an individual is not a multiple major winner. Or why he’s barely been in the mix.

That frustrating element shouldn’t negate what we’re looking at. What we watch makes us want even more.

Cantlay was not the main character this week in Montreal. But he is the story at this point because of the ways he silenced the main characters. That’s the real superpower Cantlay has. There was a 24-hour period early in the week where some wondered if Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im were the most dominant team at the event, as the duo of Cantlay and Schauffele dominated in Friday’s foursomes by a margin of 7 and 6 and therefore the greatest presidents were right. Cup blowout ever. But those close to Cantlay say he wants to play against the best all the time, so captain Jim Furyk sent him back there on Saturday morning to face Matsuyama and Im in four-ball.

And I played like a superstar in an exciting match. It was incredible to see. But every time I thought he was going to win a hole, Cantlay wouldn’t give him another inch.

When I birdied 12, Cantlay chipped for Eagle. When I set it at 6 feet for a birdie on 14, Cantlay set it at 10 feet. When I hit it again to six feet for birdie on 15, Cantlay made a birdie of his own from 23 feet. And when I hit a perfect shot from 5 feet on 16, Cantlay made a birdie from 55 feet to seal the victory. I went from hero of the day to an afterthought because Cantlay took his soul.

Then came the Kims, Tom and Si Woo. They were the real main characters of Montreal. They were dominant and boisterous and rubbed the Americans the wrong way. They celebrated with violent fist pumps and shouts to stir up the crowd. And they were winning. Until they confronted Cantlay and Schauffele in afternoon four.

Cantlay made brutally challenging saves from impossible situations in the rugged environment. He played the Kims’ own game, making them make short putts instead of handing them to them. And in the clutch, in near pitch darkness 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 ended their match in exciting fashion on Saturday evening. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

“I think it’s pretty fitting, since it’s all dark and everything,” Schauffele said. “I could barely see him there. Reading the putt with him was quite entertaining, using some light from the board. It’s just…I can tell you one thing: I’m never going to play it in the dark or at night. I’ll just wait until morning.”

Cantlay has been one of the three or four most consistent golfers in the world over the past six seasons, with 76 top-20s. But he has not competed in major championships. He has been without a top 10 for three years. He has improved of late with six top-15s in his last ten majors, but even in between he never really felt like he was in the mix to get the win.

GO DEEPER

What you need to know about the United States’ Presidents Cup victory

So what is the disconnect?

It’s all speculation, but there’s something about Cantlay when it’s him versus another person. During his Presidents Cup speech this week, he provided a rare insight into that difference:

“What I like most about these weeks is the competitive nature of it and what it brings out in me. I don’t notice it until I do it. The moments that match play creates and playing for a team and playing for the United States really brings out the best in me.”

He doesn’t even notice it until it happens.

“I just find myself a lot more excited than usual,” he continued, “and I think it’s because playing on a team makes you care more about the outcome.”

But what he said next is so interesting. Cantlay is known – honestly or not – as a business person. He fights for more money for players on the board. He was formerly sponsored by Goldman Sachs and now has the private equity firm Apollo under his belt. Much of the pandemonium in Rome stemmed from a report of Cantlay refusing to wear a Ryder Cup hat because he wanted to get paid (something Cantlay and Team USA denied). And as a professional golfer, his greatest strength is this unexciting reliability that delivers top results and big money, but does not necessarily result in prestige.

However, in team events, people depend on you.

“I think having that team pulling on you and knowing that the other guys are watching and interested in the game you’re playing just adds to the pressure when you’re out there,” Cantlay said. “And so knowing that Xander or Collin (Morikawa) or Scottie (Scheffler) are watching the game and that they’re all there and they live and die with every shot, every putt, that just adds to the excitement, and I love it.”

Patrick Cantlay, left, seems to thrive on being part of a team. (Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)

Maybe it has something to do with that weight. Maybe it’s because it’s so absolute. Professional golf is not about winning or losing. It’s winning, or winning a little less, or winning a little less than that. If you are in seventh place, you can still win $500,000. It’s frustrating, but it’s also an incredible week. Some players are programmed to make seventh place’s blood boil. Others are built to see the world in its entirety and big pictures and understand that it’s a good week. Cantlay tends to fall into the latter.

“It doesn’t feel that hard,” Cantlay said of “losing” at a tour event. “Don’t get me wrong, winning and losing always feels great or terrible, but when you have a team and it can mean the difference between the team winning and the team losing, I think it becomes a little bit bigger.”

Cantlay is 32. His golf is still good. Even in a relatively bad year, he is ranked number 11 in the world on DataGolf. But windows don’t last forever. Some can bloom into their 40s. Some start to fade in their mid-30s. Of course Cantlay wants to win majors and prove he is one of the best of his era, and he is. But it is not inconceivable that he never wins a major championship.

What won’t change, however, is what Cantlay already is. He’s a murderer. He is a force. He is a 15-6-1 match play golfer who can humble the cockiest and fiercest players in the game. When the stage becomes more difficult for everyone, he feels most comfortable. Enjoy it, even if everything else remains so confusing.

(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)