Shriners Open Recap: Cantlay's First Win

Just about everyone who follows golf knows Patrick Cantlay's story. But it's still hard to write about Cantlay's first PGA Tour win – which happened on Sunday in Las Vegas – without first going back to the beginning of the story.

An amateur star from UCLA on the fast track to PGA Tour stardom, the then-21-year-old Cantlay suffered a stress fracture in his back playing the New Orleans event in 2013. It largely cost him four years of his career. Along the way, amid all the hard work to get his body right, his longtime friend and caddie, Chris Roth, was killed in a hit-and-run – with Cantlay standing just a few feet away.

And that's basically been an appendage to Cantlay's name since he returned to the Tour earlier this year: "Patrick Cantlay back injury hit-and-run."

It was all front and center yet again on Sunday, after Cantlay won the Shriners Hospital for Children Open in a three-man playoff with Whee Kim and Alex Cejka to cap a remarkable return to golf.

"There's not a lot of give-up in me," Cantlay told reporters after his win, according to the Associated Press."I never really thought about giving it up. I thought maybe there was a chance my back would never feel good enough to play again. But, fortunately, I feel great. I have a good program. I figured out a way to feel good all the time. It's all good. I'm happy to be playing."

Since Cantlay played Pebble Beach back in February, his first tournament in more than two years and almost exactly a year after Roth died, he's made 15 starts without missing a cut. He's had a runner-up, a third, a berth in the Tour Championship, top-20s in all four playoff events and now, a victory.

Cantlay said he's figured out how to keep his back healthy. If that's the case, the next questions are: How bright is Cantlay's future? Can he crack the top 10 in the OWGR (he's now at a career-best 42nd)? How many more tournaments will he win? Will he win a major?

Yes, yes, yes and yes – wait, they weren't all yes-or-no questions.

Anyway, you get the picture.

Cantlay has already authored so many superlatives in only 43 career PGA Tour events that's there no reason to think his climb isn't just beginning. In his first PGA event, way back at the 2011 U.S. Open, he tied for 21st while still an amateur. The next week, he shot the lowest round ever by an amateur, a 60, at the Travelers. There weren't many more bright spots till this year, which began with Cantlay ranked outside the top-1,800 in the world. Eleven months later, he's inside the top-50.

There is no real weakness in Cantlay's game. Playing in brutally windy conditions at TPC Summerlin, he averaged almost 325 yards off the tee, was 17th in greens in regulation, and in the final round he gained almost three strokes on the field in putting.

"I knew that I'd be able to get to where I wanted to be if I felt healthy," Cantlay told reporters. "If I felt like I didn't have pain and I could practice and prepare for tournaments. I know how to practice and prepare for tournaments, so I can do what I want. I feel like I can play well and compete with anybody."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Whee Kim
Kim quietly has been on Tour for three full seasons, getting incrementally better every year. Last season, he made the playoffs for the first time. And now, the 25-year-old South Korean has opened 2017-18 going gangbusters. After finishing fourth at the CJ Cup in his homeland last month, Kim led the field in strokes gained putting to share runner-up at the Shriners. In only four events, he's made almost as much money as all of last season. Kim has climbed from 263rd in the OWGR at the start of the year to 114th, a ranking he will carry into this week's OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Alex Cejka
Cejka stunningly won his first PGA tournament three years ago at age 43 and he almost won another on Sunday. On the Tour since 1996, Cejka has never been a viable fantasy option, getting the occasional decent or great finish to make it look good on the money list. Like at the Shriners.

Chesson Hadley
It's very easy to argue with an occasional good week. It's hard to argue with a bunch of them in a row. Hadley added a tie for fourth at TPC Summerlin to his T3 at the Safeway and his runner-up at the Sanderson. And when you throw in two wins, a runner-up and a solo third in his last seven Web.com events of last season, you've got quite a run of success. Sure, the fields are far from elite, but even the best golfers would be hard-pressed to go on a run like this. How long can Hadley keep it going? We'll know more this week in Mexico. He is up to 79th in the OWGR.

J.J. Spaun
It wasn't pretty watching Spaun tumble from the lead into a tie for 10th thanks to playing the final four holes in 5-over – that's two double bogeys and a bogey. The wind was brutal, but Spaun handled it worse than all the others. Still, he'll benefit from the experience. As a rookie, Spaun had six top-25s and made the playoffs. He'll do better this season.

A.J. McInerney
Before this week, McInerney was best known as the golfer who survived the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. Now the former UNLV standout has played his first PGA Tour event thanks to a sponsor invite, and he remarkably tied for 10th. That qualifies him for entry into the Mexico field, but he instead opted to continue with his original plan – the second stage of Q school. So it turns out McInerney won't be an immediate fantasy consideration. But tuck his name away for the future.

Tony Finau
We've written multiple times that Finau does everything but win. On Sunday, playing in the final group, he had another great chance. But he bogeyed three of the final five holes to finish four shots out of the playoff and plummet into a tie for 16th. Once again, Finau led the field in greens in regulation. Once again, he was far back in putting. He's up to a career-best 39th in the OWGR thanks to top-20s in five of his past six starts, but the misses are starting to pile up and will weigh on him.

Bubba Watson
It's hard to draw too much positive from Watson's first start of the season. He came back from his offseason break sooner than planned because he was eager to play. So you figure that's a good sign. But he tied for 51st, never forging a good round. For someone who hits the ball so far – third in the field in driving distance – not being in the top-50 in greens in regulation is a concern.

Justin Rose
Rose followed up his win at the WGC-HSBC Champions with another victory at the first event of the European Tour's playoffs, the Turkish Airlines Open. Very impressive. Rose is now up to second in the Race to Dubai standings. But he's chosen to sit out this week's stop in South Africa before returning for the final event on the Euro calendar in, of all places, Dubai.

Henrik Stenson
Stenson finished far back in Turkey, tying for 35th. The No. 9 golfer in the OWGR was planning to play the final two Euro Tour events, but now we don't know when he'll play again after revealing he has a rib injury. An MRI is on tap. Stenson is also in the field for the Hero World Challenge at the end of the month.

Billy Horschel
Horschel withdrew from the Shriners with a shoulder injury, pulled out of the OHL Classic on Monday morning and that's all we know right now. He was off to a good start in his season debut, in eighth place after the first round.

RotoWire Value Picks

Last week: Runners-up (Johnson, Stenson), three top-10s, four top-25s at the WGC-HSBC
Runner-up (Hadley), four top-10s, eight top-25s, four missed cuts at the Sanderson
This week: Winner (Cantlay), four top-25s, three missed cuts

Cantlay was a Tier 1 pick and he gave us another win. Finau was also primed for a great showing before falling to a tie for 16th. Webb Simpson tied for 20th, and Ryan Moore tied for 51st. Two of our three missed cuts came in Tier 2 – Jamie Lovemark and Martin Laird. Otherwise, Byeong-Hun An tied for 32nd, and Bubba Watson was T51. In Tier 3, Luke List tied for 20th, Nick Taylor and Scott Piercy tied for 32nd, and Kevin Streelman placed 67th. Among the long shots, Aaron Wise was the best of the bunch at T32, while Brandon Hagy tied for 41st, James Hahn tied for 77th, and Hunter Mahan missed the cut on the number.