Kentley had a great opportunity to go up two on the 13th, but his 4-foot birdie putt turned 90 degrees around the lip and stayed out. It was a surprising omission from Cantley, who last week set a PGA Tour record for receiving the putt in the BMW Championship in Maryland (14.68) when he made the 537-foot putt that counted for the stretch.
That hiccup did not last long, as he covered 15, 16 and 17, 4, 6 and 6 feet for the birdie and bogey, and extended a one-shot lead to the 18th tee.
“We took ourselves off the field and it was like playing a one-on-one game,” Cantley said.
Cantley has finally revealed the strength she seemed destined to be on tour. As a freshman at UCLA a decade ago, Kentley climbed to the top of the amateur and collegiate ranks, winning four tournaments and all prestige awards. 1 amateur in the world, 54 consecutive weeks and 55 overall – a standard that was broken by Rahm in 2016 – before giving up his last two years of college eligibility in 2012 and turning professional immediately. Silver medal claim for the lesser amateur in the Masters.
It was a prudent move considering his first four tours as an amateur Cantley were no worse than 24th, which included a 21st-place tie at the 2011 US Open and the lowest score on the PGA Tour. When he scored 60 runs for these Travelers Championship.
Cantley could not be missed.
But neither golf nor life is that easy. A combination of physical and emotional traumas shaped Cantley’s early development. A stress fracture in his lower back derailed his transition almost from the start and stalled his progress for four years, two of them (2015 and 2016) completely out of commission. During that period, his best friend and caddy, Chris Roth, died in his arms after a hit-and-run while crossing the street in Newport Beach, Calif., in 2016.