Patrick Cantlay may not be a fan of the FedEx Cup system, but his bank account certainly is. The former UCLA Bruin was crowned the PGA Tour’s season long champion and took home a cool $15M for his efforts.
All of this despite not shooting the lowest 72 hole score. Cantlay was the wire to wire leader in the “strokes adjusted” format for the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake. 30 players made up the final field for the Tour Championship. Players were then assigned a starting score based on their FedEx Cup points total throughout the 2021 PGA calendar. Cantlay began the tournament at -10, followed by Tony Finau at -8, Bryson DeChambeau at -7, Jon Rahm at -6 all the way down to those who began at even par.
However Cantlay wasn’t exactly singing the tournament’s praises Wednesday during his media availability telling Golf.com “I think, frankly, it’s not a good format…I think it’s obvious why they went to the format because the previous format was confusing. I think this format is less confusing, but I don’t think it’s a good format.”
Yet it would be the format that would ultimately save Cantlay down the stretch as a furious charge from world number 1 Jon Rahm kept the American on his toes Sunday. Cantlay would tap in a birdie putt to beat the Spaniard by 1 stroke and capture the Tour Championship, after nearly letting it slip through his grasp on hole number 17.
Following the victory, “Patty Ice” received a shoutout from “Matty Ice” congratulating him on his mega successful 2021 season:
The win was Cantlay’s 4th title of the season in 24 starts. Rounding out the top 5 at East Lake were Cantlay (-21), Rahm (-20), Na (-16), Thomas (-15), Schauffele & Hovland (-14). The 2021-22 PGA season kicks off September 13th at the Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa, California.