Bonus Golf. Again. Playoff golf tournaments, ending in sudden death playoffs. What a time to be a golf fan.
Cantlay beat out Bryson in the six playoff hole to capture the top spot in the BMW Championship and move to first in the FedEx Cup Standings in what was an incredible scoring weekend for much of the field. The conditions were ideal with very little wind, soft greens and some very get-able Par 5s and while no one cracked 30-under, it sure felt like were were going to see that at some point on Sunday.
It’s hard to talk much about how anyone else played other than Bryson and Cantlay, but we’ll do a short honorable mention section for the rest of the field real fast. Finau came back following his win in Jersey with a top 15 performance to put himself in a great spot going into East Lake, he just didn’t have the go-low magic from the week before. Sergio Garcia played really well also, playing his way into the TOUR Championship where he entered the week outside the bubble. Rory brought his playoff shoes, tied for the lead after the first round, but couldn’t post enough birdies he rest of the weekend to stay in contention. Maybe most notably, Erik Van Rooyen, who is currently playing exceptionally well, in his first year on the PGA Tour is making noise at the top of the leaderboard in two consecutive weeks of the playoffs. Don’t’ sleep on him in ATL. Finally, a quick shot out to Patrick Reed, who didn’t participate in either the Northern Trust, nor the BMW Championship due to a hospitalization, and STILL made the Top 30.
As well all know now, none of the good play from the rest of the field mattered, as DeChambeau and Cantlay finished 4 shots ahead of the next closest player and at some moments throughout the afternoon were as much as 6 strokes back. It looked like Bryson’s’ tournament to lose at many points on Sunday, but Cantlay was an absolute machine, matching Bryson’s mile-long drive with his own conservative stripes to the middle of the fairway. If you watched the playoff, you heard so many time the commentators say how many must make putts Cantlay had to hole to stay alive. Bryson missed what looked like pretty easy roll on the 2nd playoff hole for the win and at that moment, it’s almost like you knew Cantlay was going to sneak in an edge him out.
In any event, it was a BMW Championship to remember. The second consecutive playoff, in the playoffs.
The Road to East Lake has ended. We’re here.
Oh yeah, Ryder Cup. #LFG
