Cantlay Claims BMW Championship & Hojgaard Holds Out on European Tour

Patrick Cantlay’s amazing season continues winning the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club - his third victory of the season.  Whilst on the European Tour Rasmus Hojgaard closed with a sensation bogey-free round of 63 to claim his third European Tour title.

Cantlay Claims BMW Championship

PATRICK CANTLAY’S amazing season continues. The American won the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club - his third victory of the season - to lock down his Ryder Cup berth and go to the top of the FedExCup standings heading to the Tour Championship at East Lake.

He defeated DeChambeau with a birdie at the sixth hole of a marathon playoff.

“I'm as focused as I can be on every single shot, and I try not to let my mind get past the moment that I'm in,” he said, "and maybe that's why I come across a little sedated out there.

“But I'm locked in, and I'm as focused as I can be. Then I kind of let the chips fall where they do. Try not to get caught up in being out-driven 45 yards or whatever it is. I just try and lock in and do my absolute best in that moment, and my best is pretty good.”

His performance on the greens was outstanding. Cantlay holed a mind-boggling 537 feet of putts over four rounds.
“The putter felt great. I actually switched to that putter through two rounds last week, so I think I took it out on Saturday last week, and I have been working with the guys over at Scotty Cameron all year since I got into this new putter around maybe Wells Fargo was the first week I put this model in.

“I finally have one that feels absolutely perfect, and I can't thank those guys over at Scotty Cameron, Paul Vizanko and José, enough. They just sent me a ton of putters, and I got the magic one now.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing though. DeChambeau had taken the lead the hole before but left his iron shot on 17 short in the rough. The door was open.Cantlay found the water instead of the green. After a drop 100 yards out he recovered to eight-feet and then didn’t bat an eyelid as DeChambeau dropped his chip 10-feet short and missed the par. Cantlay made the clutch bogey putt.

Trailing by a stroke with a hole to play he hit his approach to 21-feet to at least give himself a chance. DeChambeau hit it to 12-feet. But Cantlay made his birdie before his opponent missed and sent the contest to extra holes.

As DeChambeau missed a few chances, Cantlay’s confidence grew. But when DeChambeau’s shot on the fifth playoff hole stopped six feet from the pin, Cantlay needed to dig deep. He hit it to two feet.

One more trip up the 18th followed and Cantlay’s approach stopped 17-feet from the hole. DeChambeau hit it to eight feet.
Of course Cantlay holed the putt. DeChambeau couldn’t match and it was over.

So now attention turns to East Lake and the TOUR Championship were Cantlay starts at 10-under par, two clear of Tony Finau, three ahead of DeChambeau, four clear of Jon Rahm and five ahead of Cameron Smith. The remaining 25 players will be staggered between six and 10 back. But in order to win the FedExCup Cantlay has to beat a course where his three previous appearances yielded T20-T21-T21 in the 30-man field. He says putting the ball in the fairway more often will be a key factor for him to improve, as will leaving uphill putts on the sloped greens.

“I’ll be trying to reset and play the golf tournament like any other golf tournament, just trying to put a bunch of rounds in the 60s on the board. It's a really good golf course. It's usually in fantastic shape,” Cantlay said “I haven't played that well there in the past, that's true, but it's a golf course I like. I like the visuals out there, and I'm looking forward to having a better result this year.”

Hojgaard Holds Out on European Tour

IF AUSTRIA’S Bernd Wiesberger fails to make Europe’s Ryder Cup team he will have a difficult time forgetting the 72nd hole of the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre. He stood on the tee with a one-shot lead, hit his drive into a bunker, his second in the water protecting the green and then two-putted. It all added up to a soul-destroying double-bogey and meant he lost by a shot to Rasmus Hojgaard.

The 20-year-old Dane closed with a sensation bogey-free round of 63 to claim his third European Tour title with a 72-hole total of 13 under par, and you can be sure that there will be many, many to come. But this shouldn’t have been on of them.

Wiesberger was in poll position to force his way into the automatic qualifying places for Europe's Ryder Cup team until his final-hole disaster.

The young Dane appeared to be too far behind to get into contention after just two birdies and 10 pars over the first 12 holes, but he vaulted into the running with birdies at 13 and 15 either side of an eagle at the long 14th.

Hojgaard backed up a bold approach to seven feet beyond the pin at the last with a perfectly-judged putt which capped a sensational burst of scoring down the stretch and swept him into the clubhouse lead, with Wiesberger providing the only real threat as the final pairing of Matthew Jordan, Sean Crocker and Renato Paratore leaving themselves too far behind to challenge.

Wiesberger rolled in his fifth birdie putt of the day at the 12th and matched Hojgaard's eagle at the 14th only to give one back with a scrappy six at the next, although the Austrian bounced back with a birdie at 16 to restore his two-shot lead at the time.

Hojgaard's closing three reduced that deficit to one, and the pressure told on Wiesberger at the last as he threw away the chance of his ninth European Tour title and a place in the top nine qualifiers for Padraig Harrington's Ryder Cup team.

"I'm very proud," said Hojgaard. "It's very special. It's an amazing place and I can't wait to come back again.

"At the moment it's a bit surreal. I didn't expect to be in this position but it's amazing. I knew I had to make a birdie at the 18th to have a chance to maybe get in the play-off, so we were just trying to set up a chance.

"I made a birdie and then we had a bit of a strange ending. It was crazy. That's by far the most nervous I've been the whole day. But it's so nice to have the crowds back to cheer you on. That was a great moment."

With only two events remaining before Team Europe is finalised following the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Wiesberger may now have to rely on a captain's pick if he is to make his debut in the contest at Whistling Straits next month.

Harrington has hinted that Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia are the favourites for two of his three wildcard selections, and Henrik Stenson stated a case to be the third as he also fired a 63 on the final day in the Swiss Alps.

The veteran Swede birdied five of the first six holes, although he picked up only two more as he closed on 11 under to finish in outright third place ahead of Jordan (69), Crocker (70) and England's Ross McGowan, who got to 14 under after turning in 31 before frittering away three shots on the back nine.