Patrick Cantlay, Lee Hodges continue birdie bonanza on PGA Tour at the American Express
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Patrick Cantlay stepped on the pedal early, threatened to shoot in the 50s, and settled for shooting 10-under par 62 at La Quinta Country Club.
As his swing coach Jamie Mulligan pointed out, there’s nothing wrong with settling for shooting 62, especially if it’s good enough for a share of the first-round lead (with rookie Lee Hodges) at The American Express. But after Cantlay opened 7 under through his first seven holes, the best start of his career, and improved to 10 under through 13 holes, even Cantlay expressed a tinge of disappointment.
“I stalled out a little bit,” said Cantlay, who finished with five straight pars. “This golf course definitely every hole is a birdie hole, especially if you drive it in the fairway.”
The reigning FedEx Cup champion shot 26 under at Kapalua’s Plantation Course in Maui at the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks ago and finished fourth, eight strokes back. This time of year, it’s make birdies or go home.
“Welcome to the new normal,” said Cantlay of the birdie-fest of late on the PGA Tour. “You’ll have to get into the 20s (under par) to have a chance to win.”
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Cantlay knocked a 6-iron to 35 feet and rolled in the eagle putt at the fifth and canned a 30-foot birdie putt at seven to set a torrid pace.
“It’s the best part of what I do is when you get on a roll like that and you’re making a bunch of birdies,” he said.
Three birdies in a row beginning at No. 11 and Cantlay, who shot 60 at the Travelers Championship as an amateur while still attending UCLA, had visions of a score in the 50s floating through his head. At that point, Cantlay, who grew up a couple hours down the road in Long Beach and had plenty of familiar faces in his gallery, was officially “in the flow,” according to Mulligan.
“It felt like he kind of picked up where he left off last year,” said Mulligan, referring to Cantlay’s final-round 61 at PGA West’s Stadium Course when he finished second in the American Express.
“Last year’s final round was really special,” Cantlay said. “Today this golf course is more, it’s more gettable. So, I played very nicely today but I maybe didn’t, I didn’t chip in or do anything crazy. If you play really well around this golf course you can shoot 8, 9, 10-under.”
Gettable, indeed. It was another typical “dome golf day” of blue skies and not a breath of wind. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who made an 11th-hour decision to play this week, returned to the desert for the first time since 2004 and found making birdies in bunches good for his confidence and the soul.
“I think my caddie and I are both looking at each other wondering why it’s taken us so long to get here,” he said. “It’s the place to play early in the season because you feel like you get the conditions to go out there and make some birdies and see exactly where your game is.”
Birdies were so plentiful that shooting 66, a score matched by World No. 1 Jon Rahm, wasn’t even good enough to finish in the top 10 by the end of the day. The tournament is contested over three courses – PGA West’s Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course are the others – and Rahm conceded he’ll have to do more damage the next three days to be part of the trophy hunt.
“You feel like if you come out here, if you’re not shooting 6-, 7-under for the most part, you’re almost losing strokes,” Rahm said.
K.H. Lee shot the lowest round at the Stadium Course, a 64, and was tied for third with rookie Cameron Young, who posted his 64 at La Quinta.
Hodges, 26, did two better than Young, his fellow Korn Ferry Tour grad, carding eight birdies and an eagle at the par-5 fifth en route to his lowest round of his career on Tour. After a missed cut last week, he said tried to enjoy the walk and that was the key to his success.
“I knew that my game was there to play really well, so just got to try to change a little bit of my attitude,” he said. “I think that was a big help.”
The always affable Harry Higgs was all smiles after his round, too, especially after using a 5-iron from 199 yards to ace the par-3 15th at La Quinta and shot 66.
But not everyone fared well at La Quinta. Reigning PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson, who serves as tournament host and is a former champion of the event too, made a nine on the par-4 eight hole and signed for 6-over 78.
