Patrick Cantlay has quietly been on a bit of a heater at the end of this season. In his past 10 events ahead of the 2022 BMW Championship, Cantlay had five top-four finishes but no wins other than the team event in New Orleans.
He picked a great time to earn a first individual title, as Cantlay defended his BMW title from last year to give himself a great chance at claiming the FedEx Cup for a second consecutive year. He edged Scott Stallings by one shot after the two traded time holding the lead throughout the back nine.
Cantlay, now an eight-time PGA Tour champion, grabbed the lead back from Stallings for good with an impressive, nipped lob wedge shot (after a mammoth 351-yard tee shot that got a fortuitous kick around a fairway bunker) to close range for a birdie at the 17th hole.
Cantlay’s win was the result of the turn of a part of his game that he’d been struggling with despite his early-season success: his approach shots. Coming into the BMW Cantlay ranked 55th in strokes gained/approach and had been as low as 146th earlier in the season. This week, however, his normally reliable iron game (he ranked 10th in greens in regulation last season) showed up. Cantlay hit 13 of 18 greens in regulation Sunday and ranked seventh in SG/approach for the week.
The irons Cantlay uses are Titleist’s 718 AP2 model with True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 Tour Issue X100 shafts with Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips.
Not to be overlooked is the clutch two-putt birdie Cantlay made from 80 feet at the 14th and another solid lag putt from 46 feet at the last to seal the tournament. Cantlay uses a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 tour prototype mallet he first put in play at the 2021 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Cantlay worked with Scotty Cameron tour rep Drew Page on building the mid-mallet model, which gave Cantlay added stability through its compact wingback construction. Cantlay’s prototype features a double-bend shaft and is devoid of alignment features. Said Page: “The Phantom X 5 gives Patrick the stability he was looking for and without any lines he feels freed up to be more athletic with the putting stroke.”
And now he’s freed up to take a good run at defending his FedEx Cup title.
What Patrick Cantlay had in the bag at the 2022 BMW Championship:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TS3 (Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX), 9.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist 915F, 15 degrees
7-wood: Titleist TS2, 21 degrees
Irons (4-9): Titleist 718 AP2; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM7
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 (52 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM9 (57, 60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 prototype
