This time of year is proving to be Patrick Cantlay’s time as the 30-year-old successfully defended his 2021 BMW Championship crown with a win over the weekend at the Wilmington Country Club. Cantlay finished -14 to outlast a top three leaderboard that also featured Scott Stallings, Scottie Scheffler, and Xander Schauffele.
Cantlay became the first golfer since Nick Price in 1993-94 to repeat as the BMW Championship winner. Cantlay moved up to second place in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the final tournament of the season next weekend at East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta.
Cantlay Pulling Through
Cantlay is close to joining some rare company as Tiger Woods (2007, 2009) and Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019) are the only two golfers to ever win multiple FedEx Cup Championships. McIlroy was the 10/1 favorite heading into the weekend, shooting -9, which was good enough for a T8 finish.
Instead, it was Cantlay who cashed in at 12/1 pre-tournament odds. This was Cantlay’s first individual win of the season after he also was victorious at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans paired with Schauffele. Cantlay also has three runner-up finishes on the year and is up to third in the OWGR.
Cantlay will now start two shots back from Scheffler at next weekend’s Tour Championship with an $18 million prize on the line. Although Woods and McIlroy both have multiple FedEx Cup championships, neither has won back-to-back, which Cantlay has a great chance to do next weekend in Atlanta.
Cantlay’s win on Sunday was actually the first time a golfer had defended a tournament title during the FedEx Cup playoffs, which started in 2007.
Another Close Call for Scheffler
Scheffler heads into the final tournament of the year as the top-ranked golfer in the FedEx Cup standings, something that was surely helped out by Will Zalatoris having to withdraw on Saturday due to a back injury. Zalatoris had risen to the top of the standings after last week’s win at the FedEx St. Jude championship, but he got zero points this week and dropped to third.
Scheffler has a great chance of earning his first ever FedEx Cup championship win, starting with a two-stroke lead next weekend in Atlanta. That almost seems criminal to give Scheffler even more of an edge as Sunday’s third-place finish was his ninth time coming in the top five this season.
Long Season Catching Up
It is unknown if Zalatoris will play next weekend after his back injury, and with Cameron Smith missing the BMW championship to rest a nagging hip ailment, that’s two players in the top six whose status is questionable for the Tour Championship.
Sunday at the Wilmington Country Club was interesting, with Collin Morikawa recording the worst hole of his Tour career with a quintuple bogey on the par-5 12th hole. Morikawa still advanced to next weekend’s Tour Championship as the #20 seed, something Shane Lowry cannot claim after he was bumped for the final spot by Adam Scott.
