The American scored a final day under 69 at Wilmington Country Club to finish at 14 and edge compatriot Scott Stallings by one stroke.
The triumph secured the 30-year-old a $2.7 million share of the tournament’s $15 million purse and marked his ticket as the No. 2 seed to the Tour Championship at East Lake. Golf Club of Atlanta on Thursday.
Starting two strokes behind No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Cantlay will be looking to defend a second consecutive title following their wire-to-wire win at the season-ending event last September.
“I’m really well placed,” Cantlay told reporters.
“It will be a bit of a different challenge this year obviously being two behind Scottie. He’s played a lot of good golf this year so I expect the same. But it’s a golf course that I love. really, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
With the leading duo tied heading into the final two holes, a thrilling climax saw Cantlay’s booming tee shot narrowly jump over a bunker and settle 63 yards from the hole.
“I thought hitting him on that line would be in a bunker for sure,” Cantlay said.
“Possibly one of the best breaks I’ve had down the stretch, and when you get a break like that you have to pay for it, and luckily I did.”
A superb approach left the world No. 3 with a short putt for a birdie, and – as Stallings parried – Cantlay made no mistakes to advance.
After narrowly dodging the sand on the penultimate hole, fate caught up with Cantlay when his last tee shot landed in a bunker more than 150 yards from the pin. But the 30-year-old responded with what he called one of his best shots of the week, clipping his out shot to the green.
Although a 48-foot birdie putt failed to rob the American of a fairytale finish, Cantlay tapped home to retain the crown he won in Caves Valley, Maryland Last year.
The win marks Cantlay’s second of the PGA Tour season after winning the Zurich Classic in April. It might have been more had it not been for a trio of finalists at the WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage and Rocket Mortgage Classic, but Cantlay isn’t hung up on near misses.
“The thing I always remember when I finish second or come close is that Jack Nicklaus had more seconds in majors than he had wins,” he said. .
“That stat will shock you considering he has the most majors ever. Nobody would ever say he couldn’t close or nobody would say he crumbled under the pressure, and yet he had more second places than anyone else.
“You can’t always control what other people around you do or where you get the right bounce or the bad bounce. But by putting yourself in conflict over and over again, the bounces will come your way and you will get your fair share. share of victories,” he added.
Scheffler and Xander Schauffele led the chasing pack to finish 11 under, but it was a disastrous finish for world No. 8 Collin Morikawa.
After firing 65 shots on Saturday, the two-time major winner looked set to finish strong but saw his hopes of a late charge dashed by back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth holes.
A birdie on the fifth saw the 25-year-old jump to sixth, but disaster struck on the par-four 11th hole when he put four putts for a double bogey.
Yet the nightmare was just beginning, as Morikawa subsequently sent two shots into the water guarding the green on the 12th hole. A string of misfired putts compounded the American’s woes, as he eventually landed a 10-shot quintuple bogey, the highest tally he had ever managed on the PGA Tour.
Morikawa closed with six straight pars to card an eight of 79, finishing tied for 44th. Despite his last-round setbacks, the 2021 Open champion nonetheless qualified for Thursday’s Tour Championship, where he will start as the 20th seed in the 30-man field.
