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PGA Tour: can Patrick Cantlay win at Workday Charity Open?

By Tim Letcher

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT - JUNE 25: Patrick Cantlay of the United States plays a shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 25, 2020 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT - JUNE 25: Patrick Cantlay of the United States plays a shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 25, 2020 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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The last time the PGA Tour played an event at Muirfield Village, Patrick Cantlay won. Can he do the same this week at the Workday Charity Open?

Patrick Cantlay enters this week on the PGA Tour in a unique position. At this week’s Workday Charity Open, Cantlay will be playing on a course where, when it last hosted a tour event, Cantlay was the winner. However, as he enters this week, he’s not the defending champion.

Huh? What in the heck does all of that mean. Well, in case you’ve been living under a rock, here’s what happened.

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The PGA Tour and the state of Illinois agreed to cancel the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois, due to the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. With the Deere off the schedule, the tour needed a new place to play this weekend.

Enter Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson, who used their combined powers to fill the void in the tour schedule. Nicklaus offered his Muirfield Village Golf Club, which hosts the Memorial next week, while Mickelson got one of his main sponsors, Workday, to be the title sponsor for this week. And the Workday Charity Open was born.

The last time Muirfield Village hosted a tour event was at last year’s Memorial Tournament. That’s the event that Cantlay won, and the title which he will defend next week. But first, the California native gets another shot at the course that he really seems to like.

In addition to his win last season, Cantlay finished fourth at Muirfield in 2018 and 35th in 2017

Those are the only three appearances he has made in the event, but it shows that he definitely has a feel for the Nicklaus design.

In his only other start since the coronavirus shut down the tour in March, Cantlay tied for 11th at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago. In six events so far this season, Cantlay has five top 25 finishes and a pair of top 10s. He was second at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October, his best finish of the season.

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Cantlay is currently eighth in the Official World Golf Rankings and potentially on his way even higher on that list. Frankly, he has become one of the better players in the world since returning from a back injury that cost him all or parts of three seasons on tour (2014, 2015 and 2016).

With two PGA Tour victories under his belt, Cantlay would love to add a third. And he will definitely be in contention this week at Muirfield Village. And, for that matter, next week, too.

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