Cantlay Wins Playoff With Historic Putting Performance at the BMW Championship

By Zack R., Team Titleist Staff On 30 August 2021 Balls Tour Clubs

PGA TOUR | BMW Championship

Titleist Brand Ambassador Patrick Cantlay – playing a Pro V1x golf ball and bag full of Titleist equipment, including a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 tour prototype putter – rolled in an 18-footer for birdie on the sixth hole of a sudden-death playoff to claim his fifth TOUR victory and earn the No. 1 position heading into next week’s FedExCup Playoffs finale.

  • Cantlay, who carded three 66’s along with a Friday 63 to make the playoff at 27 under, is now the only player to win three times this season on the PGA TOUR.
  • For the week, Cantlay hit 58 of 72 greens in regulation (81%) at Caves Valley and led the field with 31 birdies. 

CANTLAY’S HISTORIC PUTTING PERFORMANCE WITH PHANTOM X 5

  • Gaming a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 tour prototype putter, Cantlay gained more strokes putting (+14.6) than any player in a single tournament since they began tracking the statistic in 2004.
  • He made 537 feet of putts over the 72 holes of regulation, the longest of any player on the PGA TOUR this season by a margin of 30 feet.
  • Cantlay added another 33 feet, 6 inches of putts in the playoff, putting him over 570 feet (longer than 1 ½ football fields) for the week.
  • Cantlay first switched to the Phantom X 5 mid-mallet model at the Zurich Classic in late April, seeking added stability through the putter’s compact wingback construction. Three starts later, he used it to win The Memorial.
  • “A little different for me, I switched over into a mallet,” said Cantlay, who for years had played a blade-style Newport 2 GSS tour prototype.
  • “It’s more face-balanced, so it felt just a little easier to aim and it felt a little easier to swing just straight back and straight through. Launch conditions have been really good and I’ve been making some putts.”
  • Cantlay’s Memorial-winning Phantom X 5 featured a double bend shaft without alignment features.
  • Following the second round of last week’s Northern Trust, Cantlay switched into a similar Phantom X 5 configuration with a sight line on the topline (like the stock model).
  • Cantlay has also begun marking a line on his Pro V1x golf ball to help with short putts (see below).
  • “I have been working with the guys over at Scotty Cameron all year since I got into this new putter,” Cantlay said Sunday after his victory. “Finally have one that feels absolutely perfect, and I can’t thank those guys over at Scotty Cameron – Paul Vizanko and Jose [Hernandez] – enough. They just sent me a ton of putters, and I got the magic one now.”

CANTLAY ON HIS PRO V1x, NEW MARKING FOR ALIGNMENT

  • With one event left in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season, Cantlay is currently ranked fifth in Strokes Gained
  • Tee-to-Green (+1.41), while leading the TOUR in Scrambling at 67.7%.
  • His win Sunday marked the 35th win by Titleist golf ball players this season, seven times the nearest competitor (5). 
  • “I play the Pro V1x golf ball. It’s the best ball for me, it goes long off the tee and still has the right feel and precision around the greens,” Cantlay said. “Trying to optimize your numbers off the tee is huge and as long as it has that right feel and spin around the greens, that’s what I’m looking for.”
  • Cantlay – who marks his Pro V1x with a combination of several dots around the play number and on the T’s and I’s in “Titleist” – has also begun marking a line on the side of his ball to help with alignment on some short putts.
  • “That’s new, and I use it on shorter putts if they don't have very much break,” Cantlay said Sunday. “I thought it just maybe got me a little more specific on the really straight short putts, and I don’t use it on very many putts, but I think it’s helping a little bit on three-to-five footers.”

WHAT’S IN PATRICK CANTLAY’S BAG?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TS3 9.5° | Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX
Fairway: 915F 15.0° | Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 70 TX
Hybrid: TS2 21.0° | Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 80 TX
Irons: 718 AP2 (4-9) irons | True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Vokey Design SM7 (46.10F, 52.08F, 56.08M) & SM8 (61° Proto) | True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 tour prototype

EUROPEAN TOUR | Omega European Masters

The winner of the Omega European Masters switched this week from a competitive mallet model to a Scotty Cameron Special Select Masterful Tourtype SSS putter, after testing the Newport-style blade during the practice rounds.

  • His closing 7-under 63 featured just 26 putts, the last one a 9-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to claim the one-shot victory and his third European Tour title.

KORN FERRY TOUR | Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship

Titleist Brand Ambassador Bronson Burgoon – playing a Pro V1 golf ball, TSi4 driver and NEW T200 3-iron among his Titleist equipment – posted four rounds of 69 or better to finish T2 and move into the top spot on the Korn Ferry Tour’s Finals 25 points list.

  • The finish secured Burgoon his PGA TOUR card for the 2020-21 season by crossing the 210-point threshold the KFT is currently using as its fail-safe number for players to finish inside The Finals 25.
  • Burgoon was one of five Titleist golf ball players to secure their PGA TOUR cards Sunday, joining Alex Smalley (Pro V1x), Callum Tarren (Pro V1x), Vincent Whaley (Pro V1) and Scott Gutschewski (Pro V1x Yellow).
  • Aaron Rai (Pro V1), J.J. Spaun (Pro V1x) and Matthias Schwab (Pro V1x) locked up their TOUR cards at last week’s KFT Finals opener, with the remainder of the Finals 25 cards to be determined next week.

JAPAN TOUR | Sansan KBC Augusta

Scott Vincent (Pro V1x) posted a final-round 4-under 68 to win by one shot and claim his first Japan Tour title. The win follows Vincent’s 16th-place finish in Tokyo while representing Zimbabwe. 

SUNSHINE TOUR | Vodacom Origins of Golf - Sishen

Titleist Brand Ambassador Alex Haindl claimed the fifth victory of his career on the Sunshine Tour, closing in even-par 72 to win by one shot. 

WHAT’S IN ALEX HAINDL’S BAG?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: TSi2 11.0°
Fairway Metals: TSi3 16.5° & TSi2 21.0°
Irons: NEW T100 (4-9)
Wedges: Vokey Design SM8 46.10F, 50.08, 54.08, 60.04
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport

AMATEUR | U.S. Senior Amateur Championship

At the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur, more players are trusting their performance to Titleist than any other brand.

  • Of the 156 players competing at the Country Club of Detroit, Titleist is the top choice in golf balls, drivers, hybrids, utility irons, irons, and wedges.
  • A total of 137 players are teeing up either a Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x, Pro V1x Left Dash, AVX or Tour Speed golf ball, more than 15 times the nearest competitor (9);
  • Titleist is the most played driver (46 players), with 78% of the Titleist drivers in play being TSi models.
  • Titleist irons are in the bags of 47 players – with T100 models as the field favorites – compared to 27 for the nearest competitor;
  • There are 238 Vokey Design gap, sand and lob wedges in play, more than four times the nearest competitor (56).

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