Hats, shirts, poker chips and more. Check out the merch for sale in the 404 at the 2022 Tour Championship.
The 2021-22 PGA Tour season comes to an end this week in Atlanta at the Tour Championship hosted by East Lake Golf Club.
The top-29 players in the FedEx Cup standings (No. 3 Will Zalatoris withdrew Tuesday) will duel it out over the next four days for not only the FedEx Cup but an $18 million bonus.
Scottie Scheffler teed off Thursday with a two-shot lead over Patrick Cantlay, the defending FedEx Cup champion. Cantlay rose to No. 2 in the standings after he won the BMW Championship last week for the second straight year.
East Lake is a par-70 track that measures 7,346 yards.
Check out some of the best items in the merchandise tent this week in the ATL.
Cantlay is the first player to successfully defend a FedEx Cup Playoff event.
WILMINGTON, Del. – Patrick Cantlay drove off with the BMW Championship trophy again.
The 30-year-old Californian made birdie at the 17th hole at the south course at Wilmington Country Club on Sunday and held on for a one-stroke victory over Scott Stallings. Cantlay shot 2-under 69 for a 72-hole total of 14-under 268 and became the first player to successfully defend a FedEx Cup Playoffs event.
A year ago, Patrick Cantlay needed six extra holes at Caves Valley to claim the BMW title en route to winning the FedEx Cup. New course, but same result as Cantlay claimed his eighth PGA Tour title and second of the season.
Cantlay won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Xander Schauffele as his partner, but hadn’t won an individual title since going back-to-back at the BMW and Tour Championship last year. Scottie Scheffler, who tied for third, will start next week in the driver’s seat at 10 under with a two-stroke lead at the Tour Championship, where the FedEx Cup title will be on the line.
“This is the only week of the year where you actually get strokes on the field, but I think I’ll be best suited if I just ignore that and just go out there and play my game and do my best,” Scheffler said.
Patrick Cantlay plays a second shot on the eighth hole during the final round of the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club on August 21, 2022 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Cantlay will start in second place, two strokes back of Scheffler in the staggered-start leaderboard; no player has ever defended the FedEx Cup title.
“I’m in a really good spot,” Cantlay said. “It’ll be a little different type of a challenge this year, obviously, being two behind Scottie. He’s played a lot of great golf this year, so I expect the same. But it’s a golf course I really like, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Stallings, who closed in 69, was seeking his fourth PGA Tour title and first since the 2014 Farmers Insurance Open. He missed a 9-foot birdie putt at 18 that would have tied Cantlay.
“It did what exactly we thought it was going to do, it just did it behind the hole,” Stallings said.
But the 37-year-old Stallings, who started the week No. 47 in the points standings, did succeed in booking his first trip to the Tour Championship, which is reserved for the top 30 in the season-long FedEx Cup point standings, in his 12th year on Tour.
“That was my number one goal to start the year,” Stallings said. “To compete with the best players in the world and make it to East Lake was better late than never, I guess.”
Cantlay opened with a pair of 68s and then surged into the lead with a hole-out eagle at 14 and overcame missing some short putts on Saturday to shoot 65.
In the final round, he trailed Stallings by two strokes after making his second bogey of the day at No. 10, but he was rock-solid from there. He made three birdies on his way to the clubhouse, with birdies at Nos. 11, 14 and 17. The last of the bunch included a 351-yard drive that benefited from a good bounce as his blast landed short of the bunker, hopped over the sand, wangled its way through the first cut and into the fairway just 64 yards from the hole. From there, he wedged to 6 feet.
“Maybe one of the best breaks I’ve gotten coming down the stretch, and when you get a break like that you need to pay it off, and fortunately I did,” Cantlay said.
But after a wayward drive into a fairway bunker, Cantlay still needed one more trick up his sleeves to close out the win. He hit a big slice 8-iron from 158 yards, which found the green 47 feet away.
“It came off almost exactly how I would have pictured it, how I visualized it,” he said.
In the tournament within the tournament to finish in the top 30 in the points and qualify for the FedEx Cup finale next week at the Tour Championship, K.H. Lee, who finished as the odd man out last year at No. 31, made birdie at the first four holes and shot 65 to jump from No. 35 at the start of the day to No. 26. Rookie Sahith Theegala made birdies on four of his final seven holes to shoot 68 and finish No. 28. Australia’s Adam Scott scrambled for par out of a greenside bunker at the last that kept him in the top 30 (No. 29) and prevented Ireland’s Shane Lowry to qualify for next week in Atlanta for the first time in his career. Aaron Wise squeaked in at No. 30 despite a final-round 73, 19 points ahead of Lowry.
“I guess that’s the beauty of the FedEx Cup Playoffs the way they are,” Scott said. “You can scratch it around a lot for the year and have a couple good weeks and get heavily rewarded by getting to East Lake and being in that top 30 and all the perks that come with it.”
“Sometimes it’s good to see that and you can draft off each other, but also just to know that it’s really out there.”
Adam Scott quite literally played a game of follow the leader during the first round of the 2022 BMW Championship.
The 42-year-old was pleased with his 6-under 65 on Thursday at Wilmington Country Club and sits just one shot behind early-wave leader and playing partner, Keegan Bradley. Harold Varner III, Shane Lowry and Justin Thomas sit T-3 at 5 under.
“I watched Keegan, he played beautifully today, and I was really just trying to follow his lead,” said Scott. “He kind of had everything going the way he wanted, and most of the time he was teeing off first and I was just trying to follow.
“I think I was drafting off him. He shot 6-under the front and was running. Sometimes it’s good to see that and you can draft off each other, but also just to know that it’s really out there,” he explained. “When you get off to a slower start sometimes, you can make the course harder than it really is, and Keegan made it look easy today, so I tried to take advantage of that, as well.”
“It was really a fun day today playing with Adam,” Bradley added. “It’s always great playing with Adam, but we both were playing really well, hitting good shots, making putts. It was a blast.”
Scott made just one bogey Thursday and continues an impressive recent run of form. At last week’s FedEx Cup Playoffs opener, Scott moved up 37 spots in the standings to No. 42 after his T-5 finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He’ll need another solid finish of 23rd or better during this week’s second leg of the Playoffs if he’s to move inside the top 30 and advance to the season finale, next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
“I think more than anything out of Memphis, I got some confidence out of having a result with maybe not my best stuff all four days,” Scott said. “It is a nice feeling walking on to any golf course when the confidence is a bit higher, and I certainly felt a sense of ease with that today.
“Last week I obviously had the same situation. I wasn’t in. But I really focused more on trying to put myself into win a golf tournament last week and just play the golf tournament as usual, and that would kind of get it done. It made me only have one focus, and that was on the tournament at hand. I think that’s kind of how I started today.”
Similar to Scott, Bradley tried not to focus on what he needs to do at minimum in order to advance to the Tour Championship. It may sound cliché, but his lone goal is to play his best and let the rest fall into place.
“I never look to see what I have to do because whether I play in this tournament or Sony or any tournament, I always want to do the best I can, whether it’s 35th instead of 36th or first, whatever it is,” Bradley said. “I never feel like that helps me, I feel like it hurts me actually. But this is a good start, obviously.”
Check out the best photos of the week from Delaware.
Just two weeks remain in the PGA Tour season.
This week’s 2022 BMW Championship at the lengthy Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, doubles as the second leg of the season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs. The loaded field consists of 69 of the top players from the last season – Cameron Smith withdrew earlier in the week – and the top 30 on the FedEx Cup points list after this week will advance to next week’s finale, the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. Tiger Woods was even in Delaware this week, but it wasn’t to play.
Take a scroll through some of the best images of the week from the PGA Tour’s 2022 BMW Championship.
Professional athletes have long been known to give boring answers to the media, and professional golfers are no different. That is unless you ask PGA Tour players how they feel about the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Then they’ll really break it down for you.
Such was the case for last year’s defending champion Patrick Cantlay and U.S. Open champions Jon Rahm (2021) and Matt Fitzpatrick (2022) ahead of this week’s 2022 BMW Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs held this year at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.
All three players spoke to the media on Tuesday, and each was asked how they feel about the season-long race for the cup. The trio gave constructive criticism while critiquing the format, even noting they don’t have the answers to fix the issues. Here’s what they had to say.
The penultimate event of the FedExCup Playoffs is returning to familiar ground in a few years.
The penultimate event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs is returning to familiar grounds in a few years.
Ahead of the 2022 BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware, on Tuesday the PGA Tour announced the event will be held at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, in 2025 and Bellerive Country Club, in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2026. Dates have yet to be finalized, but both events are scheduled for August.
“We are excited to bring the BMW Championship back to these iconic venues, giving the amazing fans of the greater Baltimore and St. Louis areas a chance to see the best players in the world up close,” said Vince Pellegrino, the Western Golf Association’s Senior Vice President of Tournaments. “When we consider potential hosts, we look for challenging layouts that can deliver an unmatched experience for fans and our PGA Tour partners. Caves Valley Golf Club and Bellerive Country Club are the perfect additions to our championship lineup.”
Caves Valley hosted last year’s BMW Championship, won by eventual FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, and helped contribute a record $5.6 million to the Evans Scholars Foundation for caddie scholarships and to establish the Caves Valley Evans Scholars Scholarship House at the University of Maryland.
“It is a tremendous honor for Caves Valley Golf Club to once again host this prestigious championship,” Caves Valley Golf Club President Steve Fader said. “We are still buzzing from last year’s finish and the spotlight that was placed on the Baltimore area. The club will continue its Long-Range Strategic Plan, working with the Fazio Design Group to enhance competitive and agronomic conditions for its membership and all involved with the 2025 BMW Championship.”
Bellerive Country Club previously hosted the 2008 BMW Championship, where Camilo Villegas earned his first PGA Tour win. The club also hosted the 1965 U.S. Open, when Gary Player completed his career grand slam, as well as the 1992 and 2018 PGA Championships. Bellerive will also host the Presidents Cup in 2030.
“Bellerive is thrilled to host the 2026 BMW Championship and welcome the FedExCup Playoffs back to St. Louis,” said Bellerive Country Club President Rick Walsh. “Our club has a storied history of major championship golf. We expect to present a formidable test for the players while celebrating our incredible and supportive community.”
The tournament dates back to 1899, when it debuted as the Western Open, and is the third-oldest tournament on the Tour’s schedule behind only the British Open and U.S. Open. Since 2007, the BMW Championship has raised more than $40 million for caddie scholarships and has helped to send more than 3,300 men and women to college.
The BMW Championship heads back to Olympia Fields Country Club in Chicago in 2023 and will debut at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado, near Denver in 2024.
“I play golf so I can be in those moments against the best players in the world.”
The legend of Patty Ice vociferously commenced in the soft hills of Maryland on the last day of rest in August 2021 at a place called Caves Valley Golf Club.
Matched against the Paul Bunyan character otherwise known as Bryson – some called him Bison – DeChambeau, calm, cool and collected Patrick Cantlay outlasted his muscular foe in front of thousands of fans testing the limits of their vocal cords to win the BMW Championship, the second of three legs forming the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
In an instant classic, Cantlay and his stoic, unflappable and unhurried ways outlasted the thundering force of DeChambeau to win a six-hole playoff by making a 17-footer for birdie on the 78th hole in the fading light.
But Cantlay dished up heroics before that, plenty of them, including rolling in a 21-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to force the playoff, then staving off defeat on the first three extra holes with mid-range par putts. On the fifth extra hole, after DeChambeau knocked his tee shot to 6 feet on the par-3 17th, Cantlay watched his approach stop three feet from the cup.
After both found the fairway on the sixth playoff hole, Cantlay ended matters.
Throughout the finishing stages of regulation and the playoff, chants of “Patty Ice” whistled through the galleries, a takeoff on “Matty Ice,” the nickname of equally composed Matt Ryan, then the Atlanta Falcons quarterback.
“It was kind of the first time I had heard it ever, and I think it suits me – I think,” Cantlay said. “It rings a little true of my personality, and I think a moniker that really rings – that just has a partial bit of truth but maybe a larger exaggeration, or a larger – I don’t know what the right word is – but it tries to say almost too much but yet it just rings a little true.”
That week, Cantlay stuck to his own blueprint, stayed in his own quiet world, and unleashed his own style of fireworks in toppling his playing partner in a playoff. Cantlay gained 14.58 strokes on the field with his putting, the most strokes gained putting in a 72-hole event since tracking began on the PGA Tour in 2004. He made more than 537 feet of putts this week. And he was undaunted despite being outdriven all day – DeChambeau hit 48 drives longer than 320 yards for the week.
Both finished regulation at 27 under – Cantlay with rounds of 66-63-66-66, DeChambeau with rounds of 68-60-67-66. Cantlay made 31 birdies for the week while DeChambeau made 27 birdies and four eagles.
“If I look the way I do, it’s because I am locked in and focused, and I felt like that today,” Cantlay said. “My game feels really good. It has for a while now, since Memorial, and I’m finally starting to putt like me again.
“I’m as focused as I can be on every single shot, and I try not to let my mind get past the moment that I’m in, and maybe that’s why I come across a little sedated out there. But I’m locked in, and I’m as focused as I can be. Then I kind of let the chips fall where they do. Try not to get caught up in being out-driven 45 yards or whatever it is. I just try and lock in and do my absolute best in that moment, and my best is pretty good.”
Patty Ice
The following week, in Atlanta, of all places, which is where Matt Ryan played his entire NFL career before a 2022 trade sent him to Indianapolis, Cantlay got a Falcons jersey featuring his name and Ryan’s number. Then he won $15 million.
Because of the staggered scoring format used in The Tour Championship, Cantlay started the week with a two-shot lead at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Despite sleeping on the lead for seven nights, Cantlay never blinked. In the final round, where Cantlay and then world No. 1 Jon Rahm became a two-man race late in the day, basically playing for $10 million (the difference between the first-place prize money of $15 million and the second-place prize money of $5 million), the stoic Cantlay never buckled.
He and his magical putter canned a 6-footer for birdie on the 16th to get two clear of Rahm, the only player to ever get into a tie with Cantlay over the four days (and that came in the third round). Then Cantlay dug deep to make another 6-footer, this one for bogey on the 17th, to stay one shot ahead of Rahm. And on the 579-yard, par-5 18th, Cantlay had to step up after Rahm rifled a mid-iron from 232 yards to just 18 feet past the hole on the fringe.
Patrick Cantlay of the United States celebrates with a “Patty Ice” Atlanta Falcons jersey after winning during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on September 05, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Knowing he needed to make at least a birdie, Cantlay, after he hit his best drive of the day which went 361 yards, ripped a 6-iron from 218 yards to 11 feet. After Rahm scared the hole with his chip, Cantlay putted to six inches and tapped in for the winning birdie and the $15 million grand prize.
“I just kept telling myself to focus and lock in and I did a great job of that today,” Cantlay said. “It was tough (sleeping on the lead). It was the longest lead I’ve ever held. But I just tried to stay, day after day, in the present, and I did an amazing job of that this week because the last couple days I made some mistakes I don’t usually make and I was able to really center myself and hit a lot of good shots when I needed to.”
It was Cantlay’s fourth win in the 50 events played in the “super season” caused by COVID-19. In a campaign that included six major championships and 43 different winners, Cantlay was the only player to win more than two tournaments.
And his wins were big. He held off Rahm and Justin Thomas to win the Zozo Championship in the fall by one shot, defeated Collin Morikawa on the first playoff hole to win the Memorial, topped DeChambeau in the BMW Championship, and stayed ahead to better Rahm in The Tour Championship.
“I play golf so I can be in those moments against the best players in the world. It’s why I practice so hard. It’s why I’m in love with the game because it’s that great vehicle for competition. It maybe makes it a little sweeter knowing that the guys I played against are the best players in the world,” Cantlay said.
Ten days later, Cantlay received the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year (voted on by his peers).
“I think the fact that it’s voted on by my fellow PGA Tour players, I think that means a lot to me and I’m very grateful,” Cantlay said. “I think it wasn’t something that I necessarily thought was on the radar middle of the year, but then I closed really well and played a lot of really nice golf towards the end.”
Long road back
Before Cantlay won $20 million in a three-month blitz to end his 2021 campaign, before he was part of the USA’s rout of Europe in his first Ryder Cup last fall, and long before people started shouting Patty Ice, Cantlay was among the game’s best players. He was a decorated amateur who spent nearly 60 weeks as the No. 1 amateur in the game. In 2011, the 19-year-old UCLA star shot 60 in the Travelers Championship, the lowest number ever posted by an amateur in PGA Tour history. After turning pro in 2012, he won twice before his 2020-2021 monster season despite battling a brittle back that sent him to the sidelines many times.
It also was a time Cantlay dealt with personal heartbreak and recovery.
Just a few weeks after he was told he needed to take nearly a year off to rest his ailing back, Cantlay was in Newport Beach on February 13, 2016, when his best friend and caddie, Chris Roth, was killed while crossing an intersection. Cantlay was less than 10 feet away from the accident and was covered in blood when he spoke to officers after the accident.
With the help of his family and a few friends closest to him, Cantlay got through the unimaginable trauma while healing his back.
“There is no question I’m a different person than I was back then, having gone through those experiences,” Cantlay said in 2020. “It certainly wasn’t easy. And I try not to think back to those days. It changed me and I like who I am now.”
That includes opening up a bit more with the media. While Cantlay, who turned 30 in March, still prefers to let his clubs do the talking, his press conferences and scrums with the media leave reporters with their notebooks full and excited to get to a laptop to start pecking away.
He can comfortably and astutely talk music, politics, world affairs, gin rummy, mathematics, the inner workings of the PGA Tour and so much more. He’s studious, prepared and doesn’t waste a word. His exchanges are educational.
“I only talk about something I know about,” he said. “Or if I’m trying to learn.”
He by no means is a nerd. He can give and take the needle, is pleasant and polite, and never lets anyone think he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room.
“People probably don’t see it, but Pat can relax with the best of them,” said Xander Schauffele, who has struck up a tight bond with Cantlay since the two successfully partnered in the 2019 Presidents Cup and then in the 2021 Ryder Cup. The two and their significant others vacationed together in Napa, California, after the Ryder Cup. “It’s not easy to become friends out here on the PGA Tour because we want to beat everyone all the time. Yes, we’re competitive and we push each other, but we like each other. We enjoy talking and spending time together.
“And he has this incredible ability to focus. He took on the Ryder Cup and came away unscathed. And that’s the most stressful golf we play.”
Since his victory in The Tour Championship, Cantlay hasn’t been able to produce the magic of that three-month blitz where he was the best player in the world. While he began 2022 with four top-10s in as many starts, he has yet to add to his victory total in 13 starts through the Travelers Championship. It’s not that he’s played poorly – he has six top-10s, including playoff losses to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth. And he still has residence in the top 10 in the official world golf rankings. Unlike in 2020-21, he just hasn’t closed the door.
But just as he did walking alongside DeChambeau in the BMW Championship, he won’t panic. He’s Patty Ice, after all, just ready to close the door on more victories.
Check out the best photos of the week from Memphis.
It’s time for the playoffs.
The race for the PGA Tour’s biggest prize, the FedEx Cup, has transitioned from the regular season to postseason with this week’s 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
The top 125 players from the season-long points list have qualified for the event, with the top 70 after this week advancing to next week’s BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware. The top 30 will then advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
Take a scroll through some of the best images of the week from the PGA Tour’s 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship.
NFL head coaches are always good for some of the best tirades we’ve ever seen in sports. You’ve got Dennis Green’s “They are who we thought they were” that is absolutely legendary. Herm Edwards’ “You play to win the game,” masterpiece. There are so many more that come with that, too.
What might be even better than those, though, is Jim Mora’s “Playoff” rant. The coach was asked about the Colt’s playoff chances after a game where they turned the ball over 5 times (!!!).
We’re just over two decades away from the rant and it still reverberates across sports. Today, specifically, it showed up in the golf world.
Harold Varner III, who is one of the 125 players preparing to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs this weekend, had an absolutely perfect putter head cover celebrating his accomplishment.
Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. He has the quote down perfectly and it’s just such a creative cover to have. 10 out of 10. This thing is perfect in every way.
Playoffs?!? Just the best.
Watch our sneaker unboxing series, Special Delivery
LIV Golf just continues to be an embarrassment and Rory isn’t letting it slide
LIV Golf, man. Every single time you hear something about the Saudi-funded organization it just feels more and more unserious.
The most ridiculous recent news had LIV players attempting to sue the PGA Tour for blocking them from participating in the FedEx Cup Playoffs because of their participation with LIV.
The LIV Golf lawyer’s arguments in court on Tuesday were pretty weak. They openly admitted LIV golfers might actually be golfing for nothing. The lawyer also compared the FedEx Cup to the PGA Tour’s Super Bowl — which it totally is not. Obviously.
The argument is looking pretty weak at this point, but that’s neither here nor there. What you’re here for is this absolutely brilliant troll from Rory McIlroy.
A reporter at the St. Jude Championship asked McIlroy if the FedEx Cup is the “hardest trophy to win,” which is a question he came up with after hearing the comparisons from the hearing.
McIlroy’s response was both parts brilliant and absolutely hilarious.
“Reporter: This is a question I thought of that actually came out of that hearing and since you would know better than anybody, is this the hardest trophy to win? The FedEx Cup?
McIlroy: Is the Super Bowl the hardest trophy to win in football?
Reporter: We’re talking about golf, Rory.”
HILARIOUS. McIlroy’s immediate pan into the camera like he’s on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasmis the best part of it all. You can just hear the music playing here.
That’s so brilliant, man. Fans were so here for it.
Watch our sneaker unboxing series, Special Delivery
