UCLA Alum Patrick Cantlay Among Big Names to Miss Cut at PGA Championship

The former college superstar struggled from the start of the first round Thursday to join Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler towards the bottom of the leaderboards.

Patrick Cantlay was in contention for a green jacket before slowly slipping down the leaderboards the last time he hit the links for a major.

This time around, he was out of the picture just a few holes in.

The former UCLA men's golf standout posted a 6-over 76 in the first round of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club on Thursday. Cantlay followed that up with a 5-over 75 in the second round on Friday to finish at 11-over, tie for 122nd and miss the cut altogether.

This marked the first time Cantlay missed the cut in his six appearances at the PGA Championship since 2017, falling far from his tie for third in 2019 and even his tie for 23rd last season.

Cantlay entered the weekend ranked No. 5 in the world, still just a few months removed from winning the FedEx Cup, PGA Tour Player of the Year and Ryder Cup. Cantlay had success earlier this season as well, winning the Zurich Classic with Xander Schauffele in late April after placing second at both the WM Phoenix Open and RBC Heritage.

The former Pac-10 Player of the Year was paired up with Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson for day one at Southern Hills, the No. 9 and No. 12 players in the world, respectively. Thomas is sitting in third place at 6-under heading into the final two days in Tulsa, but Johnson finished at 6-over and joined Cantlay in missing the cut.

World No. 1 and reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler tied Johnson in 89th, also failing to make it past the first two rounds.

Cantlay finished five strokes worse than that top-ranked duo, though, and things went wrong for the former Bruin from the very start.

After scoring par on the first hole, Cantlay picked up a bogey on two. He wiped it out with a birdie on three, only to bogey four and five to go right back over par.

Cantlay picked up five pars on his next six holes to slow the damage before bogeying 12 and 13 to continue the downfall. Cantlay looked to at least end the day one a high note after going par-birdie-par on 14, 15 and 16, but then he bogeyed the final two holes.

Day two featured fewer bogeys, but also fewer birdies, for Cantlay, who started the day toward the very bottom of the leaderboards alongside mostly club pros.

Cantlay cleaned up his act on the front nine on his second pass, only getting stuck with one bogey on the par-five fifth hole. Through 14, Cantlay was only 2-over for the round, but he picked up bogeys on 15, 16 and 18 to finish the day only one stroke better than he did Thursday.

A few other top-100 players finished below Cantlay, including No. 25 Daniel Berger.

Cantlay's only worse scores to par in his PGA Tour career came at the 2012, 2018 and 2020 US Opens, but he made the cut and played all four rounds in those performances.

While he has seven career victories on the PGA Tour, Cantlay has yet to win a major since leaving UCLA in 2011. His next opportunity will be at the US Open, which gets underway June 16 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube

Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA Olympic sports stories: UCLA Olympic Sports on Sports Illustrated