Patrick Cantlay Posts Strong Back 9 in First Round of Open Championship

The former UCLA men's golfer closed Thursday with four birdies and two bogeys to remain in the top 30.

Patrick Cantlay started slow in his latest push for his first major championship, but he managed to play himself back into contention at the home of golf.

The former UCLA men's golf standout finished the first round of The Open Championship in an eight-way tie for 27th after shooting a 2-under 70. Cantlay is No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings and No. 4 in the World Golf Rankings, but he started Thursday over par and was at risk of falling out of the picture right off the bat.

Cantlay has one PGA Tour win in the 2022 season – following three wins and a Ryder Cup victory in 2021 – but his success in the majors has not exactly followed the same pattern. After tying for 39th at The Masters, Cantlay missed the cut at the PGA Championship. Cantlay was able to tie for 14th at The US Open, although he finished the first two rounds over par and needed a late push to avoid missing the cut.

A fourth-place finish at The Scottish Open earlier in July seemingly gave Cantlay a boost heading into his next major appearance in the same country, but he was not able to similarly surge ahead early at The Open.

Cantlay parred the first two holes, only to three-putt on three and get stuck with a quick bogey. He went into the sand on four and did not have a birdie one-third of the way through his opening round.

A 95-yard approach that wound up 7 feet from the hole got Cantlay rolling, though, as he finally came through with a birdie on seven. Cantlay replicated that on the par four 10th, nailing the green from 154 yards out to set up a 15-foot birdie putt.

Cantlay, finally under par, nearly wiped out his recent success when he tried to drive the green on the par four 12th. His tee shot wound up going 366 yards and sailing over the green, forcing him to take a drop.

From 90 yards out, Cantlay came inches away another birdie and saved par. Cantlay played a clean hole on the par five 14th, sinking a putt from 13 feet to get down to 2-under on the day.

That birdie, however, was immediately wiped out by a bogey on 15, which featured a trip to the bunker and a missed 19-foot putt.

Cantlay stabilized with pars on 16 and 17, then hit a 7-foot putt on 18 to close out the round with a birdie.

The first top-20 major finish of Cantlay's professional career came back at the 2018 Open Championship, when he tied for 12th in his first-ever appearance at the event. Since then, though, Cantlay has has tied for 41st and missed the cut at his last two trips to the Open.

Starting things off under par and in the top 30 gives Cantlay a chance to post one of the best overseas performances of his career.

Leaving UCLA after two award-winning seasons, Cantlay was the top-ranked amateur in the world in both 2011 and 2012. His success at the college level, in addition to his 10 years on tour, was enough to earn Cantlay a spot in the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2022 on July 6.

Cantlay will tee off at 10:20 a.m. local time, or 2:20 a.m. PST.

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