Patrick Cantlay won 36 holes at the Genesis Invitational.
His performance thus far has resembled his alma mater’s basketball program in the 1960s and 1970s, when John Wooden was at the helm.
Cantlay followed up Friday’s opening round 64 at Riviera with an impressive 6-under 65 and is now firmly in control of the tournament. The former UCLA Bruin holds a commanding five-shot lead over Jason Day, Luke List and Mackenzie Hughes midway through the championship.
“His putting is great and he’s putting the golf ball in the right place, which is really important around here,” Cantlay said after the match.
“This is a really comfortable golf course, in the best condition I’ve ever seen it. Well, it was a lot of fun to play this week.”
Cantlay leads in strokes gained, putting and overall strokes gained. He rolls the ball beautifully, which explains why he is leading the way.
But he also has plenty of experience in “Hogan’s Alley.” Cantlay played at Riviera numerous times throughout his college career and even appeared in the NCAA Championships during his sophomore year.
He knows this course inside out.
“It feels like a home game,” Cantlay added.
His home start began with a hard hit on the par-5 1st, the easiest hole on the course. Cantlay hit a 14-foot eagle and quickly improved to nine under par, clinching the victory.
He also made a spectacular par save on the 4th par-3 in the middle, where he had six consecutive pars.
A birdie followed on the par-4 8th hole, followed by a birdie on the par-5 11th.
At that point, he was 11 under par and held a three-shot lead.
But his shot of the day We were greeted by the par-4 15th, the most difficult hole on the Riviera and one of the most difficult on the entire PGA Tour.
After pulling his drive to the left of the fairway, Cantlay faced a delicate lie in Kaikuyu’s rough with 214 yards remaining. Then he hit a 4-iron, which bounced short of the green and rolled toward the hole. It stopped 3 feet short and led to Cantlay’s third birdie of the day.
“It was a 4-iron cut, and it just came out of the rough exactly as planned, rolled exactly as planned, and released exactly as planned,” Cantlay said of his shot.
“But it doesn’t always come from difficult situations.”
The former UCLA star also birdied the par-5 17th hole.
He finished the second round with zero bogeys. The only bogey he ever hit was on the 16th hole on Thursday.
That being said, Cantlay knows that despite the five-stroke advantage, this tournament isn’t over yet.
“It’s already halfway done. Stay in the moment and trust the process I have,” he explained. “We have a good game plan for this golf course, so we just have to stick to it.”
Wooden, who led his team to 10 national titles from 1963 to 1975, also had plenty of solid game plans.
Cantlay has yet to win a major, but this week he followed in the footsteps of the legendary UCLA coach and tactically executed his game plan around Riviera.
He knows what he has to do over the next 36 holes, but now it’s all about execution.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
