The Memorial Tournament looked to be Martin Kaymer’s to win on Sunday. That was until American Patrick Cantlay took on board the advice of golf legend, Jack Nicklaus, to secure his second PGA Tour title.
The 27-year-old started the day 4-strokes behind the overnight leader, but an aggressive back nine approach help Cantlay to quickly move into contention. He was able to hold his nerve, overtaking Kaymer and Adam Scott to win by 2 with an impressive 8-under 64.
“It feels really, really good to finish it off how I did today,” said Cantlay afterwards. “I knew I had a little bit of a mountain to climb to start the day. A couple of guys ahead of me, two and four shots ahead of me, and guys that have played really well and closed out golf tournaments. I knew I needed to come out firing and make a bunch of birdies, and I did.”
Something else that might have helped Cantlay was a little advice from Nicklaus on Friday at Muirfield Village.
“I was in there having lunch after the early morning round on Friday, and he grabbed me aside and said, ‘You need to go out there, have a good time. Look around when you're out there. Look at all the people having a great time. And then you need to have a great time and realise that that's why you're there and relax and go have fun and go win the golf tournament,’” Cantlay said of his conversation with Nicklaus.
“And I definitely said that to myself down the stretch today on the back nine. It put me a little more at ease, and I hit a lot of really nice quality shots with the lead,” he added.
Here’s a look at the Titleist golf gear Cantlay used to secure victory:
Driver:
Titleist 917D2
Fairway Wood: Titleist 915F
Hybrid: Titleist 816H2
Irons:
Titleist 718 AP2
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM5;
Titleist Vokey Design SM6;
Titleist Vokey Design SM7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Timeless GSS
Ball:
Titleist Pro V1x
