MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2022

Patrick Cantlay

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you kind of assess your week as a whole?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm disappointed obviously. I didn't play well. Yesterday I did not play well at all. It was tough out there, and I played a poor round.

Q. Can you talk about the -- this week here, things that worked and also some of the things that didn't work at all?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I feel like I know where I want to leave the golf ball. I just didn't do that all week.

It's a tough golf course if you get out of position, and with the conditions we had this week, it's not always easy to leave it exactly where you want.

Q. So in general we were talking about all the things that happened this week, and also having the patrons back, the Tiger effect, and we've seen Scheffler playing like he is playing. Can you talk about all those things?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Any week with Tiger, it makes it feel a little more special these days, and so hopefully we can see him out a little bit more because he at this point is bigger than the sport, it feels like, or at least as big.

I would say that added a little intrigue to the week, and obviously, this place with the story lines every year, it never disappoints. We'll see how the afternoon shakes out.

Q. Scottie, you played with him in the Ryder Cup. What type of player is he, and what are his chances today?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I like his chance with a three-shot lead and really a two-man race, which is something you don't see around this tournament very often. Scottie obviously was a great player. That's why he got picked for the Ryder Cup, and he has been on a heater. No one is even close to as hot as he has been the last three, four months.

Q. You got to talk about you guys get on those streaks. You guys always kind of want to find those streaks inside the major season. What has he kind of done recently to kind of maybe keep on that hot streak?

PATRICK CANTLAY: If I knew, I would try to do it a little myself. I've said before, when you are playing really well week after week, golf feels really easy, and it can turn really quick. Then it can turn back really quick.

I think what you said about trying to get your stride during major weeks, that's fantastic. He is obviously doing that. He has had a pretty sizable lead all the way through, and we'll see how this afternoon goes.

Q. Do you think the Ryder Cup Captain's Pick has pushed into this year and the hot streak he's on has kind of given him that extra boost of confidence?

PATRICK CANTLAY: With how well he has played, I wouldn't chalk it up to a Ryder Cup pick. There's been plenty of guys that have gotten Ryder Cup picks and played well and not gone on any kind of tear that he is on. Give credit where it's due, and he has played some phenomenal golf.

Q. Can I just ask another Ryder Cup-related thing? That American team last year was very much sort of young and fearless. It kind of felt like an introduction to a new generation. I just wondered to what extent each of you sort of drew strength from each other and belief in each other, and if that's part of what we're seeing in Scottie today?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Like I said, I wouldn't chalk up all of Scottie's recent tournament wins to Ryder Cup. I think it's a step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to hopefully some more Ryder Cup teams because I do think with the new blood we have on those teams, it's a different energy than what I've heard was the energy on past teams. That should be exciting if we can get on a streak here.

Q. But is there a sort of sense between you -- between the group of you, you're all heading in the same direction. If you see one guy doing it, then I can do it too. Sort of one success breeds another?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I haven't thought about it that way. I think that what you are seeing lately in golf is a lot of parity. Guys get hot for three, four, five, six months, and no one has really been able to sustain a run at the top of the world rankings for very long, which is different than the era before where Tiger seemed to dominate the world rankings and was maybe only briefly interrupted every once in a while, usually due to injury.

I think it's a different paradigm for the sport with guys getting hot for certain periods of time and carrying the new cycle or carrying all the intrigue for three, four, five, six months, and then somebody else takes over.

Q. Stole my thunder. I was going to say this is probably the age of parity. You kind of nailed it.

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, for sure.

Q. I think before Tiger we probably had Norman. He was dominant as far as number of times at World No. 1, but we see the World No. 1 rankings change a lot too. I think my question is does number one mean as much as it used to?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Does it mean as much as it used to?

Q. Yeah, because it moves on so much more. It's almost like --

PATRICK CANTLAY: In all the parity, it seems like tournament wins mean more than maybe getting to No. 1 in the world. Unless someone could hold No. 1 in the world for six months or a year at a time, then I think it would mean something. I feel like it gets discounted when you hold it for a week or two and then someone else takes over.

Q. Can you speculate at all -- this may not be a smart question. Is this just Scottie's temporary time at No. 1 before, as you say, in the age of parity, someone else will be there soon or more sustainable?

PATRICK CANTLAY: We'll see. He has only been No. 1 in the world for only a week or two, two weeks. Tiger was there for years at a time, and so it felt like he was definitely the World No. 1 whenever he showed up. I'm not quite sure it feels like that, but he is on his way. If he keeps winning tournaments at the clip he is winning, that will be it. So we'll see how it plays.