Cantlay, Finau share second – and may share a Presidents Cup team room
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Both players are in the hunt to qualify for the U.S. Presidents Cup team
Tony Finau's Round 2 highlights at BMW Championship
MEDINAH, Ill. – From a FedExCup perspective, Patrick Cantlay and Tony Finau are good to go for East Lake. Both started this week inside the top 20 in points, with the scenarios in their favor for the TOUR Championship.
Thus, they can concentrate on winning the BMW Championship this weekend and improving their Playoffs positions under the new Starting Strokes format. Given their current spots on the Medinah leaderboard – 11 under and tied for second, one stroke behind 36-hole leader Hideki Matsuyama – the opportunity is within reach.
But there’s also another element to their story – the Presidents Cup. The eight guaranteed spots for both the U.S. and International teams will be decided after the final round at the BMW, and the fates for both Cantlay and Finau remain unclear.
Cantlay started the week as the bubble boy, eighth in U.S. points. Finau is 10th. But after two terrific days at Medinah, each has moved up in the projections, with Cantlay projected fifth and Finau eighth.
Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau – one of Finau’s playing partners for the first two days this week – has dropped from seventh to ninth. DeChambeau shot his second consecutive 71 on Friday and is tied for 49th in the 69-man field.
For Finau, the chance to make his second consecutive American team will be a motivating factor this weekend. He did not make last year’s Ryder Cup team on merit but received the last captain’s pick from Jim Furyk. He’d rather not have to sweat out a pick from Tiger Woods this fall.
“I was trying to make the team on the Ryder Cup. When I didn’t, I was trying to impress the captain and play well enough to do that,” Finau said. “So what I remember from last year is I put my head down and just played and tried to win every tournament I played in the Playoffs, and that seemed to work out pretty well last year.”
Indeed, Finau was runner-up at THE NORTHERN TRUST, then T-4 at the Dell Technologies Championship and T-8 at the BMW Championship last year at Aronimink. That put him in the TOUR Championship, where he finished T-15.
Finau started THE NORTHERN TRUST last week with an opening 65 but cooled off to finish T-30. Looks like the hot hand is back. He opened with a 67 that included an eagle at the 14th hole and followed that with a bogey-free 66. “Got to put the pedal to the metal,” he said.
Cantlay, meanwhile, followed his opening 66 with a 67. He’s suffered just one bogey through the first two rounds, thanks to some clutch putting. On Friday, he rolled in a two 8-foot par putts in his final four holes to prevent a good round from slipping away.
“Just a lot of good momentum going into the weekend,” he said. “I feel good with all the parts of my game.”
Cantlay is seeking his first U.S. team appearance since playing in the Palmer Cup and Walker Cup in 2011. He was among those considered for the final Ryder Cup spot last year that went to Finau.
Given how well Finau handled the intense pressure at Paris – he won two of his three matches, including his Singles match against Tommy Fleetwood – it’s hard to argue with Furyk’s decision, even in a week in which most things did not go right for the Americans.
Although a disappointing loss for the U.S., the taste of team competition has made Finau hungry for more.
“After having that experience, you don’t want to miss any teams,” Finau said. I don’t want to miss the Presidents Cup this year. I don’t want to miss the Ryder Cup next year. So on and so forth.”
But he won’t let his focus stray from the immediate task at hand. Neither will Cantlay, who will deliberately avoid having his focus diffused by all the various elements in play this weekend.
On Saturday, Cantlay is in the final twosome with Matsuyama, a potential Presidents Cup opponent. And Finau is in the twosome just ahead with Justin Thomas, a potential Presidents Cup teammate.
“I do think it’s really important not to be caught up in any of that, especially for me,” Cantlay said. “I’m just going to go out and do my best to play this golf course well.”
He’s done that for the first 36 holes. So has Finau. As a result, the next 36 holes at Medinah should be extremely interesting – and potentially fruitful -- for both players.