THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Patrick Cantlay into the interview room. He's making his ninth career start at the BMW Championship with wins in 2021 and 2022. First of all, take us back to 2021 en route to winning the FedExCup right here at Caves Valley if we can get some comments on your memories.
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, that was one of the longest Sundays of my career with that six-hole playoff, and it was a hot week, so we were glad to be finished. But I played really well and made a bunch of putts that week. Anytime you're playing golf and you make that many putts outside 20 feet, it's really fun.
Q. Talk a little bit about the state of your game. You're No. 19 in the FedExCup as we approach East Lake.
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, coming off a decent week last week. Pretty solid play all in all. I've been doing a lot of good work and feel like my game is headed in the right direction.
Q. Obviously a couple weeks to go in the season, but just holistically as you look at the year, you've obviously had some consistent play. Majors maybe more disappointing. How do you square when you've been consistent outside those tournaments, and then when you get there, they haven't gone the way you've wanted?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think I've had some good weeks. It hasn't been one of my better years. But like you said, there's still a couple weeks left, and in golf, you're usually defined by your best weeks. I'm just going to keep putting in really hard work and stick to the process that I've been doing each and every day and let the results take care of themselves.
Q. I know they have done a lot to try and make sure 27-under is not a score that's attainable again this week and now it's a par-70 course. Have you gotten out on the course yet? What are your impressions? Does it feel different than what you saw four years ago?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I've only played nine holes so far, so I've only seen half the holes. It's much different and it's in very good shape. Obviously with it being par-70, that's an easy way to make it play closer to par.
Q. You mentioned looking to the weeks still to come in the season. You played with Keegan today. Are you able to look ahead to Ryder Cup stuff? Is that something on your mind? What would playing in an atmosphere like that be like if you're looking forward to it?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think that's definitely something where I'm just focused on the task at hand and worrying about these two weeks to close out the season. Once the season is over, my mind will shift towards that if that's in the cards for me.
Keegan and I play a lot at home, so it was just kind of a normal Tuesday.
Q. Would you pick yourself for the Ryder Cup, and if so, why?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Fortunately that's not -- I'm not in that predicament. Keegan, however, is in that predicament. If I was the captain, I'd pick Keegan. I think he's played great.
Q. You'd take him regardless?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Not regardless. I think he has a lot of responsibility that week, so if he feels that he can play golf like a normal week given all his other responsibilities, I'm just saying that if I was the captain and I was thinking, I think he's definitely one of the best American players, and his results have shown that.
Q. What did you do in Memphis last week that had been lacking?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I think I drove the ball in the fairway a little bit more last week on a golf course where it's really important to drive the ball in the fairway. It's a course I've played well at over the years. Just a comfortable place for me.
Q. Do you think you've done enough so far to show that you're ready to play on that team?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think it would be nice to go out the next two weeks and have some nice finishes and play well. After last week, I feel like I have some momentum going in the right direction, and I feel really good about the things I'm working on in my game.
Q. Have you added a new putting coach?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I started working with Phil Kenyon recently and we're still in the early stages, so hopefully -- I'll do anything to make a few more putts.
Q. One of the memories of this place last time was all the energy around from the fans, but you getting the nickname "Patty Ice." What do you remember about that?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I was surprised when I first heard it, and I kind of heard it on the weekend for the first time really that tournament. I think it had to do with me making all those putts. Some of them I even surprised myself with how many putts I was making.
But yeah, it was a lot of fun. Anytime we get to play golf in an environment like that, it's the best.
Q. Has that name stuck?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I think a little bit, yeah. I still hear it from time to time out there.
Q. You said you play with Keegan a lot, play practice rounds with him out here. Does the Ryder Cup come up, or is it awkward at all, or is it just sort of the elephant in the room and you don't discuss it?
PATRICK CANTLAY: No, like I said, I've played a lot, especially at home. There's not much Ryder Cup talk when you're out there on Tuesday. Just playing nine holes with a friend.
Q. Two questions on the course. Did you see the front or the back today?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I just saw the back today, so I haven't seen the front nine yet.
Q. On 18 in particular, I think that hole last time played as the hardest hole on the golf course. What about that hole makes it difficult?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, it's a hole where you have to put the ball in the fairway. I think they made the fairway a little narrower from the last time we were here. It's long and straight uphill. If you hit two good shots, you can have a birdie look. Anything other than that, you're probably scrambling for a par.
Q. If you could measure how much time you devote to your role on the board, where are you at now in terms of how much time had you been devoting or how much time it took of yours, or are you in kind of a lull right now?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think it's less now than it was, and I think that's just kind of natural for a board. I think there's going to be ebbs and flows. Sometimes the workload is going to be more, sometimes the workload is going to be less. Compared to the last couple years, I would say at this point we're in a less moment in time.
Q. As it relates to next week, do you know for sure if you're in next week no matter how you play?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not sure.
Q. John would know.
PATRICK CANTLAY: I think actually with the nature of the points, it has to do with how the rest of the field finishes. If players like 31 to 42 all finish in the top 12, then that would be different than a normal -- you know what I mean?
Q. As it relates to next week, do you like what they've done, and what did you not like about the starting strokes, assuming you didn't like it?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think the starting strokes was tough just because we don't play any tournaments like that, and so it was kind of -- it felt goofy from a competitive point of view. I think you heard a lot of guys say something similar. I think this is definitely an improvement and a step in the right direction.
Q. But you've lost an advantage from playing really good golf during the regular season and even into the Playoffs.
PATRICK CANTLAY: You're saying if you were one of the top FedExCup finishers?
Q. Shouldn't you have one?
PATRICK CANTLAY: It depends how you -- think of the competition. I think you could make the argument both ways. In other sports, a lot of times the championship game, the team that had the best regular season record doesn't get a head start in the finals or anything like that.
I think having it be like most all the other big tournaments that we play and that everyone starts at level and the player who plays the best that week wins, I think that's fine for one of the biggest championships that we play out here.
Q. What is the FedExCup, because if you have basically a free-for-all at East Lake, is it the season-long champion?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I think it is, with a huge emphasis on the last week, because you can't get to the last week without playing well all year. So I do think it's a season-long champion. It just has more of an emphasis on the tournament that week.
Q. You had one of the great putting weeks of your career here when you won that tournament. What has been the difference between say that week versus making this decision that you wanted to hire a putting coach?
PATRICK CANTLAY: You know, that was four years ago. A lot can change in three, four years, especially in this game.
I think, like I say, anything I can do to just get a little better, whether that's a technique change or some little key here and there that I can pick up on, I'm going to try and explore that to see if I can get better. That's really the root of the change.
Q. What are you trying to eliminate? Do you have a push or a certain range that you're trying to seek improvement at?
PATRICK CANTLAY: No, nothing in particular. I'd like to make more putts. A lot of that at our level has to do with reading the greens and matching speed and line. So having somebody who's an expert eye at that can only be helpful.
Q. Going back to that putting day in 2021, what's it like to be in that zone, and does the crowd -- did making putts get the crowd fired up that way, and what's it like to be in a zone -- does the hole really look that big, like three feet wide?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think when you start holing putts, that confidence builds on itself. You start to have an expectation of the putts going in. Then I would say that combined with the way the tournament played out in that we were separated from the rest of the field, and I kind of needed to make all those putts coming down the stretch over and over again with basically no ramifications because we were only playing for first at that point. You get into a spot where putts are do or die, it's a little easier to be really free and just try and hole everything.
Q. If you take someone like yourself who's not had his best year but not terrible, and you get into East Lake next week and you win, are you the season-long champion for winning one tournament?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, you're definitely the FedExCup champion. I think at this point if you played a whole year and get into the last -- into the TOUR Championship with the guys who have played -- the 30 best guys who have played the best all year and you beat them that week with everything on the line, that's a huge accomplishment.
Q. If you look at the four majors being the ones you'd love to win, I'm assuming, where would you put THE PLAYERS Championship and the FedExCup with what you'd like to win? What would be more important for you to win, THE PLAYERS Championship or the FedExCup?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I think they're right there next to each other. THE PLAYERS has a distinct place because it's the toughest tournament to win. It has the best field in professional golf. So if you win THE PLAYERS, it's maybe the biggest accomplishment from a level of golf point of view.
Q. Full field I guess would matter, as well.
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, historically it's had the strongest field of any tournament in golf.
The TOUR Championship is a little bit of a different animal because it rewards that season-long play to even get into the tournament, and then now you have to play excellent golf to win. I think anytime you're beating the best players in the world, it's a huge accomplishment.
Q. Not pertaining specifically to Phil, but when you make an addition or change in your team, I know you're someone who sticks to routine and has a tight-knit group. How do you decide when it's right to do something like that, to make a change? Is it just you wake up one day and decide? How do you realize, hey, it's gotten worse -- something is not good enough and I need to do something? How do you make that decision in your head?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think it's something that -- at least on my team, we're doing all the time. Is there something else we can do to get a little better in all areas. That's a lot of talks with people on my team, and we're doing that kind of in every area.
This addition of bringing Phil on recently felt like a really good fit, and everyone on my team supported it and thought it would be good.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports