RACHEL NOBLE: We would like to welcome the 2022 FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay to the interview room here at the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions. Patrick, three victories last season, including the FedExCup, just to recap on what that year was like for you.
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, it was obviously a great year and the best I've had on TOUR, and so I feel like it's the result of a lot of hard work paying off, and my goal is to just keep the processes that gave me the success last year, just keep those processes rolling.
RACHEL NOBLE: And to move further on that point, what are some of the keys to following up that good of a season when you talk about processes.
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think it is just as simple as doing the things that I've done in the past and preparing for every tournament as best as I can and playing the golf courses that I like the most and just getting as ready as I possibly can be.
So that's really how I go about it and I think just more of that.
RACHEL NOBLE: You're making your fourth start here at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. Just talk about what it's like being back, the strength of the field this year, and just the fans out here.
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, it's always nice to start the year here. It's beautiful. I've been in Southern California the last little bit and it's been raining, so coming here with the sunshine is really nice.
It's a good golf course to kind of shake some rust off. The fairways are big and there's lots of space out here to hit shots and it's also a golf course where you have to be very creative, and so you have to play all the different shots out here to be successful.
RACHEL NOBLE: We'll open it up to questions.
Q. How important was it to take that time you had taken off since the Ryder Cup to kind of recoup a little bit?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I think it's, in golf, I think so much, there's tournaments all year round that you almost have to force yourself to take time off and I thought that was the perfect opportunity for me to get a couple months and rest my body and rest my mind and that way I can play the rest of this year just really fresh and excited to go out and compete.
Q. What does rest look like for Patrick Cantlay in his down time?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Not a lot. I mean, I did some workouts and kind of just spent some time at home. I travel so much playing golf all over that spending time at home is really nice.
And not getting up to much, you know, is really restful for me because I do go so hard and play so many tournaments and practice to get ready for those tournaments during the year that it's nice to just decompress and take some time off at home.
Q. Was it nice to be able to kind of reflect on the year that you had and all the successes you had, obviously being the FedExCup champion?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, for sure. I think that's -- like I was saying earlier, you don't get to win too often in golf, so you really need to relish the times that you do win, but you can't let that make you not hungry to go out and practice and prep.
So time off for me, really, when I got back to practicing and getting ready for this tournament I noticed I was more excited even than usual to go out and just practice because I had taken some time off, which means that I took enough time off.
Q. You talked about finding the tournaments and the courses that fit your game and fit your time. Has that been probably one of the biggest things you've learned over your years out on the PGA TOUR is to find the right balance of where to play and what courses suit your strengths?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I would say that's a big part of the learning curve out here is learning the golf courses that suit your game and the golf courses you like and then just getting some reps at those golf courses because it's a lot easier to play and succeed at a tournament you've played three, four, six times than your first or second time.
Q. As you went along last year, how much did the confidence kind of gain as you went through the year and got toward the end there and how big was that when you were obviously winning at BMW and then winning the TOUR Championship and then going and playing well at the Ryder Cup as well?
PATRICK CANTLAY: It sounds silly, but I think success breeds success. So I think the more you win golf tournaments the more comfortable you get when you are coming down the stretch of a golf tournament near the lead or in the lead.
So the more times you can succeed under pressure, I think the more likely you are to do it in the future. So from that perspective it was extremely helpful because I closed out a lot of tournaments and matches at the Ryder Cup in a really positive fashion and I think that carryover, those positive memories, will only help me going forward.
Q. You said you took that time off and that you came out and you were hungry to work in order to get ready to come play here. How do you continue to keep that hunger and that drive to be the best you possibly can be, to keep winning golf tournaments even though, as you said, you don't win a lot? What fuels that inner drive for you?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I think by nature I'm very competitive, and so that drives a large majority of it.
And then also, I think there's a little bit of me that's a perfectionist. So the way I think about it is if there's a weakness or something that's not as sharp as it could be in my game, I try to be objective about that and then spend more time on that area.
So as I go, hopefully my strengths remain my strengths and maybe my weaknesses can become not weaknesses. If you could turn a weakness into a strength and not lose anywhere else, then you're really cooking with fire.
Q. You touched on a couple of these, but what was the most exciting thing you did during your 100 days away from the game? And this particular media member said that he did count.
PATRICK CANTLAY: That it was a hundred days? In case, I was going to correct this particular media member?
Q. Yes.
PATRICK CANTLAY: You know, I didn't do too many exciting things, much to Doug's dismay. I don't get up to much when I'm not playing golf. I mean, obviously my golf stuff is the most exciting things that I do, and so when I'm at home reading a book on the couch there's really, there's not a lot of stuff going on.
Q. Was there ever a temptation to enter a tournament? If, yes, what kept you from playing? If no, are you worried Kirk Herbstreit will accuse you of not really loving golf?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I don't spend much time thinking about what Kirk Herbstreit thinks or not. So no on that.
I just think, like I was saying before, is in golf you so much have to force yourself to take time off and realizing that you're taking time off for a reason and that reason is to be excited about practicing and playing again that you can turn it into a positive that you're not playing.
So I enjoy watching golf, so I watched the golf, and there were plenty of guys that played really well and although I was sitting at home watching, no part of me thought that it would be better if I was playing.
Q. What have you learned about how to peak? Given the nuances of this fickle game of bounces, is that hard to predict?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Could you repeat that?
Q. What have you learned about how to peak? And given the nuances of this fickle game of bounces, is that hard to predict?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I think that's -- I think peaking is a little bit -- I don't know what the right term is, but I think the idea of even thinking that you could be so cognizant of when you're highs and lows are and being able to like predict those out so they peak at the right time is a little crazy to me.
I think prepping for every tournament as best as you can and not playing too many events so you're not wiped out mentally and physically gives you the best chance to perform at your best every time you tee it up. I think it would be really, really hard to bring it as hard as you could or peak if you played 35 weeks out of the year.
So my, the way I think about it is to play less but have more quality starts and I don't give much thinking about peaking or not peaking particular weeks.
Q. Have you thought about what tournament you'll add this year that you haven't played in four years?
PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm not entirely sure yet, still kicking around a couple different ideas, but as you know, I have to play a new one, as silly as that is, so we'll see.
Q. Are you worried at all about being rusty this week?
PATRICK CANTLAY: Worried? Not particularly worried, but maybe a little more understanding and easy on myself, considering I haven't competed in three or four months.
But the idea is still to prep as best I can and be as prepared as I can and go out and win the golf tournament.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports