The American Express

Sunday, January 24, 2021

La Quinta, California, USA

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Patrick Cantlay

Quick Quotes


Q. Si Woo Kim just barely nipped you. What are your feelings?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I played really well. Obviously I played really well on the weekend. I think I was 18-under on the weekend and all I can ask and he played really well. And I didn't think it would quite get to 22-, 23-under par today, but it did.

Q. What a putt you made on that 18th hole, a 38-foot downhill curler. As I said, not good enough for a win, but that has to give you some confidence.

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I played really well this weekend, and like I said, he just played unbelievable too. So that putt on 18, I thought would be enough for maybe a playoff, but unfortunately, it looks like just a shot short.

Q. 61. Obviously, looks like it's coming up one shy. What was your thought when you holed that putt on the last and you walked off at 22-under? What did you feel? Did you feel like it would be the number or maybe a chance?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I thought I would have a chance at a playoff. I know that they still had a bunch of holes left yeah, just still in game mode. You know, they still had a bunch of holes left and, really, I put myself so behind the 8-ball making the cut just on the number and played unbelievable this weekend. I did everything I could, just going to be a shot short.

Q. What was that wait like on the range and the putting green waiting to see the outcome?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I just still in game mode, you know. Not trying to take myself out of it mentally until it's all done. So just I was trying to bide time. I was so far ahead that I had some time.

Q. That round today, did you feel something like that coming on? I mean, that's a heck of a weekend. When you get into that situation and that zone, what is it like for you?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I played really well yesterday and I just carried that momentum over to today. And I thought the greens were a little softer maybe today than they were the first couple days, and so a good score was out there, and I played about as good as I could possibly play, just a shot short.

Q. Do you feel like -- you go back to Friday, did you grind to make the cut? Did you really work hard to make the cut?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I didn't really grind. I 3-putted the second to last hole I played that day. I gave away so many shots the first couple days and, like I said, I was just too many behind.

Q. So what was your mindset going into the weekend after -- you had to be aggravated after finishing the way you did?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I thought that if I played two absolutely fantastic rounds on the weekend, I would have a chance. And I did, I played really well. I actually, I had an 8-under in my second round -- or my third round and then made a bogey on a par-5. So I played flawless today and it was really all I could ask for. I played about as good as I could.

Q. You said that -- coming off the green on 18 that, you said, That's the best I can play. How would you compare that to the 60 that you shot in Hartford as an amateur?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, almost equally as good, right? The amateur, because maybe you don't even expect it even more, it was maybe a little sweeter. But very comparable. And the same feels, when you get in the zone and you feel like all the putts are starting down the line, you're looking, and you're reading the greens correctly. So the more often I can get in that zone the better I'll be.

Q. I think every golfer always feels like they left one or two out there. You don't feel like that at all today?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I missed a 4-footer, four-and-a-half-footer, for birdie on the 14th hole, and that would have helped. But I mean, other than that, I really did play about as good as I could.

Q. Just describe that putt on the last. When you were reading it, did you have a pretty good view of what it was going to do?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I hit it a little firmer and I probably read it, I was a little off on my read. I didn't read enough break. But then I hit it just a little firm and it went in.

Q. Where will we see you going forward? Where are you going to play next?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Pebble is next for me. I always like that event and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully we get some good weather for Pebble Beach because it's so nice when the weather's nice.

Q. What was the difference between the first two days on the weekend?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I started putting a lot better and I put in some work on Thursday and Friday, and it kept building and building and today I felt like I could make everything and I made a lot of them. Every week I'm giving a hundred percent attention to every shot. So all I can do is just give myself the best opportunity to perform when I get out there, and I feel like I did that this week, just a shot short.

Q. Have you already described the putt on 18?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yes.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
104130-1-1044 2021-01-25 00:59:00 GMT

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